Whose Education Matters? The Protective Role of Education in the Acculturation of Immigrant Women Facing Foreign-Origin Discrimination in South Korea

Since the 1990s, South Korea has undergone a rapid demographic transition from an ethnically homogenous country to a more multicultural society, driven largely by the influx of migrants. Among them, immigrant women who marry Korean-born men play a crucial role in shaping multicultural families and contributing to demographic change. Despite governmental efforts to support their integration, these women continue to face substantial challenges, including discrimination, which may hinder their acculturation. This study examined the relationship between foreign-origin discrimination—a form of discrimination often rooted in migrants’ perceived foreignness in Korean society—and acculturation outcomes among immigrant women in South Korea. We also explored whether educational attainment, both of the women and their husbands, moderated these relationships. Using data from the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study Ⅱ (MAPS Ⅱ) and employing fixed-effects models, we analyzed four distinct acculturation outcomes: integration, assimilation, separation, and marginalization. The findings indicated that foreign-origin discrimination was negatively associated with integration and assimilation but was not significantly related to separation or marginalization. Additionally, husbands’ higher educational attainment buffered the negative effects of discrimination on integration and assimilation, while the women’s own education did not exhibit a similar moderating effect. These results highlight the protective role of a native-born husband’s education in mitigating the effects of negative social experiences on the acculturation process of immigrant women. The study also offers important policy implications, emphasizing the need to combat discrimination and implement targeted interventions, particularly for immigrant women with less-educated husbands, to foster their integration in South Korea.