This study assessed the levels of parenting efficacy, parenting stress, and acculturation stress of North Korean refugee mothers and analyzed their effects on parent-child relations.
A descriptive study design was used. Data were collected during 2019, and 124 North Korean refugee mothers participated.
The mean score for parenting efficacy was 53.08 out of 90, that for parent-child relations was 37.84 out of 50, and that for parenting stress was 48.57 out of 90. The parental stress score was higher than that of child-related stress. The acculturation stress level was 90.66 out of 165, with the highest stress levels found for social isolation and distrust and the lowest found for perceived discrimination. Parenting efficacy, parenting stress, acculturation stress, and parent-child relations were significantly related in North Korean refugee mothers. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that the final model had an explanatory power of 35% for parent-child relations (F=17.68,
The findings suggest the need to identify ways to decrease parenting stress and improve parenting efficacy. Parenting education can guide North Korean refugee mothers to strengthen their parent-child interactions.
In recent years, crimes against humanity-including violence against and abuse of children-have become an increasingly important social issue, and proper parenting education is becoming increasingly necessary due to the behaviors and attitudes of parents who are unable to distinguish between violence and discipline and believe that children are their possessions [
Parents are the closest personal environment that children encounter immediately after birth and significantly influence children's intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development [
In general, North Korean refugee mothers are likely to have experienced numerous difficulties in North Korea, and they learn to adapt to and nurture their children in a different culture after their defection. Furthermore, most of them have serious physical and mental injuries from their repressed lives in the closed society of North Korea and hardships during defection [
Moreover, the migration and settlement processes are replete with adverse experiences such as injuries, violence, and loss of family members, and settling in a new environment is a grave challenge that entails homesickness, loneliness, lack of a support system, stigma, and unemployment. These trigger acculturative stress, thereby exacerbating refugees' mental health and aggravating poverty and social isolation [
Meanwhile, parenting efficacy enables effective coping with stressful situations in parenting, and it refers to parents' level of confidence and belief that they can confidently play a successful parental role based on their parenting knowledge and behavior [
The mental health and parenting efficacy of refugee parents are also correlated with the health, education, employment, and crime rates of their children [
In particular, parent-child conflict can result in a form of trauma involving the absence of one's will, caused by mothers who dismantle and reorganize the family during defection [
Parent education programs that suit the characteristics of North Korean refugees have not been developed owing to the limited accessibility of the subjects, and research studies by only a few groups have analyzed the parenting experiences and characteristics of North Korean refugee parents, the effects of parenting behavior on children, and the demand for child education support [
Ethics statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Hannam University (No. 2019-02-11-0918). Informed consent was obtained from the participants.
This was a descriptive research study conducted to evaluate parenting efficacy, parenting stress, and acculturation stress of North Korean refugee mothers and analyze the effects of these factors on parent-child relations.
The subjects of this study were North Korean refugees with children under the age of 20 years who were registered from January 2019 to December 2019 at Saejowi, a nonprofit organization in South Korea that assists North Korean refugee resettlement by providing medical assistance, counseling, training, and employment services, and local North Korean refugee counseling centers. The number of subjects was calculated using G*Power 3.1.7, and the required number of subjects for regression analysis with an effect size of .15, a power of .80, a significance level of .05, and six predictive factors was 98. Considering a dropout rate of roughly 20%, 118 subjects were required. In this study, 138 mothers who were able to communicate, understood the purpose and methods of this study, and agreed to participate in the study were included, and data from 124 mothers were secured, excluding eight subjects whose responses were below the expected quality.
Parenting efficacy, also referred to as parental efficacy, was assessed using the Parenting Sense of Competence scale for parents with children under 18 years of age, which was originally developed by Gibaud-Wallston and Wandersman [
The Parenting Stress Index was utilized by modifying the tool developed by Kim [
The Acculturative Stress Scale for international students, which was developed by Sandhu and Asrabadi [
Parent-child relations were assessed using the tool developed by Kim [
After obtaining approval from the Institutional Review Board of Hannam University (No. 2019-02-11-0918), permission was obtained from the representative of Saejowi to recruit North Korean refugee mothers with children through the cooperation of local counselors. The survey was conducted by a research assistant who explained the purpose and content of this study in a way that was easy for the subjects to understand. Additionally, the subjects were explained that this was an anonymous survey with no possible leakage of personal information or threat to personal safety and that participation was voluntary without any negative effects. The subjects were also informed that they could withdraw from the study at any time before, during, or after the study without any disadvantages. We explained that all information would be coded and safely processed only for the purpose of this study, and those who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study were selected. A self-report questionnaire was then completed by the subjects after they provided written consent for participation. Approximately 15-20 minutes were required to complete the questionnaire, and a small gift was given after questionnaire completion as a token of gratitude for participation.
The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). The general characteristics of the subjects were presented as real numbers and percentages, and general characteristics, parenting efficacy, parenting stress, acculturation stress, and parent-child relations were presented as percentage, mean, and standard deviation (SD). Differences in parenting efficacy, parenting stress, acculturation stress, and parent-child relations according to general characteristics were analyzed using the t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The correlations between the variables were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients, and factors that affected parent-child relations were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression.
More than 70% of the subjects were in their 30s and 40s. Of these, 64.6% had defected alone to South Korea, and 19.4% and 45.2% were married in North Korea or China and in a third country, respectively. Three-quarters (75.0%) of the subjects had a middle and high school education. Regarding the number of children, 54.0%, 39.5%, and 6.5% of the subjects had one, two, and three children, respectively. Prior to their defection, 38.8% of the subjects were laborers. Slightly more than half (54.0%) of the subjects had been living in South Korea for 4-6 months. Parenting efficacy, parenting stress, acculturation stress, and parent-child relations were not significantly different according to the general characteristics of the subjects (
The mean score for parenting efficacy of the subjects was 53.08±6.83 out of 90 points (3.32±0.43 on a 5-point scale), and the score for parenting stress was 48.57±7.39 out of 90 points (2.70±0.41 points on a 5-point scale). In detail, the scores of items on parental stress and child-related stress were 23.73± 4.05 points (2.97±0.51 points on a 5-point scale) and 24.85± 4.77 points (2.49±0.48 points on a 5-point scale), respectively, suggesting that parental stress was higher than child-related stress. Parent-child relations showed a mean score of 37.84± 85.90 out of 50 points (3.78±0.59 on a 5-point scale) (
A mean score of 2.75±0.42 out of 5 points was observed for acculturation stress. For its sub-domains, other problems related to social isolation, inferiority, distrust, and communication had the highest score with 2.98±0.47 points, followed by guilt with 2.88±0.83 points, which was higher than the total mean score. The sub-domain with the lowest score was perceived discrimination, with 2.32±0.59 points (
Parenting efficacy was negatively correlated with parenting stress (r=-.54,
Hierarchical regression analysis was performed by inputting acculturation stress, parenting stress, and parenting efficacy at each stage to identify factors that affected parent-child relations. Moreover, the education level of the subjects, which was observed as a meaningful variable in previous studies [
Autocorrelation (Durbin-Watson statistic=1.99), normality, and linearity (normal P-P plot and histogram of residuals), and equal variance (scatter plot) of residuals were assessed to review the basic assumptions of regression analysis. The tolerance limit to confirm the multicollinearity of the errors in this model was .63-.99, which was less than 1.0, and the variance inflation factor was 1.01-1.59, which did not exceed the standard value of 10. Therefore, the basic assumptions of regression analysis were satisfied.
The first model, in which the education level and acculturation stress of the subjects were included, showed an explanatory power of 15% for parent-child relations, and the model was statistically significant (F=11.98,
This study assessed the levels of parenting efficacy, parenting stress, and acculturation stress from various adaption processes in North Korean refugee mothers, and the effects of these factors on parent-child relations were also evaluated to provide basic data for parenting education that can promote the development and stable settlement of refugee families.
The parenting efficacy of the subjects was 53.08 out of 90 points, which corresponded to 3.32 points on a 5-point scale. The score was lower than the score of 3.60 points in mothers of multi-cultural families with adolescent children [
In our study, the total score for parenting stress was 48.57 out of 90 points, which was 2.70 points on a 5-point scale. The sub-domains of parental stress and child-related stress showed scores of 2.97 and 2.49, respectively, suggesting that parental stress was higher than child-related. Although the same tool was not used for evaluation, our finding is similar to the level of parenting stress in married migrant women, which was reported to be 2.73 points [
Parent-child relations play an important role in the development of children. In this study, a score of 3.78 points on a 5-point scale was observed for parent-child relations, and although different tools were used for assessment, the score in our study was lower than the 4.29 points for parent-child relations perceived by married migrant women [
In our study, a mean score of 2.75 on a 5-point scale was observed for acculturation stress. For its sub-domains, other problems related to social isolation, inferiority, distrust, and communication had the highest score at 2.98 points, followed by guilt with 2.88 points, and the sub-domain with the lowest score was perceived discrimination with 2.32 points. However, our score is less than the score of 3.35 points observed in a study by Lee et al. [
Similar to the results of a previous study [
In particular, effective communication measures such as listening and sympathizing for positive interactions with receptive attitudes toward children and educational support to strengthen parenting interaction skills would be necessary to form strong parent-child relations. For those who require help from clinical experts, strategies to improve interactions through individual counseling need to be sought, and family counseling programs for the whole family (i.e., not limited to mothers), activities for parents and children, and therapeutic play activities [
This study provides information on the parenting of North Korean refugee mothers by showing the influence of parenting efficacy and parenting stress on the relations between North Korean refugee mothers and children. As parenting efficacy, self-esteem, and social acculturation stress of North Korean refugee fathers were not assessed, the influence of these factors through other parameters could not be evaluated. However, this study is significant in that it is the first to present the influence of parenting efficacy and parenting stress on the relations between North Korean refugee mothers and children. Nonetheless, the results have limited generalizability, as only the minimal number of subjects required for data analysis was included in the study owing to the limited accessibility of the target subjects. Thus, it would be necessary to include a higher number of subjects in future studies. In addition, although we did not include factors such as children's age and sex in our analysis, future studies should also examine parenting behaviors and specific parenting difficulties according to children's traits, including their personalities or behavioral and emotional characteristics, when assessing parenting educational needs. Since many variables affect childrearing among migrant refugees, it is also necessary to compare them with South Korean mothers through qualitative research on their parenting stress and parenting efficacy factors. It would also be necessary to develop and verify the effects of customized parenting education programs tailored to the characteristics of North Korean refugee families.
Parenting is one of the difficulties faced by North Korean refugee families, who experience physical and psychological stress during defection and adaptation in South Korean society. In this study, parenting efficacy, parenting stress, acculturation stress, and parent-child relations of North Korean refugee mothers were significantly related, and parenting efficacy and parenting stress influenced parent-child relations. Thus, parenting education interventions that improve parenting efficacy and alleviate parenting stress should be developed to foster positive parenting behaviors and desirable parent-child relations, in order to promote healthy parent-child interactions. Healthy parenting in North Korean refugee families will promote positive development of the children and help families to have a healthy and quality life in South Korean society. We believe that the findings of this study will be valuable as baseline data for developing programs that can help North Korean refugees and migrant families to settle stably and raise their children in a new environment.
Conceptualization: all authors; Data collection: Jung-Hee Jeon; Formal analysis: In-Sook Lee; Writing-original draft: Jung-Hee Jeon; Writing-review and editing: In-Sook Lee; Final approval of published version: all authors.
No existing or potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
This study was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (No. NRF-2019R1C1C1003087).
Please contact the corresponding author for data availability.
None.
General Characteristics and the Degree of Parenting Efficacy, Parenting Stress, Acculturation Stress, and Parent-Child Relations (
Variables | Categories | n (%) or M±SD | Parenting efficacy |
Parenting stress |
Acculturation stress |
Parent-child relations |
||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
M±SD | F ( |
M±SD | F ( |
M±SD | F ( |
M±SD | F ( |
|||
Age (year) | ≤29 | 14 (11.3) | 54.43±5.15 | 0.22 (.882) | 48.64±6.27 | 0.32 (.812) | 90.00±130.21 | 2.14 (.099) | 39.36±4.50 | 0.70 (.553) |
30-39 | 56 (45.2) | 53.05±7.81 | 48.21±8.19 | 87.68±12.60 | 38.21±6.74 | |||||
40-49 | 31 (25.0) | 52.84±5.83 | 48.19±7.33 | 92.68±15.23 | 37.13±5.37 | |||||
≥50 | 23 (18.5) | 52.65±6.68 | 49.91±6.22 | 95.61±14.10 | 36.96±5.10 | |||||
36.7±9.1 | ||||||||||
Spouse status | With spouse from North Korea | 5 (4.0) | 57.20±9.42 | 0.81 (.492) | 48.40±4.72 | 0.22 (.884) | 90.20±10.52 | 0.01 (.998) | 36.00±5.79 | 0.40 (.756) |
Defection alone without spouse | 24 (19.4) | 53.13±6.05 | 49.67±5.70 | 90.42±14.19 | 37.42±4.60 | |||||
Defection alone without spouse, married in a third country | 56 (45.2) | 53.27±5.93 | 48.23±9.07 | 90.55±15.61 | 38.39±5.37 | |||||
Cohabitation | 39 (31.4) | 52.27±8.10 | 48.41±5.89 | 91.03±11.51 | 37.54±6.97 | |||||
Education level | Elementary school graduation | 10 (8.1) | 50.30±5.87 | 1.31 (.275) | 52.80±7.47 | 2.52 (.084) | 96.60±16.35 | 1.03 (.359) | 38.20±5.88 | 0.42 (.657) |
Middle-high school graduation | 93 (75.0) | 53.05±6.80 | 47.82±7.42 | 90.29±13.74 | 38.04±5.85 | |||||
≥College graduation | 21 (16.9) | 54.52±7.25 | 49.90±6.62 | 89.48±12.94 | 36.76±6.28 | |||||
Number of children | 1 | 67 (54.0) | 52.94±7.05 | 0.25 (.778) | 48.90±7.23 | 0.26 (.775) | 89.63±13.67 | 1.53 (.221) | 37.91±5.98 | 0.18 (.836) |
2 | 49 (39.5) | 53.49±6.69 | 48.00±7.80 | 90.78±14.22 | 37.94±5.79 | |||||
≥3 | 8 (6.5) | 51.75±6.30 | 48.38±6.67 | 98.63±11.39 | 36.63±6.48 | |||||
Occupation before defection |
Unemployed | 23 (18.5) | 54.30±6.47 | 1.61 (.177) | 48.57±5.03 | 2.26 (.275) | 90.52±11.93 | 1.74 (.145) | 37.57±6.58 | 1.69 (.157) |
Farmer | 16 (12.9) | 51.88±6.27 | 48.50±6.39 | 94.25±11.44 | 37.25±5.94 | |||||
Laborer | 48 (38.8) | 51.60±7.32 | 49.29±7.95 | 92.52±15.35 | 37.08±6.08 | |||||
Professional or soldier or student | 14 (11.3) | 55.86±5.93 | 43.36±11.10 | 82.71±15.39 | 41.57±5.64 | |||||
Self-employment or other | 23 (18.5) | 54.09±6.57 | 50.30±4.76 | 89.26±11.62 | 37.83±4.34 | |||||
Occupation before defection |
Unemployed | 27 (21.8) | 50.96±6.22 | 1.31 (.274) | 49.67±9.21 | 0.33 (.807) | 93.22±15.09 | 0.80 (.494) | 37.52±5.99 | 0.69 (.558) |
Farmer | 35 (28.2) | 53.17±6.92 | 47.97±6.64 | 91.91±14.44 | 38.97±5.22 | |||||
Professional or soldier or student | 18 (14.5) | 53.22±6.55 | 49.00±5.56 | 89.83±14.13 | 36.72±5.68 | |||||
Self-employment or other | 44 (35.5) | 54.25±7.13 | 48.57±7.53 | 88.43±12.45 | 37.59±6.46 | |||||
Period post-arrival in South Korea (month) | ≤3 | 31 (25.0) | 53.26±7.14 | 1.25 (.294) | 48.00±6.13 | 2.15 (.098) | 90.84±12.37 | 0.02 (.997) | 38.42±4.75 | 0.40 (.755) |
4-6 | 67 (54.1) | 53.40±5.85 | 48.73±7.72 | 90.66±14.59 | 37.99±5.85 | |||||
7-12 | 20 (16.1) | 53.30±8.75 | 46.90±7.16 | 90.75±12.04 | 36.70±6.95 | |||||
≥13 | 6 (4.8) | 47.83±7.88 | 55.33±8.24 | 89.50±20.58 | 37.00±8.72 |
North Korea;
China or third country.
Parenting Efficacy, Parenting Stress, Parent-Child Relations, and Acculturation Stress (
Variables | Categories | M±SD | Range | M±SD (5 points) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Parenting efficacy | 53.08±6.83 | 38-73 | 3.32±0.43 | |
Total parenting stress | 48.57±7.39 | 19-65 | 2.70±0.41 | |
Parental stress | 23.73±4.05 | 8-32 | 2.97±0.51 | |
Child-related stress | 24.85±4.77 | 11-38 | 2.49±0.48 | |
Parent-child relations | 37.84±5.90 | 21-50 | 3.78±0.59 | |
Acculturation stress | Perceived discrimination | 13.94±3.55 | 6-23 | 2.32±0.59 |
Homesickness | 14.39±2.90 | 5-20 | 2.60±0.72 | |
Perceived hostility | 11.98±2.85 | 5-18 | 2.40±0.57 | |
Culture shock | 7.35±1.88 | 3-11 | 2.45±0.63 | |
Fear | 10.43±2.82 | 5-17 | 2.61±0.71 | |
Guilt | 5.77±1.65 | 2-10 | 2.88±0.83 | |
Others |
26.81±4.26 | 13-37 | 2.98±0.47 | |
Total score | 90.66±13.83 | 56-130 | 2.75±0.42 |
Social isolation, inferiority, distrust, sorrow, etc.
Correlations between Research Variables (
Variables | Parenting efficacy |
Parent-child relations |
Parenting stress |
---|---|---|---|
r ( |
r ( |
r ( |
|
Parent-child relations | .53 (<.001) | ||
Parenting stress | -.54 (<.001) | -.49 (<.001) | |
Acculturation stress | -.43 (<.001) | -.39 (<.001) | .48 (<.001) |
Hierarchical Regression Analysis of Variables Influencing Parent-Child Relations (
Variables | Step 1 |
Step 2 |
Step 3 |
||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
B | SE | β | t | B | SE | β | t | B | SE | β | t | ||||
Educational level | -1.36 | .99 | -.11 | 1.36 | .176 | -1.28 | .93 | -.11 | 1.38 | .171 | -1.73 | .88 | -.15 | 1.97 | .051 |
Acculturation stress | -0.17 | .03 | -.40 | 4.82 | <.001 | -0.09 | .04 | -.21 | 2.38 | .019 | -0.06 | .04 | -.14 | 1.58 | .116 |
Parenting stress | -0.32 | .07 | -.40 | 4.49 | <.001 | -0.19 | .07 | -.24 | 2.61 | .010 | |||||
Parenting efficacy | 0.31 | .08 | .36 | 4.07 | <.001 | ||||||||||
R2 (∆ R2) / Adj. R2 | .17 / .15 | .29 (.12) / .27 | .37 (.09) / .35 | ||||||||||||
F ( |
11.98 (<.001) | 15.99 (<.001) | 17.68 (<.001) |