Does Social Skills of North Korean Refugees Mediate Emotional Support and Acculturative Stress?

Background: The aim of this study is to examine the mediating effects of social skills of North Korean refugees (NKRs) in South Korea between emotional support and acculturative stress. A recent study on NKRs’ mental health indicated that NKRs in South Korea often experience high levels of acculturative stress, mainly perceived discrimination and perceived hatred, which are known to be reduced by emotional support. However, the mechanisms whereby emotional support of NKRs can reduce the perceived discrimination and perceived hatred have not yet been examined. Given that social skills are positively associated with social support, and NKRs often have a difficulty in making social relations in South Korea, emotional support may have direct and indirect effect on reducing the perceived discrimination and perceived hatred via social skills.

Methods: A convenient sampling method was conducted in South Korea from October 2010 to March 2011 from two local agencies, two NGOs, and one job training center for NKRs. Data were collected using a self-administered survey. Excluding four incomplete cases, a total of 202 cases were used for analysis. Perceived discrimination, perceived hatred, emotional support, and social skill were measured by multi-item scales designed for NKRs. Each variable constituted three items. Using the four latent factors, two-pathway models [emotional support → social skill →a) perceived discrimination / b) perceived hatred] were examined using the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) by the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique.

Results: The initial model indicated that the model did not fit the data (χ2=223.47, df=153, p<.001). Even though CFI was over .9 (CFI=.942), RMSEA was still over .05 (RMSEA=.065). Following the results of Wald test, the association between social skill and perceived hatred were removed, and the association between residuals of perceived discrimination and perceived hatred were added. In the final model, the Chi-Square, CFI, and RMSEA were significantly improved, indicating that the model fitted the data (χ2=66.41, df=49, p=.05; CFI = .974; RMSEA=.045). In terms of direct effect, emotional support was positively related to social skill (β=.27, p<.05) and negatively related to perceived discrimination (β =-.60, p<.05) and perceived hatred (β=-.22, p<.05). Social skill was negatively associated with perceived discrimination (β=-.22, p<.05). In terms of indirect effects, emotional support had indirect effect via social skills only on perceived discrimination (β= -.06, p<.05), not on perceived hatred.

Conclusion: Social skills have a mediating effect on the relationship between emotional support and perceived discrimination. This result suggests that NKRs who are emotionally supported are more likely to engage in social activities, which create positive social relationships, and NKRs with positive social relationships are more likely to have low level of perceived discrimination. These results suggest that the support centers for NKRs should be deliberate in developing schemes to enhance emotional support for NKRs to improve their social skills, which will play a role in reducing the level of perceived discrimination. Further study is needed to examine the association between emotional support and perceived hatred.