Abstract
The study explored the incidence of spouse abuse in Korean American families and interrelations between conjugal violence, marital power structure, stress, and socioeconomic and cultural factors. Rate of conjugal violence in these families is higher than those for other Asian American families. Data were collected from 256 families selected at random. In male dominant couples, rate of severe violence, wife beating, was four times higher than that of egalitarian couples. Husbands who experienced higher levels of stress had a greater rate of assaulting their wives. Wives in egalitarian and female dominant couples experienced a lower amount of stress and shared more decision-making power than did those in the male dominant couples. The longer the couples had been in the United States and the more American education they had received, the more egalitarian and female-dominant marital relations they tended to have. The residual influence of the traditional culture, in which they lived prior to immigration, is a factor suggesting why men were more abusive than women. Cultural differences associated with conjugal violence and needs for services are discussed.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Bui, H. N., and Morash, M. (1999). Domestic violence in the Vietnamese immigrant community: An exploratory study. Viol. Against Women 5: 769–795.
Chosun Ilbo (The Chosun Daily News: The Los Angeles Edition). April 6 1990; October 22 1991; January 2, 6, 1992; March 3, 4, 9, 13, 17, 25, 1992; April 23 1992; May 9, 11, 20, 21, 28, 1992; July 25, 1992.
Choy, B. (1979). Koreans in America, Nelson-Hall, Chicago.
Coleman, D., and Straus, M. (1980). Marital power, conflict, and violence in a nationally representative samples of American couples. In Straus, M., and Gelles, R. (eds.), Physical Violence in American Families. Transaction, New Brunswick.
Dobash, R. P., Dobash, R. E., Wilson, M., and Daly, M. (1992). The myth of sexual symmetry in marital violence. Social Problems 39: 69–91.
Farrington, K. (1980). Stress and family violence. In Straus, M., and Hotaling, G. (eds.), The Social Causes of Husband-Wife Violence, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.
Gallin, R. S. (1992). Wife abuse in the context of development and change: A Chinese (Taiwanese) case. In Counts, D. A., Brown, J. K., and Campbell, J. C. (eds.), Sanctions and Sanctuary: Cultural Perspectives on the Beating of Wives, Westview, Boulder, CO, pp. 219–227.
Gelles, R. (1985). Family violence. Annu. Rev. Sociol. 11: 347–367.
Gerber, G. (1991). Gender, stereotypes and power: Perceptions of the roles in violent marriages. Sex Roles 24: 439–458.
Goode, W. (1971). Force and violence in the family. J. Marr. Fam. 33: 624–636.
Heise, L. L., Pitanguy, J., and Germain, A. (1994). Violence against women: A Central American case. In Counts, D. A., Brown, J. K., and Campbell, J. C. (eds.), Sanctions and sanctuary: Cultural Perspectives on the Beating of Wives, Westview, Bould, CO, pp. 203–217.
Holtsworth-Murroe, A., Bates, L., Smutzler, N., and Sandin, E. (1997). A brief revision of research on husband violence. Part I: Marital violence versus nonviolent men. Aggression Viol. Behav. 2: 65–99.
Hutchinson, I. W., and Hirschel, J. D. (1998). Abused women: Help-seeking strategies and police utilization, Viol. Against Wom. 4: 436–456.
Kim, Ilsoo. (1981). New Urban Immigrants, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Kim, J. Y., and Morales, J. (1987). The Korean Americans in Connecticut (Unpublished report on a survey research).
Koval, J., Ponzetti, J., and Cate, R. (1982). Programatic intervention for men involved in conjugal violence. Fam. Ther. 9: 147–154.
Kwack. T. (1991). Korean Society in America, Yangyoungkak, Seoul.
Levinson, D. (1989). Family Violence in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Sage, Newbury Park, CA.
MacEwen, K., and Barling, J. (1988). Multiple stressors, violence in the family of origin, and marital aggression: A longitudinal investigation. J. Fam. Viol. 3: 73–87.
Martin, D. (1976). Battered Wives, Glide, San Francisco.
Mitchell, W. C. (1992). Why Wape men don't beat their wives: Constraint toward domestic tranquility in a New Guinea society. In Counts, D. A., Brow, J. K., and Campbell, J. C. (eds.), Sanctions and Sanctuary: Cultural Perspectives on the Beating of Wives, Westview, Boulder, CO, pp. 892–900.
Song, Y. I. (1996). Battered Women in Korean Immigrant Families: The Silent Scream, Garland, New York.
Straus, M. (1979). Measuring intra-family conflict and violence: The CTS. J. Marr. Fam. 41: 75–88.
Straus, M., and Gelles, R. (1980a). Behind Closed Door: Violence in the American Family, Anchor Press, Garden City, NY.
Straus, M., and Gelles, R. (1980b). Physical Violence in American Families, Codebook 7733, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Straus, M., and Gelles, R. (1986). Societal change and change in family violence from 1975 to 1985 as revealed by two national surveys. J. Marr. Fam. 48: 465–479.
Straus, M., and Gelles, R. (1990). Physical Violence in American Families: Risk Factors and Adaptations to Violence in 8,145 Families, Transaction, New Brunswick. U.S. Census. 1970, 1980 and 1990.
Walsh, F. (1989). Reconsidering Gender in the Marital Quid Pro Quo, Women in Families, Norton, New York.
Yllo, K. A. (1984a). The status of women, marital equality, and violence against wives. J. Fam. Issue 5: 307–320.
Yllo, K. A. (1984b). Patriarchy and violence against wives: The impact of structural and normative factors. J. Internat. Compar. Social Welfare 1: 16–29.
Yllo, K. A. (1993). Through a feminist lens: Gender, power, and violence. In Gelles, R., and Bograd, M. (eds.), Feminist Perspectives on Wife Abuse Sage, Newbury Park, CA, pp. 28–62.
Yim, S. (1979). Korean battered wife. In Sunwoo, W., and Kim, L. (eds.), The Struggle for Humanization, California State University Press, Los Angeles.
Yoo, S. H., and Sung, K. T. (1997). Elderly Koreans' tendency to live independently from their adult children: Adaptation to cultural differences in America. J. Cross-Cultural Gerontol. 12: 225–244.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kim, J.Y., Sung, Kt. Conjugal Violence in Korean American Families: A Residue of the Cultural Tradition. Journal of Family Violence 15, 331–345 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007502212754
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007502212754