Correlates of Domestic Violence Victimization Among North Korean Refugee Women in South Korea

Background: Many women in North Korea are routinely abused by their husbands, where no legal sanctions against domestic violence (DV) exist. Then during migration, the majority of North Korean (NK) refugee women face sexual exploitation. After resettlement in South Korea, they report rates of DV victimization that are two to four times higher than South Korean women, depending on the type of abuse. However, to our knowledge, no empirical research exists to date about what contributes to any type of DV among NK refugee women. To fill this gap, this study examined whether gender role beliefs, child abuse history, and sociocultural adaptation were associated with past-year physical, emotional, sexual, and economic abuse, and with multiple forms of abuse. We also explored whether these associations were similar or different across different types of DV.

Methods: A sample of ever-married NK refugees living in four metropolises of South Korea was recruited for the 2010 National Survey on Family Violence (Aug-Oct 2010). Only a subsample of 180 female participants was included for this study. Five dichotomous dependent variables were used: any past-year physical, emotional, sexual, and economic abuse were measured by the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS2); and multiple forms of abuse was measured by experience of two or more types of abuse. Gender role beliefs was assessed by the Attitude toward Women Scale. Childhood abuse was measured by a retrospective self-report measure of childhood abuse and neglect. Sociocultural adaptation was measured by the Sociocultural Adaptation to South Korean Society Scale. Five logistic regressions were performed to examine associations between gender role beliefs, childhood abuse, and sociocultural adaptation and different types of abuse.

Results: Respondents' mean age was 40 years (SD=9.31), 66.1% was married, and 56.1% lived under the poverty line. During the previous year, 38.9% was physically abused, 60.0% was emotionally abused, 25.6% was sexually abused, 31.7% was economically abused, and 43.9% had experienced two or more types of abuse. Better sociocultural adaptation decreased the odds of experiencing emotional (OR=0.50, 95% CI=0.33, 0.75), sexual (OR=0.57, 95% CI=0.38, 0.87), and economic (OR=0.50, 95% CI=0.33, 0.75) abuse, and multiple forms of abuse (OR=0.51, 95% CI=0.34, 0.75). More traditional gender role beliefs doubled the odds of experiencing physical abuse (OR=2.10, 95% CI=1.09, 4.03) and any child abuse history increased the odds of experiencing sexual (OR=2.39, 95% CI=1.07, 5.36) and economic (OR=2.28, 95% CI=1.07, 4.86) abuse.

Conclusions: Our findings underscore the importance of assisting NK refugee women to be better adapted to the new culture in a practical way, since better sociocultural adaptation might protect them from experiencing various types of abuse. At the same time, findings of this study highlight the need for empowering NK refugee women who report physical abuse by educating their rights and altering their traditional beliefs of gender roles, and screening of childhood abuse and providing culturally sensitive psychotherapy to those who report sexual or economic abuse. To prevent further victimization, educational programs should be provided to NK refugee women at an early stage of resettlement in the new society.