Gender-Asymmetry in Dating Success of Korean Adoptees in the West

Peter D. Dijkstra, Daniel Schwekendiek, Paul T.Y. Preenen

.

DOI: 10.4236/sm.2011.13011                

Abstract

Overseas adoption from South Korea is a widespread phenomenon in the West. Adoption studies have focused on early development and post-adoption adjustment during childhood and socioeconomic success during adult-hood. However, few studies deal with dating experiences and marital status of Korean adoptees, while these as-pects are a key factor determining subjective well-being and sociocultural integration. Several studies and popu-lar media highlight the status inferiority of Asian males compared to Asian females in the heterosexual Western courtship system. We therefore hypothesize that male Korean adoptees have more difficulties finding a partner than their female counterparts. Using a dataset stemming from a survey conducted among 290 adult adoptees living in the West, we indeed found that, after controlling for the effect of age and current income, males ex-pressed more difficulty in finding a partner and were more likely to be single than their female peers in their adoptive Western country. This gender disparity may have implications for policy makers who are concerned with general well-being of transracial adoptees and Asian minorities in the West.

Keywords

Interracial Dating, Marriage, Adoption, Migration, Gender, Korea, Asia, USA, Europe

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Basow, S. A., Lilley, E., Bookwala, J. J., & McGillicuddy-DeLisi, A. (2008). Identity development and psychological well-being in Korean-born adoptees in the U.S.. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78, 473-480. doi:10.1037/a0014450
[2]	Belot, M. V. K., & Fidrmuc, J. (2010). Anthropometry of love: Height and gender asymmetries in interethnic marriages. Economics and Human Biology, 8, 361-372 doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2010.09.004.
[3]	Black, D., Gates, G., Sanders, S., & Taylor, L. (2000). Demographics of the gay and lesbian population in the United States: Evidence from available systematic data sources. Demography, 37, 139-154. doi:10.2307/2648117
[4]	Chow, S. (2000). The significance of race in the private sphere: Asian Americans and spousal preferences. Sociological Inquiry, 70, 1-29. doi:10.1111/j.1475-682X.2000.tb00893.x
[5]	Diener, E., & Fujita, F. (1995). Resources, personal strivings, and subjective wellbeing: A nomothetic and idiographic approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 926-935. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.5.926
[6]	Ellison, C. G., & Powers, D. A. (1994). The contact hypothesis and racial attitudes among Black Americans. Social Science Quarterly, 75, 385-400.
[7]	Eng, D. (2001). Racial castration: Managing masculinity in Asian America. Durham: Duke University Press.
[8]	Espiritu, Y. L. (1997). Asian American women and men: Labor, laws, and love. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
[9]	Hoehn, M., & Moon, S. (2010). Over there: Living with the U.S. military empire from World War Two to the present. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
[10]	Huebinette, T. (2006). Comforting an orphaned nation: Representations of international adoption and adopted Koreans in Korean popular culture. Seoul: Jimoondang.
[11]	Jacobs, J. A., & Labov, T. (1995). Sex Differences in intermarriage: Asian exceptionalism reconsidered. American Sociological Association Meeting, Washington.
[12]	Johnson, D., & Poddar, P. (Eds.). (2005). A historical companion to postcolonial thought in English. New York: Columbia University Press.
[13]	Jung, A., Gwon, J., & Schwekendiek, D. (2008). Survey on the status of overseas adopted Koreans and proposals for effective post-adoption services (in Korean). Seoul: Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Planning.
[14]	Kim, E. J. (2010). Adopted territory: Transnational Korean adoptees and the politics of belonging. Durham: Duke University Press.
[15]	Kim, W. J. (1995). International adoption: A case review of Korean children. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 25, 141-154. doi:10.1007/BF02251299
[16]	Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T., & Michaels, S. (1994). The social organization of sexuality. Sexual practices in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
[17]	Liang, Z., & Ito, N. (1999). Intermarriage of Asian Americans in the New York City region: Contemporary patterns and future prospects. International Migration Review, 33, 879-900. doi:10.2307/2547356
[18]	Lien, N., Meyer, K., & Winick, M. (1977). Early malnutrition and “late” adoption: A study of their effects on the development of Korean orphans adopted into American families. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 30, 1734-1739.
[19]	Overseas Koreans Foundation. (2006). International Korean Adoptees Resource Book.
[20]	Ribar, D. C. (2004). What do social scientists know about the benefits of marriage? A review of quantitative methodologies. IZA Discussion Paper, No. 998.
[21]	Rooth, D.-O. (2002). Adopted children in the labour market—Discrimination or unobserved characteristics. International Migration, 40, 71-98. doi:10.1111/1468-2435.00186
[22]	Schwekendiek, D. (2009). Happy birthday? Official versus chronological age of Korean adoptees. Journal of Korean Adoption Studies, 1, 25-39.
[23]	Shiao, J. L., & Tuan, M. H. (2008). Some Asian men are attractive to me, but for a husband…: Korean adoptees and the salience of race in romance. Du Bois Review, 5, 259-285. doi:10.1017/S1742058X08080132
[24]	Soons, J. P. M., & Liefbroer, A. C. (2008). Together is better? Effects of relationship status and resources on young adults’ well-being. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 25, 603-624. doi:10.1177/0265407508093789
[25]	Takaki, R. (1998). Strangers from a different shore: A history of Asian Americans. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. doi:10.1542/peds.2005-2939
[26]	Teilmann, G., Pedersen, C. B., Skakkeb?k, N. E., & Jensen, T. K. (2006). Increased risk of precocious puberty in internationally adopted children in Denmark. Pediatrics, 118, e391-e399.
[27]	Tuan, M. H., & Shiao, J. L. (2011). Choosing ethnicity, negotiating race: Korean adoptees in America. New York: Russel Sage Foundation.
[28]	Wilson, C. M., & Oswald, A. J. (2005). How does marriage affect physical and psychological health? A survey of the longitudinal evidence. IZA Discussion Paper, No. 1619.
[29]	Winick, M., Meyer, K., & Harris, R. (1975). Malnutrition and environmental enrichment by early adoption. Science, 190, 1173-1175. doi:10.1126/science.1198103