Factors affecting the self-rated health of immigrant women married to native men and raising children in South Korea: a
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Factors affecting the self-rated health of immigrant women married to native men and raising children in South Korea: a cross-sectional study Bookyoung Kim1,2 and Kyung-Bok Son3*
Abstract Background: Since the influx of international immigrants to South Korea (Korea) in the 1980s, the number of immigrants married to native Koreans has increased substantially over the last 30 years. This study aims to provide recent evidence on the self-rated health of immigrant women married to native men and raising children. We evaluated the self-rated health of immigrant women sorted by their country of origin and elucidated factors that affect their self-rated health. Methods: Data were obtained from the 2015 Korean National Multi-Cultural Family Survey. From the survey, a total of 6960 Korean-Chinese, Han-Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, and Filipino women were identified and a series of logistic regressions was conducted to elucidate factors that affected the self-rated health of immigrant women. Results: The majority of immigrant women in Korea perceived that they are healthy. However, the self-rated health of immigrant women varied by country of origin. Korean-Chinese and Japanese immigrants are less likely to perceive that they are healthy compared with Filipino and Vietnamese immigrants. We identified several factors at the individual, household, and community levels and found that the majority of them are likely to be ethnic dependent. However, satisfaction with husband and experience of unmet medical needs presented consistent results in the five ethnicity groups. Conclusions: Programs that strengthen spousal relationships and policies to enhance access to healthcare could be prioritized options to improve the self-rated health of immigrant women in Korea. Keywords: Immigrant woman, Foreign wife, Self-rated health, South Korea
Background Since the influx of international immigrants to South Korea (Korea) in the 1980s, the number of immigrants married to native Koreans has increased substantially over the last 30 years. The total number of immigrants married to native Koreans was 155,457 in 2017, while it was only 93,786 in 2006 [1]. In terms of gender composition, the majority of * Correspondence: [email protected] 3 College of Pharmacy, Ewha Womans University, 52 Ewhayeodae-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03760, Korea Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
immigrants married to native Koreans were female (approximately 85%). Marriage between Koreans and foreigners accounted for 10.6% of the 326,100 marriages registered in 2010; marriages between Korean men and foreign women and marriages between Korean women and foreign men accounted for 8.1 and 2.5%, respectively [1]. The family roles and responsibilities of female immigrants married to native men are essential [2–5]. Female immigrants play the roles of household keepers and mothers who stay at home and take care of their family members. Korean family life is based on the patriarchal
© The Author(s). 2020 O
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