Changing Status and Roles of Older Korean Immigrants in the United States

Abstract

This study examines the current status of older Korean immigrants and their changing roles in their families. Interviews were conducted with fifty elderly and forty adult children from Korean-American families residing in the Philadelphia area. The results suggest that a decrease in power and resources placed the elderly Koreans in an unfavorable position to remain valued members of their family. Older Korean immigrants have experienced many unexpected changing, and often less prestigious, roles in their old age. However, their modified beliefs on “filial piety” and a relative financial independence supported by the United States government may have been of significant influence to prevent intergenerational conflicts in Korean-American families.