Living for the Children: Immigrant Korean Mothers' Re-creation of Family after Marital Dissolution

Abstract

Purpose: This study was a grounded theory research aimed at generating a substantive theory that accounts for the explanatory social processes in which immigrant Korean single-mother families were engaged in the United States. Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 15 immigrant Korean single mothers who were living with children under 18 years of age at the time of the interviews. Data collection guided by theoretical sampling and concurrent constant comparative analysis of the transcribed data was conducted to identify the core social process. Results: The emerged core social process was "living for the children," which represented the driving process by which these women made transition to their new lives as single-mother families. The major task throughout the entire transition was re-creating their families. The women's transition involved practical and psychological transitions. The practical transition involved three stages: assuring family survival, struggling between the father role and the mother role, and stabilizing. The psychological transition involved becoming strong and settling in with a new supportive network. Conclusion: Study results added to the literature by elaborating the women's emphasis on maternal identity and the resilience-provoking nature of the women's transitions.