OCCUPATIONAL-MOBILITY, LENGTH OF RESIDENCE, AND PERCEIVED MATERNAL WARMTH AMONG KOREAN IMMIGRANT FAMILIES

In a sample of 44 Korean immigrant families, the hypothesis was tested that children in Korean-American families who had been at a middle-class occupational level in Korea but who subsequently dropped to working-class status after immigrating to the United States (downward mobile) tend to perceive their mothers as less warm and accepting than do children in Korean-American families that maintained their prior middle-class occupational status after moving to the United States (middle class). Two prior studies suggested the likelihood of this hypothesis. Contrary to expectation, however, children in the downward mobile families of this sample - at all years of U.S. residence - perceived significantly more maternal warmth and affection than did their middle-class counterparts. Results of this research also show that children in both occupational strata experienced increasing maternal warmth and overall acceptance - and accordingly, decreasing maternal hostility, neglect, and undifferentiated rejection - the longer their parents lived in the United States.