Survival, Adjustment, and Acculturation of Newly Immigrated Families With School-Age Children: Cases of Four Korean Families

Abstract

The number of Korean migrants in the United States has steadily increased in recent years. Korea has struggled with a new social phenomenon: “exodus Korea.” Despite its potential impact on the sending and receiving countries, the issue of the increasing number of Korean migrants has not received much research attention in its impact on schools and society. Four Korean migrant families' experiences in the United States were examined. Data were collected via participation, observation, interviews, and orally told stories. Although the families had some common goals for life in the United States, the traits of each family's life in the United States displayed their own uniqueness. Areas that require more research and practical sensitivity were discussed for addressing the issues migrant families face.

Notes

¹More than 6 million Korean migrants live in about 150 nations across the globe. Approximately one third of them (2.2 million) reside in the United States.

²This term refers to students studying abroad at earlier ages than their college years.

³Migrants become legal immigrants of the United States in various ways. Investment immigration refers to foreigners' obtaining a legal “resident alien” status by investing a large amount of money to a U.S. company.

⁴This is a Korean-style pickled cabbage, a favorite food among Korean people, especially when they are abroad because it is expensive to purchase, hard to find the ingredients, or difficult to make.

⁵The public school they attended operated after-school programs tutored by, among others, two Korean American teachers. Mother B's two sons became attached to them.

⁶There are also a significant number of jogi yuhak students coming to the United States and other English-speaking nations without their parents during the adolescent years, which is a critical period for their sound psychological development.