How do Multicultural Family Children have Cultural Identity?

• In Event: 469 - Section on International Migration Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 17. Ethnic Identities and Boundary Movements

Abstract

Since the child rearing often involves the combined efforts of parents, the degree of recognizing different cultures within households will vary depending on the characteristics of international couple consisting of a foreign mother and a Korean father. By using “A National Survey on Multicultural Families in 2012”, this study explores the possibility of having a multiculturalism which grants the full acceptance of cultural identity. Measuring the extent of cultural identity such as the foreign language proficiency and preference, and the ethnic pride through the merged dataset from every family member within a household will encourage the need to look at the heterogeneity of multicultural families.
The examination of all the variables demonstrates the following results: a) social distance effect – the further social distance a foreign mother is perceived, the more positive effect she has on her child’s language and ethnic pride; b) willingness effect – the higher education level of a Korean father causes the higher level of language proficiency and preference; and, c) interaction effect – the higher attachment with a foreign mother increases the language level while that with both parents results in higher ethnic pride. Other meaningful findings include the effects of a Korean father’s foreign language skill and life satisfaction level, suggesting the importance of a member from a hosting country. Moreover, the experience of discrimination as well as the residence among multicultural family children show a positive and a negative influence on the cultural identity, respectively.

Author

• Soo Jin Cho, Yonsei University