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Abstract

Immigrant mothers engage in numerous transnational activities. In this qualitative study, we explored one distinct type of transnational activity, a return trip to the home country for visit, as experienced by Korean immigrant mothers. Through purposeful sampling, 11 married middle-class Korean immigrant women with children were recruited to be interviewed during their visit to South Korea. By exploring the transcripts through the thematic analysis, we paid attention to how these women negotiated and constructed the meaning of their return trip. These mothers carefully planned and coordinated these return trips so that their children could find their Korean roots by being immersed in the culture and build close intergenerational relationships. The mothers also perceived the trip as an opportunity to see their relatives face-to-face and spend quality time with their aging parents. Similar to other transnational activities, the meanings of return trip to home country might reflect social and cultural climates of Korea and the United States.

Keywords

Korean immigrant mothers transnational family return trip to a home country qualitative research

Introduction

Women construct their ideas of motherhood on the basis of their social and cultural locations (Dow, 2016; You & McGraw, 2011). Women who internationally migrated for various reasons also do so,, as their mothering is believed to primarily reflect the prevailing thoughts and actions of mothers in the country in which they reside, as they distance themselves psychologically and physically from those of their home country (S. Kim et al., 2006). This general assumption about immigrant women’s mothering, however, should be reconsidered. While they acculturate to the new country’s norms and customs, immigrant mothers simultaneously maintain social, cultural, economic, and political ties to their countries of origin. To maintain relationships with relatives in their home countries, immigrants use information and communication technologies (ICTs) including texting, video calling, or phone calling (Jeong et al., 2014).

Among the diverse array of transnational activities engaged in, we explore the return trip to the home country that Korean immigrant mothers take with their young children for visit. More than ICTs, a return trip requires planning, attentive coordination, extended time off from work and school, and extra expenditure. Despite these hardships, a return trip to the home country is an irreplaceable transnational activity for many immigrants (Snel et al., 2006). Immigrants visit their home countries for pragmatic reasons, including spending time with family and friends, or to participate in economic, educational, or religious activities (Marschall, 2017). During these visits, the psychological need to connect with people, places, and memories is met (Marschall, 2017).

As we moved from the pandemic to the post-pandemic era, this exploration of the meanings of the return trip is timely. COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) is a highly contagious viral disease, causing over one million deaths in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023). Since COVID-19 has changed our lives, international travel has been one of the most affected sectors, reducing freedom of movement with heightened restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2023; Ullah et al., 2021; United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2020). For immigrants, this unprecedented situation has prevented them from visiting their countries of origin. Today, ideas and experiences associated with a return trip can be reexamined.

Focus of the Study

To investigate the phenomenon of the immigrants’ return trip, we revisit the data gathered in the pre-pandemic concerning how Korean immigrant mothers residing in the United States find meanings in their return trip with their young children. This retrospective exploration begins by reviewing related background information on transnationalism and the history and the current state of Korean immigrants in the U.S. Then, we discuss the study in detail and present our findings.

Literature Review

Transnationalism and Transnational Activities

Migration from one country to another inherently creates a “transnational” situation. There would not be disagreement on that the lives of immigrants can be understood within a transnational frame (Levitt & Glick Schiller, 2004; Waldinger, 2013; You & Jeong, 2020). However, scholars have suggested different ideas of what “transnational” is composed of. In their review article, Levitt and Jaworsky (2007) presented some of the ideas including migration circuits, transnational social formations, and transnational livelihoods. Levitt and Glick (2004) highlighted simultaneity of the lives of immigrants with the term of “transnational social fields.” Based on spatial extension and temporal stability, Faist (2000) suggested four types of transnationalism. “Dispersion and assimilation” are the type that characterizes weak yet simultaneous embeddedness in home and residing countries with temporary transnational ties. “Transnational exchange and reciprocity” is the type with strong embeddedness in both countries and short-lived ties, whereas “transnational networks” are the one with weak embeddedness and enduring ties. “Transnational communities” refer to the type that shows strong embeddedness in multiple countries with long-lasting ties. Driven by various ideas on what transnationalism is composed of, scholars have taken different units of analysis when they look into transnationalism of immigrants.

Portes (2003) referred transnational immigrants to those who would engage in formal and regular economic, political, and sociocultural activities. Gurnizo and Smith (1998) made distinction between above and below transnationalism. Above transnationalism is undertaken in a global level, whereas below transnationalism in a local one. Gurnizo (1997) differentiated transnationalism from “core” and “expanded.” Core transnationalism includes those activities that an individual regularly engages in and perceives as an essential part of one’s life. On contrary, individuals occasionally participate in expanded transnationalism. Levitt and Glick Schiller (2004) differentiated “ways of being” (actual social relations and practices) from “ways of belonging” (conscious membership). A comprehensive approach is accepted as it encompasses practices in various domains (economic, cultural, social, and religious) and in different degrees of formality and regularity, connecting social experiences in all levels (Levitt & Jaworsky, 2007). According to these ideas, an immigrant mother’s return trip to a home country with children can be classified as the actual, informal, and social transnational practice.

Korean Immigrants in the United States and Transnationalism

Migration from Korea to the United States is a well-established trend. While the number of immigrants has continuously fluctuated since the early 1900s, according to the Pew Research Center as of 2019, there were approximately 1,908,000 individuals with Korean heritage in the United States. Fifty-nine percent of these were first-generation immigrants born in Korea. In 2017, 50% of the Korean immigrants who were 5 years and older reportedly had limited English proficiency, compared to approximately 48% of the total foreign-born population (O’Connor & Batalova, 2019). Nineteen percent of Korean immigrants and 16% of the total immigrant population reported speaking English only at home (O’Connor & Batalova, 2019). While Korean immigration can be divided into several distinct periods (Min, 2011), the most significant impetus may be the 1965 Immigration Act (Jeong & You, 2008). The 1965 Immigration Act abolished a “national origin” quota system that had previously limited immigration from Korea, and prioritized immigration based on family reunification and profession. Since then, the number of Korean immigrants has rapidly increased. Between 1969 and 1971, the number more than doubled from 6,000 to 14,000 as Koreans look for employment opportunities in the United States. Although immigration eased in the 1980s and 1990s, over a longer term, it is apparent that immigration has increased by around 27 times, from approximately 39,000 in 1970 to over one million in 2013 (Zong & Batalova, 2019).

Recent waves of Korean immigrants are, more often than not, white-collar workers and professionals in their 30s and 40s looking to advance their careers in the United States (Encyclopedia of Overseas Korean Culture, n.d.). This may be because companies are now hiring more immigrants than before, as today, a migrant’s knowledge of foreign cultures and languages is beneficial (Kunczer et al., 2019). Notably, 57% of Korean-Americans aged 25 years or older have a bachelor’s degree (or higher), compared to 37% of the general U.S. population (Pew Research Center, 2020). Moreover, the median income of Korean Americans sits at $72,000 which is slightly higher than that of their U.S. counterparts. In the 21st century, Korean immigrants and Korean Americans continue to contribute to the diverse cultural and linguistic landscape of the United States.

Consistent with behaviors observed in other ethnic groups, nowadays, Korean immigrants in the US are situated in transnational social field and engage in various types of trinational activities. For example, S. Lee and Jo (2018) found that Korean immigrants in the United States participated in many transnational activities; more than 97% of the participants consumed Korean goods in their daily life (economic activity), about 90% communicated with family or friends in Korea by telephone or social media, and 62% read Korean newspapers (sociocultural activity).

Situated in transnational social fields, Korean immigrant mothers might construct their ideas of motherhood and perform their maternal duties in a bicultural context (E. Yoon et al., 2021). As Nukaga (2013) argued, in other words, the mothers would enact their maternal roles guided by transnational habitus that is dual dispositions or double cognitive structures in transnational social fields. Born and raised in Korea, these mothers may have internalized Korean ideas of motherhood, generally characterized as an unconditional dedication to and sacrifice for their children (E. Yoon et al., 2021). In particular, Korean parents prioritize the investment of family resources into children’s academic activities. Mothers are generally expected to be the primary caregivers, intensively managing education and providing emotional support during the day-to-day. In Korean culture, which is influenced by Confucianism, the family is regarded as the central unit of society, and personal relationships tend to be hierarchical by generation (I. H. Park & Cho, 1995; Yang, 2003). Older individuals exercise authority over their younger peers, and children are expected to obey their parents. Korean immigrant mothers often share these expectations of motherhood and maternal roles with their counterparts from their home country. For example, Korean mothers tend to think authoritarian and strict parenting styles are suitable for their children. Im et al. (2008) found that both Korean and Korean American working mothers described their parenting style as strict yet kind.

What Korean immigrant women learn and experience in the United States influences their ideas about their maternal roles, as they recognize different aspects of motherhood in the two cultures (E. Kim et al., 2012). When they realize that their Korean parenting style conflicts with an American one, immigrants tend to change their parenting style to the latter. First-generation Korean American parents perceived that Korean and American parenting styles differed in how much they show physical affection to their children, along with differences in relying on physical punishment, time-outs, and rewards (E. Kim & Hong, 2007). They also negatively evaluated Korean-style discipline as they became more familiar with American cultural norms.

As a minority within the United States, one of the habitus that Korean immigrants have acquired might be to prioritize relevant ethnic and racial socialization of their children. As a racially and ethnically minoritized member, Korean immigrants and their children may feel excluded from the dominant group, discriminated against, and experience being stereotyped, insofar as their physical appearance differs from the majority population in the United States. Researchers have agreed that well-established ethnic identity can buffer individuals from negative consequences of those experiences (O’Flaherty et al., 2007). Furthermore, identity confusion among 1.5 or 2nd-generation immigrants is known to be related to negative outcomes, including lower self-esteem, academic achievement, and psychological well-being (Hughes et al., 2006). Therefore, immigrant parents may perceive one of the important paternal roles is to help their children to establish a positive ethnic identity.

To enact maternal roles guided by transnational habitus described above, maintaining and utilizing existing transnational social fields can be a useful strategy that Korean immigrant mothers employ for their children. Immigrants may feel they have depleted cultural and social capital, as they lack language skills and cultural knowledge, and possess limited social networks. This can make it more difficult to perform their parental roles in the way they wished. For example, previous studies have reported that Korean immigrant mothers in the United States felt unable to help with their children’s school activities and relationships with friends because of their lack of English skills and knowledge of the American educational system (Choi et al., 2013; Sohn & Wang, 2006). To overcome the lack of capital, Korean immigrant mothers created or/and engaged in transnational social fields including ethnic community and networks in the residing area (Lim, 2011; W. Park & Yun, 2014).

Influenced by Korea’s cultural root and socioeconomic status, furthermore, Korean immigrants may perceive transnational engagement as valuable and significant. As Korean culture is rooted in Confucius thoughts, emphasizing family ties and filial piety (K.-K. Lee, 1998), Korean immigrants look for opportunities to connect with their parents and relatives in their country of origin. Moreover, Korea’s expanding economic and sociocultural reach may encourage Korean immigrants to maintain their ties to the country of origin. When South Korea began its period of economic development in 1961, per capita income was only 82 U.S. dollars (S. H. Kim, 2007). By 2020, this had increased to 31,846 U.S. dollars. Fifteen of the 2021 Fortune 500 global companies were based in South Korea. Along with economic development, the visibility of the Korean wave (hanryu), the circulation of Korean media and popular culture in the United States (Longenecker & Lee, 2018; I. J. Yoon, 2012, p. 1) might also encourage Korean immigrants to maintain connections to their home country.

In sum, Korean immigrant women are likely to engage in transnational activities in the course of performing their maternal duties. This study focuses on the value Korean immigrant mothers ascribe to their return trip with young children. This subject is particularly interesting, as international travel with a young child requires a greater commitment of effort, time, and expenditure than any alternative transnational activity, and immigrant mothers would have clear meanings of the home visit. Second, because a mother travels with her young child, she is playing a maternal role during a home visit. This inquiry is particularly timely, as it can reveal what immigrants might have missed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

To explore the transnational phenomenon of a return trip in action, we sought out Korean immigrant women who were planning to visit Korea with their child(ren) in 2017. The study was designed to determine how these mothers understood their return trip and what meanings they ascribed to this transnational activity. A total of 11 Korean immigrant mothers from across the United States participated in semi-structured interviews during their stay in Korea.

Participant Criteria and Recruitment

Potential participants had to meet the following criteria: (1) being a first-generation immigrant in the United States, (2) having at least one child under the age of 18, and (3) planning a trip to Korea in 2017. Recruitment announcements were shared with twelve Korean student associations registered at American universities and Korean immigrant support groups located in major U.S. cities known for their high number of Korean immigrants. The announcement was also posted on the bulletin board of the Community of Korean Women Mizville, one of the largest online communities for Korean immigrants in the United States. Snowball sampling was additionally used to recruit this population (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). Due to changes in travel plans or the difficulty of finding the time for an interview time during a short visit to Korea, recruitment was challenging. A total of 11Korean American mothers ultimately participated in the study. The appropriate ethical aspects of the study were addressed to obtain written informed consent from participants.

Participant Characteristics

All participants were visiting Korea at the time of the interview. All women were married to their child’s biological father at the time of the interview and were considered middle or upper-middle class. Seven women had Bachelor’s degrees, while the rest had Masters degrees or higher. The mean age of the interviewees was 41.3 years, reflecting a range of 35 to 48. Nine of the mothers had two children, while one had three children and one mother had one child. The ages of their children varied from 2 to 17 years old. During their interviews, these women were asked about their maternal role in an immigrant family, their hopes and concerns for their children, the purpose and duration of the trip, and the activities that they intended to do during their visit to Korea. Demographic information was collected at the end of the interview (See Table 1). We did not assign pseudonyms to participants in order to avoid objectification and to extract commonly shared experiences.

Table 1.

Participant Characteristics (N = 11).

No	Age	Education	AnnualHouseholdIncome	Occupation	Number of Children(ages)
1	35	College	$40,000–59,999	Housewife	3 (6 years, 5 years, 1 ms)
2	48	College	$100,000 or more	Researcher	2 (17 years, 12 years)
3	43	Master’s or above	$100,000 or more	Music teacher	2 (14 years,11 years)
4	47	Master’s or above	Not reported	Housewife	2 (16 years, 15 years)
5	42	College	$100,000 or more	Housewife	1 (10 years)
6	48	College	$75,000–99,999	Business owner	2 (15 years, 13 years)
7	41	College	Not reported	Office worker	2 (13 years, 9 years)
8	38	Master’s or above	$100,000 or more	Nurse	2 (6 years, 4 years)
9	41	College	Not reported	Housewife	2 (9 years, 23 ms)
10	35	Master’s or above	$100,000 or more	Office worker	2 (7 years, 3 ms)
11	37	College	$100,000 or more	Risk consultant	2 (38 ms, 18 ms)

Among this cohort, two mothers showed distinctive characteristics. One mother was traveling alone to Korea, but was willing to share her previous experiences of return trips with her children during the interview. While most of the women were married to Korean or Korean immigrants, one woman was married to a Chinese American. Her experience regarding the return trip was similar to that of the other participants. We decided to include these two mothers.

Data Collection

Interviews occurred at coffee shops throughout the country and at the preferred times of the mothers during their stay in Korea. The interviews were conducted in Korean, a native language for both the participants and the interviewers. During the interviews, the women were asked about their roles as an immigrant mother and the duration and purpose of their trip to Korea with their children. For example, “As an immigrant mother, what roles do you play and what responsibilities do you have?”“As an immigrant mother, how would you like your child to grow up?”“What do you think is the impact of a return trip on your child?” On average, each interview lasted approximately 100 minutes. At the end of each interview, the participant received a small gift of appreciation for their time and participation. All interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim in Korean.

Data Analysis

We employed Thematic Analysis to understand the phenomenon of transnational return trips undertaken by Korean immigrant mothers. Thematic Analysis (TA) is a method for identifying, analyzing, organizing, describing, and reporting themes found within a data set (Braun & Clarke, 2006). According to Braun and Clarke (2006), TA follows these steps: (1) becoming familiar with the data, (2) generating initial codes, (3) searching for themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining and naming themes, and (6) producing the report to TA. Within the framework of these steps, we paid attention to the unique characteristics of the data. First, we looked for initial impressions, overarching patterns, and flow of the data by repeatedly reading it (e.g., interview transcripts, and field notes). Secondly, we dissected the entirety of each interview line by line and created initial codes. Thirdly, initial codes were organized into specific concepts, which were grouped into shared categories, and later developed into themes. Based on the hierarchy and causality of themes, we drew connections between them and elicited an initial theme structure. Fourth, we reanalyzed the original data with this initial theme structure to improve the analysis. Fifth, the advanced theme structure was refined by reviewing existing literature and theories. Lastly, we incorporated verification strategies such as member checking and peer debriefing to ensure credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

Our study was guided by Reflexivity, engaging in “the constant movement being in the phenomenon and stepping outside of it” (Enosh & Ben-Ari, 2016, p. 578). We acknowledged our position as a Korean native researcher who is either currently residing or having lived in the United States. All of us experienced a “return trip” to Korea, visiting our family members and friends, during their U.S. residency. Constantly reflecting on our own transnational experiences, we paid attention to the shared feelings and thoughts with the participants. We also identified the differences from the participants as none of us have children. We initially analyzed the data in Korean, and later, translated them from Korean to English to communicate the findings with broader audience. During this process some aspects might be lost, as it is impossible to precisely translate the thoughts and feelings of each mother in light of the differences in language, custom, and social system. Nevertheless, as all of the authors are Korean natives and have experience living in the United States, we believe that we were able to communicate the essence of the expressed experiences and concepts.

Findings

A return trip to their home country for visit is among the most vital transnational activities for many immigrants (Snel et al., 2006), and it was the same for the Korean immigrant mothers in our study. Out of the 11 mothers, five of them reported that they had traveled to Korea every year, four of them came to the country once every 3 to 4 years. When they visited the home country, the mothers usually planned to stay for a couple of months. Our Thematic Analysis of the stories of these 11 women revealed two overarching themes: (1) a return trip for children and (2) a return trip for intergenerational interactions (See Figure 1). Their stories highlighted that the return trip with young children was intentional and purposeful for their children in a transnational landscape. Also, these women perceived that their trip to Korea was a way to maintain their family relationships across the generations and the national borders.

Figure 1.

The meanings of return trips for korean immigrant mothers.

A Return Trip for Children

The mothers shared in common a purpose, which was to provide an opportunity for their children to find their Korean roots by learning Korean language and culture. The mothers hoped that their children would use the time in Korea to realize who they really were, and they believed that immersion in the culture was the best way to do so. The participants reported that they had made efforts to teach their children Korean language and culture in the United States, such as by sending them to a Korean language school and/or church, but they said “it is not the same (as what children can get in Korea).” In addition, the mothers viewed understanding Korean language and culture as a positive factor for close relationships with parents and extended family, that in turn helps them confirm their identity as Korean.

Finding One’s Own Roots in Korea

The Korean immigrant mothers in our study planned their return trip to Korea many months before the inter-semester summer break. When asked about their reason for their well-planned trip, all similarly responded that it was for the benefit of their children. These mothers thought of the trip as an opportunity for complete cultural immersion for their US-born children.

Ten of the eleven mothers specifically discussed their hope for increasing their children’s Korean language proficiency and familiarity with the culture through the trip. The return trip offered the opportunity for real hands-on experience for the children. Why did the mothers so heavily value Korean language acquisition and enculturation for their children? Because their children are “Korean in the first place” or “Korean-blooded,” even if the children were born and/or raised in the United States. The mothers hoped that their children would hold onto their “Koreaness” because of their ppuli (roots, foundation, origin). One mother would tell her children, “Your mother and father are Korean immigrants. You are American, but our roots are in Korea because we came from Korea.” A return trip to Korea was usually filled with gatherings with relatives through which children could see their roots. Seeing grandparents in person could be an eye-opening experience that allowed children to realize who they were and where they came from. Being surrounded by people who share similar physical characteristics also offers an opportunity to recognize their roots in Korea.

According to the mothers, children became aware that they are “different” from their peers and look for who they are in the multiracial and multiethnic community in the United States. For example:

Because they live in a multi-ethnic and multi-racial [community], children might search for their racial and ethnic identity. That kid is black; this one is yellow; that one is white, etc. I am yellow. You don’t think of it when you are surrounded by all Korean people, but because it’s all mixed here, [they think] I am Korean, Korean American, with Korean parents.

In particular, upon entering grade school, children were reported to have noticed that they looked “different” and their parents spoke English with an accent. When the children were confused about whether they were Korean or American, the mothers tried to offer an inclusive answer that they were both. Their emphasis on the development of ethnic identity originated from the mothers’ understanding that identity confusion during adolescence could cause behavioral and psychological problems. They hoped that their children would be equipped with Korean language skills and cultural knowledge so that a strong ethnic identity could be established at a younger age, during which period it is easier to learn a language.

Two third of the mothers in the study shared their experiences seeking and utilizing the public and/or private educational systems in Korea. While it was a temporary arrangement, children often attended childcare programs or elementary schools during their time in Korea. This was possible because the Korean school calendar differs from the US one, which runs its spring/summer semester until the middle of July. With the permission of a school principal, these children could attend classes on a short-term basis. About one-third of the mothers chose to enroll their children in extracurricular activities such as Taekwon-doh (Korean traditional martial arts) or music lessons in a hakwon (private institute). The mothers expressed their satisfaction that these programs were affordable, efficient, and convenient. One mother who utilized these programs during her one and a half month of visit, stated, “It is good for my children to spend time there during our visit. The programs are good for their prices. Most of all, they work well for the main goal of learning Korean culture and language.”

In addition to these programs, one mother sought out a Korean heritage program. Her teenaged children were accepted for a 10-day long free program called “the Cultural Experience and Leadership Program for Overseas Next-Generation Koreans.” Her children had an opportunity to learn Korean cultural traditions and activities alongside other teens with Korean heritage from countries as diverse as the United States, China, Australia, France, Germany, and Japan.

The mothers described how knowledge of the Korean language and culture could have practical benefits for their children’s future; bilingual and bicultural ability would be a valuable asset. While Korean language and culture seemed to be naturally well-suited for these children in light of their ethnic and cultural origin, the mothers hoped that their children would speak multiple languages and know multiple cultures, pointing out the positive effects of this on their children’s cognitive development. Several mothers also mentioned that applicants with Korean language proficiency would have additional points assigned for university admission. Furthermore, some mothers anticipated the possibility that their child would acquire a job in a Korean-based company and live in Korea.

Building Close Relationships With Parents and Extended Family

Our interviewed mothers believed that the return trip was not only an opportunity to increase their children’s familiarity with Korea’s language and culture, but also strengthen the mother-child relationship. Because the mothers immigrated to the United States in their adulthood, they are more comfortable with Korean traditions and values. They also expressed that their English proficiency was not sufficient to allow them to share their deep emotions and feelings with others. Compared to the mothers, their US-born children (or those who immigrated at a very young age) spoke English fluently and had a deeper understanding of American customs. The mothers were concerned that this gap in proficiency and acculturation would impede communication and possibly cause conflicts. One mother stated, “The biggest reason for teaching them Korean is to communicate with them.” These concerns were consistent with Cho and Krashen (1998)’s findings that the loss of Korean language proficiency among children results in difficulty communicating with their native parents and intergenerational conflicts. This finding is inconsistent with what Nukaga (2013) found that Japanese expatriate mothers in the United States made effort to help their children to maintain their ethnic language competency for successful readjustment in the home country at return. Thus, the mothers’ motivation for teaching their children maternal language can be differed by whether or not they have a plan to move back to the home country.

A Return Trip for Intergenerational Interaction

A return trip was also motivated by a desire to spend time with extended family in Korea. These mothers equally valued the time spent with their own relatives in-person as much as their children’s acquisition of Korean language and culture. Time spent with aging parents, in particular, was important to the mothers because they understood that their parents were becoming older and more fragile, as well as their increasing need for care, and mothers noted how much they wanted to see their own parents. The care was mutual, inasmuch as the extended family provided a place to stay and care for the mothers and their children during their time in Korea.

Seeing Relatives In-Person

Mothers often took advantage of advanced and affordable (or free) ways to communicate with relatives overseas (e.g., Facetime, online messenger, and international calls). Nevertheless, they valued seeing their loved ones in-person because it was different from “seeing and/or talking to relatives on-line or over the phone.” During the visit, the mothers and their relatives spent time together doing fun activities, such as traveling and visiting famous restaurants. The participants found the time with relatives precious for their children, their aging parents, and themselves.

From the mothers’ view, children became more aware of their own origin as they met grandparents and other relatives who looked like them. In other words, the mothers expected their children to grow a foundation for their identity by seeing relatives in Korea. According to the mothers, the time spent with relatives in Korea was meaningful, as their children got to realize that they had grandparents who cared about them and were able to achieve a strengthened sense of membership to extended family through affectionate interaction. The mothers perceived that feeling loved by these family members was beneficial for their children when they only had access to nuclear family members in the United States.

Supporting Each Other

The mothers valued the time spent with their aging parents as they saw them become more fragile with age, and their worries for the health of their parents grew. The participants also understood that their parents and/or parents-in-law wanted to see their grandchildren and spend time together; mothers were willing to make the long trip with their children so that these relations could spend time with the grandchildren in-person, which could be a way to support them emotionally. For example, one mother expressed how much she appreciated the time with her parents and parent-in-law: “That’s what I valued the most about this trip because the children’s grandmothers and grandfathers live here and I am worried about them. That’s the most important reason.”

While the Korean American mothers and their children visited Korea, extended family members cared for the travelers. In fact, all of the mothers in our study stayed with their relatives in Korea. Those who planned longer trips stayed mostly with their parents. One mother explained how she could afford such a long trip, “I take this trip because I have a place to stay. Some actually don’t have it because their parents passed away.” It is much less convenient to take a trip lasting longer than 2 weeks without family willing to provide a place to stay while in Korea. The participants also received help with childcare while staying in Korea. This support from family members was reported to have provided a feeling of relief for most of the interviewees, who typically had been raising young children without any assistance from extended family members in the United States. One mother of three children shared her experience:

After every birth, I got postpartum depression. But I didn’t get proper treatment. So, I became stressed out all alone and depressed. That affected not only me but also the whole family. It was hard on my family. (Interviewer: What did you do for it then?) When I had enough and couldn’t take any more, I came to Korea (chuckles). (Interviewer: Was it helpful?) Yes, my mother gave me a hand.

These interviews reveal that having aging parents and other relatives in Korea seems to be a significant factor that motivates Korean American mothers to visit their home country with their children. Extended families provide a place to stay, care for children, and assist the mothers throughout the visit. Likewise, the mothers take a trip home with their children in order to spend time with their aging parents and give them a chance to spend time with their grandchildren in person.

Discussion

In this study, we examined the experiences of Korean immigrant mothers traveling to Korea with their children through a transnational frame (Levitt & Glick Schiller, 2004; Waldinger, 2013; You & Jeong, 2020). Their interviews revealed why these women engaged in this transnational activity. According to them, return trips were undertaken for the specific purposes of cultivating educational and cultural capital in their children by fostering Korean language proficiency and cultural knowledge in a complete immersion setting. Return trips additionally strengthened their intergenerational and transnational relationships with their extended family members in Korea. These women particularly cherished the time with their aging parents in that care was exchanged between the generations. As these women physically resided in the United States yet maintained psychological connections to their home country, the primary purpose of their return trip lays in family, immediate and extended. Taking Faist’s typology of transnationalism, that is, return trips seems to make transnational community that immigrants and their families have been engaged in stronger and more durable.

The findings of this study might also suggest that extended family members play a significant role in transnational settings for families. Extended families are one of the core transnational social fields in which the mothers are embedded in and the source of capital that the immigrant mothers and their children rely on and utilize. For the mothers, in addition, their extended family can be also the one that ensure their hardships in the residing country and the benefits of a return trip to home. While they visited Korea, they compensated what they had lost in the residing country, including help for child care from and time spent with extended families.

By planning a trip in advance and utilizing resources for traveling internationally, these women followed motherhood ideologies in Korea and the United States. In Korea, mothers are primary caregivers who are responsible for their children’s education and success (E. Yoon et al., 2021). Immigrant mothers from middle- or upper-middle-class families also conform to the intensive mothering ideology, engaging in activities to cultivate talents within and capital for their children (Hays, 1996; Lareau, 2011). Their activities go beyond national borders. Under globalization, in particular, multilingual and multicultural proficiency might be an important asset for success. Korean immigrant mothers might choose a return trip to the home country as a strategy to help their children in their residing country. This finding is similar that Japanese expatriate mothers developed transnational habitus for children’s education (Nukaga, 2013).

Our study shows that the extent to transnationalism that immigrants and their families are involved in can be shaped by the socioeconomic status and the institutions in the country of origin. International trips to Korea have become more appealing to Korean immigrants and beneficial to their children in light of Korea’s post-war rapid social and economic development. The mothers in this study expressed that their children enjoyed their time in Korea, pointing out the improved living conditions in the country and the popularity of K-pop and K-dramas in the United States (Longenecker & Lee, 2018; I.J. Yoon, 2012). Consistent with prior work, we found that Korean language proficiency and cultural knowledge have become more valuable. The mothers thought that these would provide more lucrative career opportunities within and without Korea (H. Lee & Pang, 2020). Jang and Sohn (2013) also found that more and more second-generation Korean Americans were returning to Korea for educational and occupational opportunities.

The Korean government provides short-term educational and cultural programs for children and adolescents with Korean heritage. The Korean government also has a plan to establish a new office to provide a point of contact for individuals with a Korean lineage living outside the country (A. Kim, 2023), reflecting the government’s active intention to support emigrants and their families. For example, with the permission of a school principal, children of overseas Koreans can temporarily go to school in Korea and experience the educational system (Ministry of Government Legislation, 2023). The private sectors also offer affordable short-term programs that allow Korean American children to enroll during their temporary stay in Korea.

Return trips can be understood in relation to the social position of immigrants in their new country. Fluency in a native language is an indicator of strong ethnic identity formation and successful cultural transmission across generations (Nahm & Jung, 2018; Oh & Fuligni, 2010). The Korean immigrant mothers in our study believed that their children’s ethnic Korean identity was particularly important in light of their minority status in the United States. The mothers felt that their second-generation immigrant children were “forced” to identify as “hyphenated” Americans and that a strong and positive sense of ethnic identity could protect them from being discriminated against and excluded from the dominant group (Woo et al., 2019). The emphasis on ethnic identity reflects that immigrant mothers understood that positive ethnic socialization is positively associated with psychological well-being and self-esteem for minoritized children (Hughes et al., 2006). This shows that these mothers had acquired habitus that guided their practices of maternal roles.

The findings of this study suggest the ways to enhance well-established, positive ethnic identity for racial and ethnic minority youth. Researchers have reported certain factors as being associated with ethnic identity development in youth from immigrant families; individual, family, school, community, country of origin, and residing country characteristics (e.g., Brown, 2017; E. Kim, 2012; Phinney et al., 2001). This study shows that, in addition to these factors, direct contact with a parent’s country of origin can be an important factor in influencing one’s ethnic identity. Applying Faist(2000)’s typology of transnationalism, in other words, the strong and positive “way of being” of immigrant parents’ practice creates or enhances “way of belonging” among their children although the ties to the home country tends to become weaker among subsequent generations (Levitt & Jaworsky, 2007).

International trips with children are not only a meaningful way of meeting maternal obligations but also for exchanging intergenerational care as Baldassar (2007) argued. Our immigrant mothers noted the benefits of meeting and spending time with their extended family members in-person. In particular, the mothers understand that their aging parents wanted to see their grandchildren, and that a transnational trip was the only way to meet this need. In essence, a return trip to the home country was a way of meeting the mother’s obligation to her aging parents.

Support from the older generation to the younger one is also desired. Due to the lack of social networks in their new country, some Korean immigrant mothers did not receive enough instrumental and emotional support during the pregnancy, birth, and early years with their young children, leading them to feel lonely, helpless, and even depressed. Korean culture, in which having mental illness is viewed as a sign of being “weak-minded” and “saving face” is important (Han et al., 2020), makes it even more difficult for immigrant mothers to seek help in the United States. Thus, receiving support from relatives in Korea is a significant motivation for undertaking the return trip to the home country.

We note that our research investigated the perceptions of first-generation immigrant mothers before the pandemic. After the pandemic, return trips might have become even more important to immigrant mothers and their families than before as Bangladeshi migrants in Singapore expressed a stronger wish for traveling to their home country during and after Covid-19 (Chattoraj, 2022). Our findings can cautiously be applied to the successive immigrant generations who might share experiences with first-generation immigrants. We also note that diversity exists among Korean immigrant families. Despite the favorable purposes for which return trips are undertaken, not all immigrant families can afford to travel frequently and regularly. International travel usually requires a long vacation and extensive financial resources. As discussed in previous research (O’Flaherty et al., 2007), socioeconomic status can be a factor in how Korean immigrant mothers manage expenses related to themselves and their children. Our pool of interviewed mothers represents those able to take an extended vacation that lasts from several weeks to several months. In addition, grandparents or relatives in Korea were able to provide various assistance during their visits, further suggesting the financial status of the extended families.

From this finding, we can argue that the types and levels of transnational practices that an individual can be involved in are differed by the availability of capital. With a small number of participants, however, this study could not provide the detailed picture of the way in which the amount of capital shapes transnationalism among immigrants. Including larger numbers of participants, therefore, future research needs to investigate transnationalism among those with more diverse levels of capital. Furthermore, the benefits of a transnational trip to a home country are expectedly related to positive social outcomes for second generation of immigrants, which reflects that capital in both residing and sending countries can be transmitted from one generation to another. Therefore, we propose that alternative and immediate supports should be provided to benefit immigrant families and their children who cannot otherwise afford an international trip.

Immigrants engage in various transnational activities. Many immigrants attribute positive meanings to their return trips and travel internationally to see their immediate and extended families. Pandemic or Post-pandemic may allow immigrants reexamine and revalue their return trips to their home country.

Footnotes

Authors’ Note

This paper has not been published elsewhere and has not been submitted simultaneously for publication elsewhere.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Sungeun Yang

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analyzed during the current study.

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Revisiting Transnational Activities: Korean Immigrant Mothers’ Home Visit for Families

Abstract

Keywords

Introduction

Focus of the Study

Literature Review

Transnationalism and Transnational Activities

Korean Immigrants in the United States and Transnationalism

Methods

Participant Criteria and Recruitment

Participant Characteristics

Data Collection

Data Analysis

Findings

A Return Trip for Children

Finding One’s Own Roots in Korea

Building Close Relationships With Parents and Extended Family

A Return Trip for Intergenerational Interaction

Seeing Relatives In-Person

Supporting Each Other

Discussion

Footnotes

Authors’ Note

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

Funding

ORCID iD

Data Availability Statement

References