Abstract
The goal of this cross-sectional study was to describe acculturation and characteristics of Korean American families. Self-reports were gathered from 106 families (105 mothers, 98 fathers, 106 adolescents) in the Midwest. Mothers, fathers, and adolescents maintained Korean cultural and linguistic characteristics while adopting some American cultural and linguistic features. The adoption of American culture and English was more evident among adolescents than their parents. The association between Korean American parents’ acculturation attitudes and their characteristics were consistent with the acculturation framework. This information may provide basic understanding for health care providers who care for Korean American families.
Keywords: Korean American Family, Adolescents versus Parents, Parental Acculturation
With growing cultural diversity in the United States, nurses have developed essential features of providing nursing care that is meaningful and fits with cultural backgrounds of care recipients (Leininger, 1988). In particular, nurses attempt to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services for individuals, families, and communities having diverse cultural backgrounds (The Office of Minority Health, 2000). Culture is the “learned, shared, and transmitted values, beliefs, norms, and life practices of a particular group that guides thinking, decisions, and actions in patterned ways” (Leininger, 1988, p. 156). Therefore, to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services, nurses need to have basic knowledge of cultural and linguistic characteristics of minority groups for whom they are providing care.
Although Korean Americans are one of the most rapidly growing minority populations in the United States, there is a paucity of knowledge on this population. The goals of this paper were (1) to describe cultural and linguistic characteristics of Korean American families (mothers, fathers, and adolescents) including values orientation, language fluency, and daily lifestyles and (2) to examine relationship of these characteristics to parental acculturation.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
The multicultural acculturation framework (Berry, 2006) was applied to examine the relationship between Korean Americans’ attitudes toward Korean and American culture. According to Berry (2006), two fundamental issues in acculturation are (a) immigrants’ maintenance of their heritage culture and (b) immigrants’ adoption of mainstream culture. Based on the responses to these issues, Berry (2006) describes four attitudes of acculturation: integration, marginalization, separation, and assimilation (see Figure 1). For example, Korean American parents may balance both American and Korean cultures (integration), or exclusively follow either Korean culture (separation) or American culture (assimilation), or follow neither culture (marginalization). In general, integration is believed to be the most successful adaptation and marginalization is the least successful adaptation, with both separation and assimilation being moderately successful (Berry, 2006).
Figure 1.
Multicultural Acculturation Framework (Berry, 2006)
LITERATURE REVIEW
Korean Americans
Korean immigration to the United States began in 1903 (Kim, 2004). For several decades, the Korean American population was very small. However, after the United States government eased restrictions on Asian immigration in 1965, steady increases in the number of Korean Americans occurred. Overall, Korean Americans who entered into the United States after 1965 are college-educated immigrants who migrated voluntarily while hoping for more political and social security and better opportunities for their children’s education (Shin & Shin, 1999). The 2000 census documented a little over one million Korean Americans in the United States. Korean Americans are concentrated in large cities such as Los Angeles (24 %), New York (16%), Washington D.C. (7%), San Francisco (5%), Chicago (4%), and Seattle (4%).
Values Orientation
Korean Americans are a group-oriented ethnic minority whose moral and social principals of appropriate behavior are shaped by collectivism and Confucianism (Oak & Martin, 2000). Many Koreans practice collectivism, where members in the society tend to develop strong in-group (e.g., family) identity and where the in-group is viewed as an extension of the self (Triandis, Leung, Villareal, & Clack, 1985). This collectivistic tendency is well reflected in Confucianism, which views the family as an extension of the self. The fundamental philosophy of Confucianism includes clear hierarchical relationships and obedience to authority; this philosophy is embedded in everyday Korean customs, beliefs, morals, communication styles, social structures, and family systems. Some traditional Korean values and customs established under Confucianism include: authority of fathers, wives’ obedience to husbands, children’s obedience to parents, filial piety submission of self to family, submission to civil authorities, and high expectations in education (Lehrer, 1996). During the 20th century, 95% of Korean American adults in Chicago area desired to teach their children Korean language, history, morals, and general customs (Hurh, Kim, & Kim, 1979).
Language
The Korean language is Hangeul, invented in 1444 by King Sejong in the Joseon Dynasty (Omniglot, 2006). Hangeul has 24 Korean letters: 14 consonants and 10 vowels. The letters are combined together into syllable blocks. The Korean language is spoken by about 63 million people in South Korea, North Korea, China, Japan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia (Omniglot, 2006). In the Korean school system, students learn the Korean language as well as English. However, English preparation among Koreans is very weak. In a study of predeparture immigrants from Korea to the United States, more than 70% of respondents had English education for more than five years in their formal school, and almost half had studied English privately (Park, Fawcett, Arnold, & Gardner, 1990). However, more than 90% of respondents rated their English skills as either “poor” or “fair,” with over 50% saying “poor” (Part et al., 1990).
The lack of English fluency has been cited as a major problem for Korean Americans. Hurh et al. (1979) found that about half of Korean American adults’ experienced English language difficulty; 60% rated their ability to speak English as less than adequate (i.e., fair, poor, and not at all), followed by 55% in writing and 43% in reading ability. Only 13% of participants reported that they spoke English either frequently or always at home (Hurh et al, 1979). Among Korean Canadians, Kim and Berry (1984) found that respondents younger than age 30 years were fluent in English but not in Korean, whereas: respondents older than 30 years were fluent in Korean but not in English.
This phenomena has not changed much in recent studies. Approximately 11–22% of Korean Americans reported that they spoke English “well” or “fluently,” whereas 40–78% of Korean Americans reported that they spoke English “not at all” or “poorly” (Juon, Han, Shin, Kim, & Kim, 2003; Kim & Lauderdale, 2002; Kim et al., 1999). About 50% of American-born and 90% of Korean born mothers speak Korean as their first language (UCLA Asian American Studies Center, 1975). Approximately, 77% of Korean Americans always or often use English at work, about 87% never or occasionally use English with their spouse and 63% never or occasionally use English with their children (Kim & Hurh, 1993).
Daily Lifestyles
Dietary practices
The traditional Korean diet includes steamed rice, hot soup, kimchi, and side dishes: of grilled or sautéed fish and meat, and stir-fried vegetables served in some variation for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (Ludman, Kang, & Lynn, 1992). Kimchi is a dietary staple, it is commonly found as a spicy fermented vegetable dish made with red pepper, cabbage, radishes, cucumbers, turnips, leeks, or other vegetables (Ludman et al., 1992). In the earlier study among Korean Americans, Hurh et al. (1979) found that Korean Americans ate western food for breakfast (58%) or lunch (54%) because of its convenience, but the majority of the respondents ate traditional Korean food for dinner (93%). This dietary practice was maintained in other research conducted by Kim and Hurh (1993). Ludman et al. (1992) also found that pregnant Korean American women maintained traditional dietary patterns and beliefs. Korean American elderly living in New York were more likely to eat western food for breakfast and eat out in fast food restaurants than were elderly Koreans residing in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea (Lynn, Kang, & Ludman, 1999). However, both groups ate rice and kimchi at least once a day.
Social network
Korean Americans often maintain their kinship ties, Korean friends, and affiliations with Korean churches regardless of residence in the United States, Korean ethnic churches are a major source of social network interactions. About 70% to 78% of Korean Americans and 76% of Korean Canadians attend Korean churches, where they may find spirituality, answers to religious questions, feelings of social belonging, and psychological comfort (Hurh & Kim, 1990; Hurh et al., 1979; Kim, 1999; Kim & Berry, 1984). Kim (1999) found that elderly Koreans living in the Midwest identified kin, church members, friends, and neighbors as their social support system; none of these respondents identified a non-Korean as providing either emotional or tangible social support. Elderly Koreans who had stronger ethnic attachments scored lower in loneliness. Emotional and tangible support network size and satisfaction mediated the effect of ethnic attachment on loneliness (Kim, 1999). Higher social support was related to lower levels of acculturative stress, which was related to lower levels of depressive symptoms in Korean American adults living in New Orleans (Choi, 1997).
Media
Kim and Hurh (1993) found approximately 75% of Korean Americans read Korean newspapers regularly, whereas 21% read American newspapers regularly. Kim and Berry (1984) also found that 76% of Korean Canadians read a Korean newspaper.
Relation Between Acculturation and Cultural and Linguistic Characteristics
Using Berry’s (2006) multicultural acculturation framework, Kim and Berry (1984) found that Korean Canadians scored highest on integration followed by marginalization, separation, and assimilation. Integration was related to greater involvement in Canadian society in terms of use of English, Canadian newspaper readership, and organization participation. Assimilation was related to less Korean TV viewing, less Korean newspaper readership, and less desire to maintain the Korean language with their children. Separation was related to less education, lower socioeconomic status, more Korean friends, less use of English, and less likelihood of having Canadian citizenship. Finally, marginalization was related to less education and more Korean identity (Kim & Berry, 1984).
Kim (1988) found the same order of acculturation attitude preferences in a subsequent study. Integration was related to maintenance of Korean language, Korean TV or newspaper, and Korean food. Assimilation was related to less contact with the Korean community, and less desire to maintain the Korean language and culture. Respondents who scored high on separation and marginalization were more likely to be older, had stayed in Canada for a shorter duration and used less English, and watched more Korean TV and ate more Korean food. Integration and assimilation were related to higher life satisfaction and less psychological distress. In contrast, separation and marginalization was related to lower life satisfaction and higher psychological distress (Kim, 1988). No study has examined the cultural and linguistic characteristics of Korean Americans in relation to acculturation attitudes.
Significance of the Study
The literature indicates that Korean American and Korean Canadian adults often maintain their traditional values orientation, language, and life styles. But it is not known how these characteristics are different between husbands and wives in Korean American families. In addition, no study has examined these issues with respect to adolescents. Due to different rates of acculturation, it is likely adolescents would have adopted more American culture than their parents. This study examined cultural and linguistic characteristics of Korean American families (fathers, mothers, and adolescents). Further, this study examined these characteristics in relation to parental acculturation.
METHODS
Design and Sample
This study used a cross-sectional correlational research design. The results are from 106 Korean American families in the Midwest (97 fathers, 104 mothers, and 106 adolescents) recruited through Korean churches and language schools in the Midwest. Participation criteria were (1) a two-parent family; (2) both fathers and mothers were Korean Americans; and, (3) the family had an adolescent aged 11 to 14 years. Korean American is defined as having been born in either Korea or in the United States with parents from Korea. Table 1 summarizes the characteristics of parents. The mean age for adolescents was 12.40 (SD =1.12) with the average length of time spent living in the United States being 10.69 (SD=3.66) years. Seventy-nine adolescents (74.5%) perceived themselves as Korean American followed by 18 Korean (17%), 6 American (5.7%), and 3 missing (2.8%).
Table 1.
Demographic characteristics of mothers and fathers
| Demographic (n = 98) Characteristics | Fathers (n = 105) M (SD)/n (%) | Mothers M (SD)/n (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Age in years | 45.00 (4.63) | 42.15 (3.94) |
|
| ||
| Education in years | 16.31 (3.85) | 14.49 (3.20) |
|
| ||
| Working hours per week | 47.84 (14.11) | 26.46 (21.30) |
|
| ||
| U.S. residency in years | 16.87 (7.07) | 15.11 (6.93) |
|
| ||
| Parental birthplace | ||
| Korea | 97 (99%) | 104(99%) |
| United States | 1 (1%) | 1 (1%) |
| Religious Preference | ||
| Protestant | 68 (66.7%) | 59 (62.1%) |
| Catholic | 33 (32.4%) | 26 (27.4%) |
| Buddhist | 1 (1.0%) | 1 (1.1%) |
| None | 0 (0%) | 9 (9.5%) |
|
| ||
| Ethnic Identity | ||
| Korean | 71 (72.4%) | 80 (76.2%) |
| Korean-American | 26 (26.5%) | 25 (23.8%) |
|
| ||
| Visa Status | ||
| Citizenship | 51 (52%) | 56 (53.3%) |
| Permanent Resident | 34 (34.7) | 35 (33.3%) |
| Temporary Stay | 13 (13.3%) | 14 (13.3%) |
|
| ||
| Occupation | ||
| Professional | 21 (24.1%) | 7 (9.2%) |
| Office job/own business | 52 (59.8%) | 46 (60.5%) |
| Skilled/unskilled labor | 12 (13.7%) | 8 (10.6%) |
| Unemployed | 0 (0%) | 14 (18.4%) |
| Student | 2 (2.3%) | 1 (1.3%) |
|
| ||
| Income | ||
| 10,001–20,000 | 2 (1.9%) | |
| 20,001–40,000 | 22 (21.1%) | |
| 40,001–60,000 | 27 (26.0%) | |
| Over 60,001 | 53 (51.0%) | |
|
| ||
| Number of Children | 2.21 (.57) | |
Instrumentation
Demographic background information obtained from each parent included age, education, degree, length of marriage, length of residence in the United States, birth-place, visa status, ethnic identity, religion, occupation, working hours, and family income. Adolescents filled out information about their age, gender, birthplace, length of residence in the United States, and ethnic identity.
Value orientation, language, and daily lifestyles of fathers, mothers, and adolescents were assessed by the Life Style Measure (Kim, 1988). This measure assesses daily lifestyles of both Korean and American culture (food, TV/video, newspaper, friends, organizations) and desire to learn American culture and maintain Korean culture by parents and by children. It also assesses fluency in Korean and English with respect to speaking, reading, understanding, and writing, Cronbach’s alpha of Korean language fluency, English language fluency, Korean daily lifestyles, and American daily lifestyles was .79, .90, .58, and .74 for mothers, .80, .93, .62, and .62 for fathers, and .85, .94, .61, and .73 for adolescents, respectively.
Parental acculturation was assessed using the Acculturation Attitudes Scale (Kim, 1988), a 56-item, 5-point Likert-scale instrument. It has four subscales: integration (e.g., “It is valuable to develop close friendships with both Koreans and Americans”); marginalization (e.g., “These days it is hard to find someone you can really relate to and share your inner feelings and thoughts”); separation (e.g., “I value having close Korean friends, but I do not value having American friends”); and assimilation (e.g., “I value having American friends, but I do not value having Korean friends”). This instrument was originally developed in Korean and English to examine ‘Korean Canadian’ acculturation (Kim, 1988). In the current study the wording ‘American’ was used instead of ‘Canadian.’ Cronbach’s alpha of integration, marginalization, separation, and assimilation was .81, .76, .68, and.79 for mothers and .83, .71, .74, and .76 for fathers.
Procedure
The researcher visited Korean churches and language schools in the Midwest to explain the study and distribute instruments. When the researcher was not able to visit a community, the leader of the community was asked to get permission from eligible families for the researcher to contact those families by mail and phone. The instruments were then mailed directly to families. The instruments included both Korean and English versions so participants could use their preferred language. All of the parents except one father and one mother used the Korean version, whereas most adolescents used the English version. Each parent and adolescent was asked to complete the instruments independently. Completed instruments were then placed into separate self-addressed stamped envelopes and returned to the investigator. Informed written consent and assent re-viewed by a Human Subject Committee were obtained from each parent and adolescent.
Data Analysis
Descriptive statistics including mean, standard deviation, range, distribution, and correlations were analyzed for all demographic and study variables. In some cases basic univariate inferential testing was conducted using t-test and repeated measure ANOVA. For the first study goal, describing characteristics of cultural values, language fluency, and daily lifestyles, we dichotomized survey responses into low (“not important at all” to “somewhat important”) and high (“fairly important” and “very important”) categories. These study variables were then analyzed using frequencies for mother, father, and adolescent data. For the second study goal, the relation between characteristics and parental acculturation attitudes, Pearson correlation analysis was used. Separate analyses were conducted for father and mother data.
RESULTS
Cultural and Linguistic Characteristics of Korean Americans
Values orientations
As shown in Table 2, approximately 70–80% of fathers, mothers, and adolescents reported that learning American values and customs as well as maintaining Korean values and customs is important for themselves. Over 90% of parents thought that learning American values and customs was important for their children; whereas 65% of adolescents reported learning American values and customs was important for their parents. These findings are somewhat reversed when subjects were asked about Korean values; 67–72% of parents thought that maintaining Korean values and customs was important for their children whereas 94% of adolescents reported that maintaining Korean values and customs was important for their parents.
Table 2.
Values orientation
| Values | Language | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother n (%) | Father n (%) | Adolescent n (%) | Mother n (%) | Father n (%) | Adolescent n (%) | |
| Maintaining Korean values and customs | Maintaining the Korean language | |||||
| For yourself? | 80 (79.2%) | 72 (74.2%) | 80 (78.4%) | 89 (85.6%) | 82 (83.7%) | 87 (82.1%) |
| For your children? | 66 (67.3%) | 68 (72.3%) | --- | 84 (83.2%) | 78 (80.4%) | --- |
| For your parents? | --- | --- | 96 (94.1%) | --- | --- | 103 (98.1%) |
| Learning American values and customs | Learning English | |||||
| For yourself | 71 (68.9%) | 72 (75%) | 82 (79.6%) | 100 (95.2%) | 94 (95.9%) | 105 (99.1%) |
| For your children? | 91 (90.1%) | 91 (94.8%) | --- | 101 (100%) | 95 (97.9%) | --- |
| For your parents? | --- | --- | 65 (63.7%) | --- | --- | 97 (92.4%) |
Percent indicates those who stated “fairly important” or “very important”
Language fluency
As shown in Table 2, family members placed high importance on maintaining Korean language. Eighty-six percent of mothers and 84% of fathers reported if would be “fairly important or very important” to maintain the Korean language by themselves. Indeed almost all of the mothers and fathers reported that they were “fairly well or very well” fluent in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing Korean (Table 3). In addition, 83% of mothers and 80% of fathers reported that it was important for their children to keep using Korean language; 82% of adolescents also reported that it was important for them to keep Korean language (Table 2). However, only 45–75% of adolescents reported being “fairly well or very well” fluent in Korean (Table 3). In contrast, although 95% of mothers and 96% of fathers reported that it was important for themselves to learn English, their actual English fluency was very limited. For example, only 21 % of mothers reported that they speak English “fairly well or very well.” Fathers were more fluent than mothers in English as 40% of them reported speaking “fairly well or very well.” However, 95% of adolescents were “fairly well or very well” fluent in English (Table 3).
Table 3.
Language fluency
| Korean | English | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother n (%) | Father n (%) | Adolescent n (%) | Mother n (%) | Father n (%) | Adolescent n (%) | |
| Understanding | 103 (99%) | 97 (99%) | 78 (74.3%) | 26 (25%) | 44 (46.3%) | 102 (96.2%) |
| Speaking | 105 (100%) | 97 (99%) | 63 (59.4%) | 22 (21.2%) | 39 (40.2%) | 101 (95.3%) |
| Reading | 104 (99%) | 97 (99%) | 58 (54.7%) | 39 (37.9%) | 54 (55.7%) | 101 (95.3%) |
| Writing | 103 (99%) | 94 (95.9%) | 47 (44.8%) | 22 (21.2%) | 40 (41.2%) | 99 (93.4%) |
Percent indicates those who stated “fairly well” or “very well”
Daily lifestyles
As shown in Table 4, all participants reported high frequencies (93–97%) of eating Korean food. Mothers and fathers (28–33%) ate American food less frequently than adolescents (76.4%). More parents (40–64%) reported using Korean language media frequently than their adolescents (10–43%). This trend was reversed when looking at frequency of using American media. More adolescents (34–77%) appeared to have frequent participation in both Korean and American organizations and visited both Korean and American friends frequently than their parents (6–10%). More adolescents reported having American friends within their five closest friends, with 35% saying that 4–5 of their five closest friends was Korean; whereas 68% of mothers and 67% of fathers reported having 4–5 Korean friends among their five closest friends.
Table 4.
Daily lifestyle
| Korean | English | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother n (%) | Father n (%) | Adolescent n (%) | Mother n (%) | Father n (%) | Adolescent n (%) | ||
| Dietary practice | 100 (95.3%) | 90 (92.8%) | 102 (97.1%) | 29 (27.6%) | 32 (32.7%) | 81 (76.4%) | |
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| Reading magazines/newspapers | 58 (55.2%) | 63 (64.3%) | 10 (9.5%) | 18 (17.1%) | 36 (36.7%) | 60 (57.1%) | |
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| Watching television/videos | 44 (41.9%) | 39 (39.8%) | 46 (43.4%) | 25 (23.8%) | 45 (45.9%) | 95 (89.6%) | |
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| Visiting friends | 56 (53.3%) | 44 (45.8%) | 72 (67.9%) | 10 (9.5%) | 9(9.2%) | 82 (77.4%) | |
|
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| Organization participation | 59 (56.7%) | 54 (55.1%) | 76 (71.7%) | 6 (5.8%) | 10 (10.4%) | 38 (35.8%) | |
|
| |||||||
| Numbers of Korean within 5 close friends | 0 | 2 (2%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (1%) | -- | -- | -- |
| 1–3 | 30 (30%) | 32 (33%) | 67 (64%) | -- | -- | -- | |
| 4–5 | 69 (68%) | 64 (67%) | 37 (35%) | -- | -- | -- | |
Percentage indicates those who stated “fairly often” or “very often”
Relations between Acculturation and Cultural and Linguistic Characteristics
The second goal of this research study was to examine the relations between parental acculturation attitudes and their values orientation, language fluency, and daily lifestyles. As shown in Table 5, both mothers and fathers scored higher on integration, followed by marginalization, separation, and assimilation. A repeated measure ANOVA found statistically significant differences between each acculturation factors within mothers (F (1, 96) = 12.00 ~1067.92, p < .001) and fathers (F (1, 96) = 22.03 ~1117.42, p < .001) with the exception of Assimilation and Separation (F (1, 96) =2.425, p=ns) for the fathers. No difference between mothers’ and fathers’ acculturation attitudes was noted (t (92) = −.41 ~ 1.61, p = ns). Rather, significant positive correlations were found between mothers’ and fathers’ acculturation attitudes, indicating that mothers and fathers were similar in each acculturation attitude (r = .30 ~ .48, P< .01–.001).
Table 5.
Correlations between values orientation, language fluency, daily lifestyle, and parental acculturation attitudes
| Integration | Assimilation | Separation | Marginalization | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mother | Father | Mother | Father | Mother | Father | Mother | Father | |
| Maintain Korean culture and language by Parents | .42** | .42** | −.32** | −.49** | −.04 | .21* | −.17 | −.18 |
| Maintain Korean culture and language by children | .37** | .30** | −.33** | −.42** | .00 | .26** | −.13 | −.05 |
| Learn American culture and English by parents | .14 | .24* | .01 | .12 | −.18 | −.30** | −.04 | −.12 |
| Learn American culture and English by children | .12 | .35** | .09 | .06 | −.21* | −.27** | .03 | −.08 |
| Korean fluency | .22* | .15 | −.28** | −.29** | .03 | −.08 | −.10 | −.02 |
| English fluency | .01 | .06 | −.02 | .00 | −.18 | −.38** | −.21* | −.22* |
| Korean daily lifestyle | .31* | .23* | −.24* | −.29** | .15 | .08 | −.03 | −.19 |
| American daily lifestyle | .07 | .07 | −.03 | .02 | −.45** | −.26* | −.37** | −.18 |
| Mean (SD) | 4.20 (.33) | 4.17 (.37) | 2.17 (.40) | 2.18 (.39) | 2.39 (.40) | 2.28 (.40) | 2.54 (.44) | 2.50 (.41) |
p < .05 level (2-tailed)
p < .01 level (2-tailed)
Relationships between parental acculturation attitudes and demographic variables of parental age, education, occupation, length of residency in the Untied States, and family income were also examined. Both less educated mothers (r = −.21, p < .05) and fathers (r = −.24, p < .05) tended to score higher on separation. Mothers who scored higher on marginalization tended to be less educated (r = −.36, p < .01) and had less family income (r = −.22, p < .05). No other demographic variable was related to acculturation attitudes.
As shown in Table 5, mothers and fathers who scored; higher on integration were more fluent in the Korean language and maintaining Korean daily lifestyles. In addition, fathers thought that it would be important to learn American culture and English by themselves and by their children. In contrast, mothers and fathers who scored higher on assimilation were less fluent in Korean language. These mothers were less likely to maintain Korean daily lifestyles and felt that it was not important for them or their children to maintain Korean culture and language. Mothers and fathers who scored higher on marginalization and separation were less likely to be fluent in English and were less likely to practice American lifestyles. In addition, fathers who scored higher on separation thought that it would not be important for them and for their adolescents to learn American culture and English.
DISCUSSION
This study both confirms earlier work on Korean Americans and adds new findings to the field. Overall, Korean American families (mothers, fathers, and adolescents) have maintained Korean cultural and linguistic characteristics with importance placed on learning American values, customs, and English. This phenomenon is consistent with the concept of integration, where immigrants seek to balance mainstream and heritage cultures, an outlook that is considered most successful in adaptation (Berry, 2006).
Results, however, further empirically confirmed different levels of acculturation between parent and adolescent generations, which was discussed in many previous anecdotal articles (Kim & Choi, 1994; Kim, Kim, & Rue, 1997). This was most notable with respect to parents placing higher expectations on adolescents to learn American values, customs, and English rather than maintaining Korean values, customs, and language. This is probably related to the fact that parents are likely recognizing that for their adolescents to succeed academically and socially they need to have more knowledge about American values and customs. Parents also recognize that their adolescents must be competent in both English and Korean, but precedence should be placed on English.
Conversely, adolescents placed less emphasis on their parents learning American values and customs than maintaining Korean values and customs. This may be due to adolescents seeing their parents take pleasure from involvement in Korean cultural and linguistic activities. It may also be that adolescents recognize the psychological benefits that their parents derive from maintaining a Korean identity and social connections. Adolescents feel that it is less important for their parents to learn about American society. Maintenance of one’s Korean identity and traditions was related to better mental health among Korean Americans (Oh, Koeske, & Sales, 2002). The relative heterogeneity of American society, accepting diversity in culture and customs, may also give support to this outlook. It could also be the case that the adolescents have “given up” in terms of expecting that their parents will learn American values and customs; or they may just have a very realistic view of what is possible to change.
However, this viewpoint by parents and adolescents does not extend to parental English proficiency. Almost all parents (95–96%) and adolescents (92%) thought that it would be important for parents to learn English, which is in sharp contrast with their actual English fluency. Almost all of the mothers and fathers were fluent in Korean but limited in English abilities. For example, while 99–100% of parents were fluent in speaking Korean, only 21 % of mothers and 40% of fathers reported speaking English “fairly well” or “well.” In contrast, 95% of adolescents reported speaking English at these levels but only 59% of adolescents indicated this level of fluency in speaking Korean. These results are consistent with previous research findings that only 11–22% of Korean Americans reported that they spoke English “well” or “fluently,” whereas 40–78% of Korean Americans reported that they spoke English “not at all” or “poorly” (Juon et al., 2003; Kim & Lauderdale, 2002; Kim et al., 1999).
One explanation for this discrepancy is that while Korean American family members, especially adolescents, are supportive of parents maintaining native values and customs, when it comes time for interaction within an American social context the adolescents expect that their parent can converse in English. Another explanation, and worthy of further exploration, may simply relate to the language barrier between parents and adolescents. In an earlier study, about 78% of Korean American adolescents were concerned about their parents’ limited English proficiency (Park, 1995). This discrepancy in English and Korean language fluency may be an important reason that contributes to difficulty in establishing meaningful communication between Korean American parents and children or adolescents described in earlier literature (Kim & Hong, 2007: Lee & Cynn, 1991).
Another interesting observation is the different levels of English fluency by mothers and fathers. More fathers reported speaking English at higher levels than mothers. This may be related with the traditional roles and expectations that more fathers are working outside of the home (mean working hours 47.84, SD = 14.11) to support families, where expectations and opportunities for using English are greater, while mothers worked part time (mean working hours = 26.46, SD = 21.30) so that they could also fulfill traditional roles of housewives and child caregivers.
Mothers and fathers reported high frequencies of maintaining Korean daily lifestyles of food, watching Korean television and videos, visiting Korean friends, and engaging in Korean organizations while adopting some of American daily lifestyles. These results are consistent with previous findings of Hurh et al. (1979) and Kim and Hurh (1993). Adolescents in this study seemed to be more balanced in both Korean and American lifestyles. Adolescents reported eating both Korean food (97%) and American food (76%) “fairly often or very often.” This is probably related to the fact that they spend daytime at school where American lunch is provided. Further study on the effect of adolescents’ change in diet on their health is warranted. Adolescents also appeared to visit both Korean and American friends, as well as participating in both Korean and American organizations more frequently than their parents. This, too, is likely due to their social milieu, as other American children frequently surround them in their school environment.
Korean American mothers and fathers endorsed integration the most, followed by marginalization, separation, and integration. Correlations between acculturation attitudes and their characteristics were very consistent with the conceptualization of acculturation framework and previous findings among Korean Canadians (Kim, 1988; Kim & Berry, 1984). According to the multicultural acculturation framework, the commonality between integration and assimilation is that immigrants adopt mainstream culture and the difference is that integration maintains the heritage culture while assimilation doesn’t (Berry, 2006). This conceptualization is well reflected in the positive correlation between integration and maintenance of Korean values, customs, language, and lifestyles while assimilation has a negative correlation with these variables.
What does not show well in this study sample is that both integration and assimilation were not positively correlated with adopting American values and customs except for fathers who were high in integration; these men had a desire to learn American culture and English for both themselves and for their children. In this sample, integration is more related to maintaining Korean identity and assimilation is more associated with losing Korean identity. This finding is probably related to the fact that the mothers and fathers were first generation Korean Americans who came to the United States as adults except one mother and one father who were born in the Untied States. Being first-generation immigrants, these mothers and fathers are more likely in a survival mode; more time is spent on establishing their family as a functional unit in the United States (i.e., working and establishing financial security) rather than learning American culture and English. These parents also do not seem to associate with Americans, which is reflected in higher numbers of Korean friends and very low frequency of visiting American friends or participation in American organizations. Being the head of the household, fathers work long hours for financial security and may have more contact with Americans than mothers who work part time in fulfilling the traditional role as housewives and child care providers. The result of this is decreased access for mothers for learning American culture and English.
The conceptual similarity between marginalization and separation is that immigrants do not adopt mainstream culture. The difference between these two attitudes is that separation maintains the heritage culture while marginalization does not maintain it (Berry, 2006). This conceptualization is well reflected in fathers who are high in separation and thus more likely to maintain Korean values, customs, and language while they were less likely to adopt American values, customs, language, as well as less likely to be fluent in English and to be living American life styles. Marginalization was found to be only related to low fluency in English and less practicing of American daily lifestyles. Those parents who scored high in marginalization are more like to be isolated from both Korean and American culture. One explanation is that isolation was the reason they left Korea but they also may find that they do not fit into American society.
The findings have several implications for nurses. First, nurses should take into consideration that Korean Americans maintain their traditional cultural values, customs, and language. An example of respectable care might include providing an environment where patients feel comfortable bringing in Korean food to the hospital. Health care organizations must offer and provide language assistant services to Korean American patients with limited English proficiency at all points of contact in a timely manner during all hours of operation (The Office of Minority Health, 2000), This should include both providing interpreters and preparing patient education materials in Korean language. Providing bicultural and bilingual staff that understand both Korean and American cultures would also increase effective delivery of culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services.
CONCLUSION
This paper provides updated information about Korean Americans and documents the differing levels of acculturation between fathers, mothers, and adolescents. This paper also supports the multicultural acculturation framework. These findings can be used to increase understanding of health care practitioners who care for Korean American families. Furthermore, these findings shed light on a possible language barrier between children and their parents; this is an area that needs further exploration. How can parents communicate with their children if they speak a different language? Another area worthy of exploration may be the effect that the Internet has on acculturation. It is not known how the growing use of information technology affects values orientation, language fluency, and daily lifestyles changes in Korean Americans. Through further research, the goal of providing evidence based culturally competent care can be promoted.
Acknowledgments
The NRSA (NR07499) fellowship awarded to the first author supported this paper.
Footnotes
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