A Multilevel Analysis of the Effects of Sociodemographic Characteristics and Cultural Differences on the Need for Social Services of Marriage Migrant Women

Abstract

This study analyzed the effects of sociodemographic characteristics ( individual-level variables) and cultural differences between the country of origin and Korea (group-level variables) on the need for social service among marriage-migrant women, using a multilevel model. In this study, 10,316 marriage-migrant women and 37 countries of origin from the 2021 National Multicultural Family Survey data of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family were used for analysis. The null model analysis found that the needs for home visit education and support for Korean language/social adjustment were different depending on the country of origin. Our conditional model analysis found that the higher the age, the longer the period of residence in Korea, and the better the Korean language ability, the lower the needs for home visit education and support for Korean language/social adjustment, while the higher the needs for home visit education and support for Korean language/social adjustment in the case of migrant women with children. The greater the cultural difference, which is a group-level variable, the greater the need for home visit education and support for Korean language/social adjustment. Based on these results, this study suggests ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of support services for marriage-migrant women.