The relationship between child resilience and maternal employment status among Korean families who live in the United States was assessed through interviews developed by the Civitan Resilience Project. A questionnaire was administered via individual interviews with each mother in 99 two-parent Korean families. The analyses involve a comparison between maternal report on a checklist of resilience for preschool (4-6 years) and schoolage (9-11 years) children of employed vs. non-employed mothers. Overall, maternal employment status did not have a significant impact on reported children's resilience. When the mother's attitude toward her status as employed or at home was positive, the children had a higher level of reported resilience (r = 28, p -.005). When husbands were perceived as supportive of their wife's employment status, mothers were more likely to perceive their children as resilient (r = 22, p =.03). When mothers were satisfied with their child-care arrangements, they were also more likely to rate their children as more resilient (r =.20, p =.05). There is a trend toward significance such that more resilience-promoting mothers tended more to have resilient children [F(1, 98) = 3.08, p =.083]. Korean male children were as resilient and/or vulnerable as Korean female children. Korean older children (9-11 years old) were as resilient and/or vulnerable as younger children (4-6 years old). This study indicates that maternal personal variables are more important than structural variables in terms of their effects on reported child resilience. © 1998 OPA (Overseas Publishers Association).

Maternal employment Child resilience Korean immigrants

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