A Grounded Theory Approach to the Adaptation Process of 1.5 Generation Children of Immigrants to the United States

The purpose of this study was to understand the adaptation experiences of 1.5 generation college students from Korean immigrant families in the United States and to identify their adaptation process. To achieve this goal, in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 college students from Korean immigrant families who immigrated to the United States with their families during their elementary or middle school years and spent their adolescence in the United States. The data was analyzed using ‘grounded theory methodology’. As a result of analyzing the data of the research participants, 140 concepts, 30 subcategories, and 12 categories emerged, and a paradigm model of their adaptation process was derived. The central phenomenon in the adaptation process of the research participants was ‘Confusion: A Swinging Pendulum to Find Oneself’, and the causal condition was ‘Turning One's Gaze to a New World’. The contextual conditions were ‘Encountering Differences’ and ‘Adults as a Support System’, while the intervening conditions were ‘Securing a Pathway into the Mainstream Society’, ‘A Buffer Zone of Shock’, and ‘A Satisfactory Educational Environment’. The action/interaction strategies were ‘Developing One's Own Coping Strategies’, ‘Adjusting One's Perspective’, and ‘Struggling to Find One's Identity’. The outcomes were ‘A Grown Self’ and ‘Creating an Identity’.