Depression in Non-Korean Women Residing in South Korea Following Marriage to Korean Men

PurposeThe purpose of the study was to examine the roles of acculturative stress, life satisfaction, and language literacy in depression in non-Korean women residing in South Korea following marriage to Korean men.MethodsA cross-sectional study was performed, using an anonymous, self-reporting questionnaire. A total of 173 women were selected using a proportional stratified random sampling method. The relation between acculturation, depression, language literacy, life satisfaction and socio-demographic variables and the predictors of depression among participants were analyzed. The analysis included descriptive statistics and hierarchical multiple regression.ResultsOf the participants, 9.2% had depression, which was almost twice the rate of depression found in the general Korean population. In hierarchical multiple regression analysis, acculturative stress (beta = − .325, P < .001) and life satisfaction (beta = − .282, P = .003) were significantly associated with the level of depression. This final model was statistically significant and life satisfaction, acculturative stress, language literacy accounted for 31.0% (adjusted R2) of the variance in the depression score (P < .001).ConclusionsElevated acculturative stress and less life satisfaction were significantly associated with a higher level of depression in migrant wives in Korea. Implications for practice and research are discussed.