Open AccessA Qualitative Inquiry into the Life Experiences of Unaccompanied Korean Adolescents in the United States
Author(s) -
Tae-Sik Kim
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the qualitative report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.335
H-Index - 35
ISSN - 2160-3715
DOI - 10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1229
Subject(s) - sociocultural evolution , grounded theory , qualitative research , psychology , theme (computing) , context (archaeology) , social psychology , developmental psychology , sociology , social science , geography , archaeology , anthropology , computer science , operating system
Recognizing the lack of comprehensive academic study concerning the life experiences of unaccompanied Korean adolescents overseas, this study inquired into many aspects of the daily life of the young sojourners. In order to achieve a comprehensive understanding of their living experiences, the present study set broad research questions: What do unaccompanied adolescents experience in host homes, schools, and communities in the United States? How do they build personal relationships with people in the United States? How do they deal with new experiences in different sociocultural environments? A total of 31 Korean students in Oklahoma City, Boston, and Dallas participated in in-depth interviews which were analyzed under the methodological guidelines of the grounded-theory method. The analysis of the data revealed two main themes, “unstable personal relationships” and “strange sociocultural environments,” which shed light on how the young students in the study were both psychologically and socially isolated from people and communities in the United States. Each theme was supplemented by several subthemes that characterize the detailed experiences of the participants. As a consequence of those living conditions, they spent a large amount of time in their own rooms by themselves and tended to romanticize their past experiences and relationships in Korea. This study also found that this context was closely associated with their exclusive pattern of mediated communication with people in Korea.