The Church in a Multicultural Context, Dysfunction of Korean American Families (Chapter 5) New York, 1995

1. The Problem of “I” and “You” as Minority Identity

The topic of minority status often evokes deeply buried emotions, polarizes conversations, and leads to judgmental attitudes. A. M. Greeley suggests that defining “I” and “You” taps into primitive, deeply rooted aspects of the human psyche. ¹ Irving Levine compares minority identity to the profound unconscious themes of sexuality and death. ²

Human nature tends to fear the unknown and reject it. In ancient Greek, the term barbaros (“barbarian”) referred to those without culture—Greeks saw other groups as lacking culture. Similarly, Russians referred to foreigners as nemetz, meaning “mute”—perceiving cultural and linguistic differences as justification for discrimination. Labeling what is different as “bad” or “crazy” forms the basis of prejudice. An example is how Germans stereotype Italians as “nervous,” while Italians might view Germans as “obsessively compulsive.”

2. The Nature of Minority Identity

Minority identity exerts a powerful influence on an individual’s sense of self. A sense of belonging and historical continuity fulfills basic psychological needs. Even if we change our names, reject our families, or renounce our social background, we cannot avoid the harm this does to our well-being.

According to E. H. Erikson, who built upon Freud’s ideas, culture plays a vital role in identity formation. Freud emphasized the emotional potency of minority affiliation, a power that becomes clearer when lacking. Erikson further argued that a stable cultural identity grounded in one tradition is necessary for psychological equilibrium. ³ ⁴

Researchers such as J. Klein (on Jewish identity) and P. Cobbs (on African American identity) find that secure cultural identity fosters openness, flexibility, and freedom toward other cultural groups. In contrast, insecure identity—shaped by negative views of one’s own group or internalized societal conflicts—can fuel aggression and self-loathing.

3. Patterns of Healing and Treatment Among Minorities

Differences in how minorities experience and express pain can be observed across several dimensions:

The experience of suffering
Naming symptoms
Discussing pain
Beliefs about causes
Attitudes toward helpers
Expectations for healing ⁷

Diagnosing illness must account for cultural context, combining medical treatment with cultural interventions—faith, support networks, traditional remedies, etc. Research suggests that a majority of symptom-sufferers rely on folk remedies rather than doctors. ⁸ Moreover, of those who do see a doctor, about half receive an accurate diagnosis. ⁹

Even within white American groups—Jewish, Italian, Irish, Anglo-Saxon—responses to illness vary. Jews and Italians tend to vocalize complaints; Irish and Anglo-Saxons tend toward silence. Jews and Anglo-Saxons offer precise explanations; Italians and Irish less so. Italians may exaggerate symptoms; Irish may suppress them.

Treatment reactions also differ:

Italians worry about the practical and familial implications of illness but quickly recover emotionally once healed.
Jews resist pain-relief medications, preferring to address underlying causes for long-term wellness.
Irish may avoid seeking medical care altogether, viewing illness as punishment for sin.
Anglo-Saxons place trust in medical science and rely on self-regulation and effort to heal.

Cultural norms about emotional expression influence perceptions: immigrants may view Jewish or Italian sufferers as overly dramatic and suspect psychological issues, whereas some doctors have misdiagnosed Italians as mentally ill when no such condition existed. ¹⁰

The impact of racism, poverty, and political disempowerment is often overlooked in minority healing traditions. Every culture also frames problem behavior differently: Anglo-Saxons see emotional dependence as problematic, Irish worry about public displays, Italians see familial disloyalty as the root of issues, Jews focus on children’s success.

Cultural differences extend to preferred healing methods:

Anglo-Saxons may opt for stoic, rational approaches.
Jews seek professional diagnosis and understanding.
Irish often turn to clergy, confession, or alcohol.
Italians rely on family, food, and conversation.
West Indians keep busy, travel, or seek elder wisdom.
Norwegians may request surgery or value fresh air and exercise.

What might be perceived as racial differences may reflect class distinctions instead. Immigrant families face complex mental pressures—grief, invisibility, yet they persevere and eventually thrive as contributors to society.

Families arriving with children face limited time, resulting in intergenerational conflict—adaptation vs. heritage—often leading to emotional turmoil, identity confusion, especially when grandparents cannot be present due to illness or distance. Adults leaving family behind also experience cultural shock, strained ties, linguistic isolation, and form enclave communities, delaying resolution of cultural tensions. Subsequent generations (1.5 and 2nd gen) often reject ancestral values in favor of assimilation, perpetuating generational conflict.

Life crises—divorce, illness, job loss, death—trigger identity crises among minorities. In sum, a disrupted sense of self manifests psychologically when individuals lose connection to who they are.

4. Korean Cultural Consciousness

Culture is essential for survival, but it is also shaped by unique structures such as language, leadership, kinship, religion, and the environment, history, and social processes. Culture is also the process and policy involving actions mobilized by dialogue, beliefs, and values.

As cultures arise, they inevitably come into contact with very different groups and often experience mutual assimilation. This process typically involves conflict. From the viewpoint of other cultures, one culture may seem unfamiliar or even threatening, and this fear can lead to distorted perceptions. On one hand, Korea—with its deep family systems, distinct traditions, and complex civilization shaped over thousands of years by religion and politics—is praised as “the land of morning calm,” admired for its wisdom and freshness. On the other hand, Korean immigrants are sometimes seen through the lens of racism—as a stagnant, stubborn, and backward people, dehumanized by the host culture.¹³

Like other Asian immigrants, Koreans face serious cultural challenges when immigrating to the United States. Since the first laborers arrived at Hawaiian sugar plantations in 1903, waves of immigration have followed—political refugees during Japanese colonial rule, war brides after the Korean War, medical professionals, students, and family-sponsored immigrants. The greatest burden for immigrant families is survival and economic stability. These life “transitions” may lead to success, but success often comes with emotional conflict and alienation. This is because immigrant families must begin changing their language, customs, beliefs, and family structures. Immigrants endure the ongoing pain of these emotional and psychological costs throughout their life in this new land.

1) Understanding the Korean Family Structure

To understand the challenges of Korean immigrant families, we must first look at the traditional structure of the Korean family. The concept of a traditional Korean family is not bound by time. The idea of the extended family goes both forward and backward in time—an individual is seen as a product of all generations since the beginning of their family line. This concept is preserved in religious rituals and customs such as ancestor worship, cherishing genealogies, and remembering ancestors from hundreds of years ago.

Thus, one person’s actions reflect not only their nuclear and extended family but also the entire lineage since the beginning of the family. This results in a burden of responsibility that goes beyond personal interest. This pressure can intensify conflicts between spouses and between parents and children in immigrant families.

2) Understanding Korean Views on Marriage

Marriage is one of the fastest ways to understand Korean cultural values. The families of both the bride and groom exert significant influence on choosing a marriage partner. Even today, when individuals freely choose partners, parental approval is still considered essential. Traditionally, no marriage occurred without the blessing of the family—and if it did, it was not recognized by society.

In this tradition, marriage is not about starting a new family but about extending an existing lineage. A woman leaves her own family and is absorbed into her husband’s. In such a patriarchal system, the wife’s position is very low—lower than the husband, the in-laws, and even any of the husband’s ancestors.

Confucian tradition dictates that a woman must follow three paths of obedience: first, to her father in childhood; second, to her husband after marriage; and third, to her eldest son in old age.

3) Understanding the Role of Parents

Within the nuclear family, the roles of parents are clearly defined. The father is the leader. His authority is unquestioned—he makes all the decisions and bears the burden of providing food, clothing, and shelter. He also sets the rules and enforces discipline. Because of this, fathers are often seen as stern, distant, and less approachable than mothers. This can lead to a lack of communication between fathers and children.

Traditionally, the mother cares for and nurtures the children and husband. Until modern times, women could not take on roles outside the home equal to men. All of a mother’s strength and creativity were expected to be used for raising children. She not only nurtured and cared for them but also served as an emotional bridge between the father and children. The mother was often the only channel of communication between the two.

This dynamic becomes especially important after the father’s death when the eldest son assumes leadership of the household. Due to the mother’s emotional attachment to her eldest son, he, in turn, feels responsible for honoring her wishes. Although he becomes the head of the household, the mother often still influences him behind the scenes. In this way, the quiet influence of Korean women within the home often outweighs the influence of men.

4) Understanding Children

In traditional Korean families, sons were considered more valuable than daughters. In the past, female infants were sometimes abandoned. Family lineage was passed through the son. Today, Korean law allows the family name to continue through daughters as well, and many eldest daughters now fulfill the role of caring for aging parents. However, in Korean society, it is still commonly believed that a woman’s primary role is homemaking—even if she is allowed to choose her spouse or work outside the home like a man.

5) Understanding the Culture of Duty and Face

Korean culture is deeply rooted in a strong sense of duty. The phrase “I have no face” implies a failure to fulfill one’s expected role. In contrast to Western individualism—where people are expected to be self-reliant and judged on their independent success—Koreans view individuals as products of all the efforts and relationships around them. People are shaped by their environment and upbringing.

In this context, duty occupies a central place in Korean consciousness. While Americans tend to see duty as a contract freely agreed upon between individuals or groups, Koreans also experience duty arising from unspoken interdependence. This nonverbal relational duty often profoundly impacts a person’s emotional and social life.

There are two types of duty:

Those based on clearly stated roles and relationships—such as between parents and children, teachers and students, employers and employees.
Duties arising from kindness or help received from others. When obligations toward different people conflict, it becomes a source of internal stress and anxiety.

The greatest duty for Korean children is toward their parents, who gave them life and cared for them when they were helpless. Children believe this debt can never truly be repaid. No matter what the parent does, the child feels bound by duty to respect and obey.

6) Understanding “Face”

“Face” is a social mechanism that helps preserve proper behavior according to social expectations. The phrase “I have no face” reflects this concept.

An old punishment for bedwetting involved placing a basket over a child’s head and sending them to every house in the neighborhood asking for salt, shouting, “I came to get salt!” Though humiliated, the child comforted themselves by believing others would see it as an errand. Afterward, the child would report that no one gave them salt; they only poured it over the basket. This traditional method was intended to shame and shock the child into stopping bedwetting. (The author’s personal memory.)

This shows that the entire community bore the responsibility for one child’s mistake. Publicly acknowledging one’s fault became a form of social training—teaching the child their duty to the community. This principle is evident in many aspects of Korean life.

Losing face doesn’t just mean personal embarrassment—it implies a loss of family and community trust. In a society built on interdependence, losing others’ cooperation can shake one’s fundamental sense of security, leading to existential fear of being alone. Thus, the fear of losing face becomes a powerful motivator to meet familial and societal expectations.

Losing face means losing support and potentially being cut off from one’s network of obligations. This fear of shame and complex web of duties often intensify immigrant families’ struggles. Even during treatment or resolution of problems, this fear can lead to secrecy, slow progress, and distorted communication.

7) Understanding the Process of Dialogue

In American society, openly expressing one’s thoughts and feelings is seen as a virtue. Openness and honesty are valued as moral ideals and effective problem-solving tools. But for Koreans, open dialogue is viewed differently. Because harmony in relationships is highly valued, direct confrontation is avoided. Instead, indirect communication and circling around the issue are preferred.

Direct expression often leads to loss of agreement or face, so both parties tend to avoid it. Instead, conversations rely heavily on the listener’s sensitivity to grasp the speaker’s true meaning between the lines.

For example, when a young Korean person meets a potential spouse and decides not to proceed, they often find an indirect way to decline in order to preserve the face of both families. Korean families tend to conceal problems until they become serious societal issues. Seeking professional help is rare because exposing family issues is considered a loss of face. As a result, healing is delayed, and solutions can become distorted due to a tendency to hide problems.

5. The Family in the Process of Change in Immigrant Life

First, when examining the relational issues of adapting to a newly chosen culture, Korean immigrant families generally face two dimensions of change. The first involves physical or material changes such as economic stability, education, and language—obstacles the family must overcome. The second involves psychological changes: cognitively, structurally, and emotionally adjusting to the new environment by trying to cooperate with its diverse aspects, increasing familiarity, flexibility, cooperation, self-confidence, and emotional stability. While these emotional accompaniments to change are rarely explicitly recognized, they can nevertheless cause dysfunction within the family.

In the initial stage of immigrant life, the top priority is achieving economic stability to meet basic needs—shelter, food, and clothing. For this reason, all adult members of the family seek employment immediately after immigration. With their income, they aim to purchase a home and hope to start small businesses such as restaurants, laundromats, grocery stores, or sewing shops. On the other hand, their new life typically begins in very cheap and small apartments.

Parents usually work 10 to 12 hours a day, six days a week. Yet they are only paid minimum wage and rarely have access to benefits like health insurance or retirement plans. Because of language barriers, job opportunities are limited and advancement is difficult. With parents working such long hours, they cannot spare time to study the language. The language issue not only makes it hard to find or maintain employment but also becomes a barrier in communicating with their growing children. The lack of time for conversation and the inability to accept the cultural nuances embedded in language deepens the disconnect between parents and children. This, in turn, creates severe alienation not only between parents and children but also between spouses within immigrant households.

For long-term family stability, Korean immigrants believe that sending their children to good schools and raising them to become professionals such as architects, doctors, or lawyers is the key to success. This is seen as a duty not just for the sake of the children, but also for the honor of the parents and the extended family. As a result, an invisible tension forms between parents and children—who provide financial support and hold expectations—which reduces the frequency of conversations, oversimplifies the content of communication, and adds strain, eventually leading to mutual alienation.

Even short-term sacrifices have their consequences. In providing shelter, food, and clothing, parents first sacrifice their social lives and fellowship, and second, they sacrifice essential parenting functions that are vital for their children’s development and long-term material security. Moreover, it’s not uncommon for this short-term sacrifice to be extended over ten years or more. In such cases, families fall into a deep cycle of continued self-sacrifice without any real gain. The loss of familiar surroundings and social support networks further weakens the family’s ability to function.

Beyond physical adjustments and necessary adaptation, the cognitive components of family function must endure deep psychological trauma. All family members go through a cultural alienation process, which includes losing support mechanisms for recovery when things like friendships, hobbies, and job opportunities are damaged. Upon arriving without fluency in the language or familiarity with American culture, immigrant families are thrown into confusion by unfamiliar lifestyles and cultural norms. Though reactions to these experiences are complex, they often follow a general pattern.

The first cognitive stage of reaction typically goes through the following seven phases:

Surprise and cultural shock caused by the discrepancy between expectations and reality.
Disappointment with the actual situation.
Grief from loss and separation from what was left behind.
Anger and resentment due to selfish motives.
Depression arising from current family circumstances.
Acceptance as a form of adapting to reality.
Utilization of family resources and strength.

This framework attempts to generalize how families typically respond to these situations. Of course, there are many variations in how different families experience these stages, and the order may vary as well.

Generally speaking, when families encounter problems, they rely on traditional resources and methods for problem-solving. This indicates that each family member’s role comes with heightened demands and expectations. Everyone expects each other to perform with great efficiency and strength. Paradoxically, the pressure within the hierarchical structure of Korean families drives them to rely more heavily on the very framework they used before immigration in order to adapt and survive. However, these families are no longer in an environment that can recreate the extended family structure they once relied upon. At this point, the family lacks the very support it most desperately needs.

In short, immigrant families have lost the extended network—the foundation of cooperation and support within the Korean cultural context—leading to the collapse and dysfunction of the family structure itself.

6. The Creation of Functional Paralysis

Because immigrant families cling only to traditional problem-solving methods—such as hierarchical authority, male dominance, materialistic values, and emotional suppression—they often fail to adopt necessary changes while transitioning between cultures. This inability to adapt worsens the cognitive reaction stages to the new culture described earlier. Moreover, when families fail to manage or overcome particular stages of adaptation, the entire family system can become functionally paralyzed.

Each critical function within the family structure provides an interdependent framework (substructure), much like family members depending on each other for cooperation. However, when moving from one culture to another, this family structure is often lost. For example, the transition results in the loss of the extended family network. Relatives and close friends are no longer able to support the nuclear family, which has now become isolated. While families try to handle everything internally—following the traditional mindset of “solving everything within the family”—they inevitably face problems and challenges that require support from outside the nuclear unit.

For nuclear families without close friends, relatives, or an extended family network, interpersonal relationships become severely limited. In Korean households, where family roles tend to be rigidly fixed, problems are often kept inside the family. As a result, there is little or no external linkage for expressing and resolving issues. Tensions and pressures arise from one or more of the cognitive stages mentioned earlier and typically intensify during the later phases, such as grief, anger, and depression—ultimately increasing the frequency and depth of functional paralysis.

Another key issue related to change is the cultural conflict introduced by Western values—particularly individualism, independence, and self-assertion—which promote authority, gender equality, and freedom of choice. These American cultural traits are particularly attractive to the younger generation, who have long experienced suppression in the past and now seek acceptance in the new culture. These influences cause further alienation of individuals from the traditional Korean culture they originally carried with them.

Functional paralysis within the family leads each member to withdraw emotionally or distance themselves from one another in all areas of family life. The father, in particular, often reacts by enforcing his authority more rigidly as head of the household, while hiding his inner conflicts and emotions. His fears and frustrations are then projected onto his wife and children—those he feels have undermined his traditional role.

By examining the functional paralysis of Korean immigrant families, we can observe how accumulated stress and pressure affect the household. When family relationships collapse, it becomes extremely difficult for the Korean community to form a true extended-family-style collective. As shown in [Table 1], comparative statistics on family dynamics indicate that the divorce rate among Korean immigrants in the United States is significantly higher than in Korea—about four times higher for men and six times higher for women.

[Table 1] Comparison of Korean Immigrants and Koreans in Korea by Family Characteristics

Category	Korean Immigrants	Koreans in Korea
Average family size per household	3.48	4.63
Average number of children per household	1.88	–
Non-nuclear family members in household	0.41	–
% of single-person households	3.6%	4.8%
% of extended families	16.9%	23.1%
Divorced for 14+ years (per 1,000) – Men	15.0	3.6
Divorced for 14+ years (per 1,000) – Women	36.8	6.2
% of female-headed households (no husband)	9.6%	9.7%
% of married-couple households	86.0%	–
% of working households	53.5% (age 16+)	28.8% (age 14+)
% of married women in employment	56.0%	18.8%
Children born to women aged 35–44 (per 1,000)	2,097	4,036

Then we must examine another serious and deeply rooted false consciousness that hinders the formation of a true family community and obstructs genuine humanization. This is the issue of gender discrimination, which is deeply embedded in the consciousness of Korean individuals and society—often unconsciously and without our awareness in everyday life.

Due to this internal division of identity, immigrant communities experience functional paralysis within families, and this dysfunction further leads to fragmentation and stratification within the immigrant community itself. In order to move toward our goal of a generative (creative) community, it is important to examine the phenomena and causes of division within the immigrant ethnic minority group.

7. The Reality of Immigrant Korean Social Issues

1) Raising the Issue

According to the 1994 report from the Korean Family Counseling Center in Flushing, Queens (serving Korean communities across New York and New Jersey and connected to Korea), there were 1,625 total counseling cases:

Household problems: 897 cases (55.2%) covering physical and emotional abuse, infidelity, conflict with parents/in-laws, family strife, unauthorized absences, sham marriages, divorce, property disputes, sexual dissatisfaction, provision for runaway women, and other domestic issues.
Children’s issues: 335 cases (20.6%) including school refusal, parent-child conflict, peer and romantic relationship issues, gang involvement, running away, staying out overnight, sexual assault, robbery, teenage and out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexual activity, and various other youth problems.
Health-related issues: 217 cases (13.4%) involving drug, alcohol, and gambling problems; AIDS; mental illness; abortion; and gynecological conditions.
Other issues: 176 cases (10.8%) concerning social security assistance, job placement, marriage counseling, and other support services.

Domestic violence was the most prevalent family problem, with 328 combined incidents of physical (197 cases) and emotional abuse (131 cases), and infidelity-related conflict ranking first among those issues with 201 cases (22.4%)—domestic violence constituted 36.6% of household issues.

In Los Angeles—home to the largest Korean immigrant community in Southern California—the issue of spousal abuse remains significant. According to a New York Korea Times article (Feb 27, 1995), indictments for domestic violence were as follows:

LA County: 16 arrests
Orange County: 7 arrests
(for spousal abuse in 1993, the most recent year with race-specific data)
The Korean Family Counseling Center received 258 new cases last year, with 61 cases (21.4%) classified as spousal abuse—an unprecedented increase from the previous year.
Statewide Korean domestic violence arrests in 1993 amounted to 49, exceeded only by Hispanics and Whites.
From 1991–1993, domestic violence indictments increased by 30% per year, and in 1993 California saw 173,260 reports of domestic violence involving weapons.

Types of domestic violence include physical and emotional abuse, rape, beatings, neglect, starvation, burning, and genital mutilation.

Regarding youth issues, of the 335 child-related cases:

Runaways and overnight absences: 95 cases (28.4%)
Sexual assault and adolescent pregnancy: 16.7%
Peer- and dating-related problems: 13.1%
Gang involvement: 12.8%
School refusal: 11.4%

These problems are attributed to broken family communication, parental conflict, and youth modeling negative behaviors.

A New York Korea Times report on Feb 27, 1995 cited Washington-area Korean YMCA surveys indicating:

40% of Korean teens (age 15+) in Fairfax County have sexual experience.
Teenage pregnancy and abortion rates are rising, mirroring patterns among American teens.
The Asian-American YMCA’s general manager urged parents to act on this growing issue.
The dropout rate among Korean middle and high school students rose from 0.3% (1993) to 2% (1994).
More than 30 Korean youths (18+) were jailed for drug offenses, and over 10 minors received counseling or rehabilitation for drug possession/use last year.

2) Domestic Violence as a Sign of Breakdown in Family Dialogue

In the U.S., about 3.5 million women and 250,000 men experience abuse annually, but among Koreans, nearly all reported domestic violence victims are women.

Typical patterns within Korean immigrant homes:

Most domestic violence occurs in private spaces—bedrooms and living rooms—often at nighttime or in bathrooms.
Incidents primarily occur after 6 PM and into midnight.
Tensions rise over children, financial issues, or lack of employment.
Weekends and holidays (e.g., Christmas, New Year’s Eve) see higher incidences, as do warmer days and when the wife is pregnant or frequent arguments occur.

3) Abuser’s Personality Traits

Common traits include poor anger management, limited emotional expression, jealousy, low self-esteem, rigid gender beliefs, and substance abuse.

4) Personality of the Victim

Symptoms often include low self-worth, unrealistic hope, isolation, emotional and financial dependence, and strong adherence to traditional marriage roles.

5) Stages of Domestic Violence

Tension builds from stressors (child or financial issues) acting as triggers.
Minor incidents escalate in frequency and severity.
The abuser apologizes, promises change, cites love—often manipulative to maintain control—and the cycle repeats, intensifying over time.

6) Domestic Violence as a Public & Human Rights Concern

Family violence in the Korean community can no longer be dismissed as private; it must be recognized as a societal and human rights crisis. Misconceptions—such as that abused women provoke the violence, or that masculinity justifies control—must be challenged. Often, abusers suffer their own psychological trauma, and patriarchal norms perpetuate violence. Children in such environments are at risk of emotional harm, delinquency, and crime.

7) Consequences for Abusing Husbands

Male abusers often have poor social functioning, difficulty in relationships and work, little creativity, and low life satisfaction.

Domestic violence was traditionally tolerated as a private matter within Korean immigrant families. However, home should not mirror society’s violence. Addressing domestic abuse requires legal recourse, support for victims as individuals, and societal awareness of mutual respect in marriage.

[Notes]

1. Greeley, A.M., Why Can’t They Be Like Us? (New York: Institute of Human Relations Press, 1969.

2. Levine, Irving, Personal Communication, (Monterry, Calif.: Brooks/Cole, 1981.

3. Erickson, E.H., Childhood and Society, (New York: Norton, 1950)

4. Ibid., p. 412.

5. Klein, J., Jewish Identity and Self-Esteem: Healing Wounds through Ethnotheraphy. (New York: Intitute on Puluralism and Group Identity, 1980)

6. Cobbs, P., Enthnotheraphy in Groups. In L. Soloman & B. Berzon (Eds.), News Perspectives in Encounter Groups. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1972)

7. Zseng, W.S. & McDermott, J.F., Culture, Mind and Theraphy: An Introduction to Cultural Psychiatry, (New York: Brunner/Mazel, 1981)

8. Zola, I.K., The Concept of Trouble and Sources of Medical Assistance. Social Science and Medicine, 6, 1972, p. 673-679.

9. Kleinman, A.M., Eisenberg, L., & Good, B. Culture, Illness, and Care: Clinical Lessons from anthropologic and Cross-Cultural Research. Annals of Interals Medicine, 88, 1978. p. 251–258.

10. Zola, I.K., Cultire and Symtoms: An Analysis of Patients’ Presenting Complains. American Sociological Review, 5, 1966, p. 141-155.

11. Zborowski, P., People in Pain (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1969)

12. Zola, I.K., Culture and Symptoms: An Analysis of Patients’ Presenting Complains. American Sociological Review, 5, 1966.

13. Park, R. E., Race and Culture, New York: Free Press, 1950.

14. McGoldrick, Monica, John K. Pearce, Joseph Giordano, edited by., Ethnicity and Family Therapy, New York: The Guilford Press, 1982, p. 218.

15. Source: Data on Korean immigrants is based on U.S. Bureau of the Census (1984). Data on Koreans in Korea are based on Korean National Bureau of Statistics (1984).