Does multicultural education affect bachelor of social work students' attitudes? The Taiwanese case of female Southeast Asian marriage immigration

Abstract

In the past two decades, intra-Asia cross-border marriage immigration has become a significant phenomenon. This study collected questionnaire data from Bachelor of Social Work students (n = 1,232) in Taiwan to explore the influences of multicultural education, intergroup contact experience, and demographic characteristics on students' attitudes toward female Southeast Asian marriage migrants. Regression analysis revealed that students' attitudes are improved by direct contact with female Southeast Asian marriage migrants but are not correlated with students' demographic characteristics. Although pre-college multicultural education improves students' attitudes, college-level multicultural education adversely affects the attitudes of students who perform poorly in multicultural courses. These findings have valuable implications for social work educators. K E Y W O R D Smarriage immigrants, multicultural education, social work, Southeast Asia, Taiwan