The marital adjustment processes of Korean working-class couples

119 Pages·2016·1.84 MB·English

Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and
Retrospective Theses and Dissertations
Dissertations
1987
The marital adjustment processes of Korean
working-class couples
Sook-Hyun Lee Choi
Iowa State University
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Recommended Citation
Choi, Sook-Hyun Lee, "The marital adjustment processes of Korean working-class couples " (1987).Retrospective Theses and
Dissertations. 8626.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/8626
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The marital adjustment processes of Korean working-class
couples
Choi, Sook-Hyun Lee, Ph.D.
Iowa State University, 1987
UM-I
300 N. ZeebRd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48106

The marital adjustment processes of
Korean working-class couples
by
Sook-Hyun Lee Choi
A Dissertation Submitted to the
Graduate Faculty in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Department: Sociology and Anthropology
Major: Sociology
Approved:
Signature was redacted for privacy.
In Charge of Major Work
Signature was redacted for privacy.
Signature was redacted for privacy.
For the Graduate College
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa
1987
ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
DEDICATION iv
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1
Statement of the Problem 3
CHAPTER II. LITERATURE REVIEW 7
Definition of Marital Adjustment 7
Correlates of Marital Adjustment 12
Affectional correlates 14
Instrumental correlates 20
Adjustment to Parenthood 22
CHAPTER III. METHODS 27
Sample 27
The Interviews 28
Measures 30
Sampling Characteristics 32
Analyses 32
CHAPTER IV. RESULTS 34
The Korean Working-class Couples 34
Adjustment to Marriage 36
Family roles 39
Handling finances 42
Decision-making 44
Companionship 47
Communication and self-disclosure 49 '
Sexual adjustment 53
Marital conflicts 56
Results from Dyadic Adjustment Scale (DAS) 58
iii
Adjustment to Relationships with In-laws 60
Quality of interaction with in-laws 60
In-law problems 64
Conflict resolution 68
Benefits and costs of coresidence 70
Adjustment to Parenthood 72
Unplanned but expected parenthood 72
Crisis or transition 74
Changes in the marital relationship 75
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS 79
REFERENCES 86
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 94
APPENDIX A. QUESTIONS FOR IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS 96
APPENDIX B. SELF-ADMINISTERED QUESTIONNAIRE 101
APPENDIX C. SUMMARY TABLES OF FINDINGS 108
iv
DEDICATION
Dedicated
to
the Korean working-class couples
who shared their stories of their marital lives
with me and made this dissertation possible
1
CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION
In 1976 Lillian Rubin published an extraordinary study
of American families. She interviewed in-depth fifty
white, American, working-class families, in a suburb in
California. In Worlds of Pain, Rubin was concerned
with "class differences—differences in the subjective and
objective experience that lead to differences between
working-class and middle-class families in attitudes and
behaviors, in ways of being and doing" (1976: 9).
Her book was about some of the men and women who live
in white working-class families which are so often neglected
in marriage and family studies. It was about their origins,
courtships, the quality of family life, their definitions of
a good marriage, their work, and their dreams for the
future. She described the life in the working-class family
as worlds of pain. The families were suffering from early
marriage, unplanned parenthood, insecure economic realities,
distinct role segregation, and a lack of models for com­
panionate marriage—pains that are rooted in class situation
and experience.
Rubin's work is very culture-specific: white, American,
working-class families in California. Would the findings be
different for other cultures? Would we find a world of love
or pain and the same family and heterosexual dynamics for
Korean couples in Korea, some of whom have extended family