Stress, Self-esteem, and Powerlessness in Korean Husbands Married to Foreign Wives

Kyeha Kim; Jeong Ju Sun; Suk Hee Oh

doi:10.12799/jkachn.2013.24.1.29

Journal List > J Korean Acad Community Health Nurs > v.24(1) > 1058312

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Kim, Sun, and Oh: Stress, Self-esteem, and Powerlessness in Korean Husbands Married to Foreign Wives

Original Article

Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing

Journal of Korean Academy of Community Health Nursing 2013; 24(1): 29-39.

Published online: 31 March 2013

DOI: https://doi.org/10.12799/jkachn.2013.24.1.29

Stress, Self-esteem, and Powerlessness in Korean Husbands Married to Foreign Wives

Kyeha Kim¹, Jeong Ju Sun², Suk Hee Oh³

¹Department of Nursing, Chosun University, Gwangju, Korea.

²Department of Nursing, Chongam College, Suncheon, Korea.

³Department of Nursing, Jeonbuk Science College, Jeongeup, Korea.

Corresponding author: Kim, Kye Ha. Department of Nursing, Chosun University, 309 Pilmun-daero, Dong-gu, Gwangju 501-759, Korea. Tel: +82-62-230-6326, Fax: +82-62-230-6329, kyehakim@hanmail.net

Received 6 November 2012 Accepted 6 March 2013

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate levels of stress, self-esteem, and powerlessness in Korean husbands married to foreigner wives.

Methods

The subjects were 183 Korean men who were living with foreigner wives in the Gwangju, Jeonnam and Jeonnbuk areas. Data were collected from January to May 2012 and analyzed by descriptive statistics, t-test, one-way ANOVA, Scheffé test, Pearson's correlation coefficient, and backward multiple regression with the SPSS PC WIN version 18.0.

Results

The average level of stress was 4.48, with difficulties in international marriage experienced by the subjects due to differences in language and culture. The average reported self-esteem score was 29.69, and the average powerlessness score 117.76. There were significant differences in perceived powerlessness depending on the employment statuses, income levels, and nationalities of the participants' wives, and their perceived levels of satisfaction with living with a foreigner wife. Powerlessness was positively correlated with stress (r=.41, p<.001), and negatively correlated with self-esteem(r=-.63, p<.001). The factors affecting the perceived powerlessness included self-esteem (β=-.54, p<.001), stress (β=.28, p<.001), lower income (β=.13, p=.016), and working wife (β=.12, p=.036).

Conclusion

Healthcare providers need to explore strategies to improve self-esteem and powerlessness in Korean men married to foreigner wives.

Keywords: Stress, Self-esteem, Helplessness, Men, Marriage

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General Characteristics (N=183)

^†Multiple response.

Table 2

Levels of Variables (N=183)

Table 3

Stress, Self-esteem, and Powerlessness by General Characteristics (N=183)

Table 4

Correlation among Study Variables (N=183)

Table 5

Multiple Regression Analysis for Powerlessness^† (N=183)

^†Backward multiple linear regression; Independent variables: Stress, self-esteem, the presence of job of the wife, less than 1,000,000 (won/month), Philippines, and satisfaction in living with a wife.

Notes

This study was supported by research fund from Chosun University, 2011.

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