A Review of Parenting and Health Equity Among Multicultural Families

South Korea’s rapid transformation into a multicultural society has been accompanied by a steady increase in the number of multicultural families and children. These families face persistent parenting and health challenges, including language barriers, cultural differences, limited access to health and social services, and broader structural inequities. Collectively, these factors contribute to significant health disparities among multicultural children, underscoring the need for a comprehensive and equity-oriented framework. This review synthesizes domestic and international literature on parenting challenges and health inequities experienced by multicultural families in South Korea. It examines the evolution of research paradigms from deficit- and adaptation-focused perspectives to strength-based and health equity-oriented approaches. Parenting difficulties are analyzed across parental, child, and systemic levels, encompassing maternal acculturative stress, constrained paternal involvement, children’s developmental and psychosocial vulnerabilities, and structural barriers within healthcare and education systems. Building on this analysis, this review introduces the World Health Organization’s Nurturing Care Framework (NCF) as an integrated theoretical foundation for policy and program development. Particular attention is given to cultural socialization as a protective parenting practice that supports positive identity formation, resilience, and psychosocial well-being among multicultural children. Overall, applying the NCF with an explicit focus on cultural socialization offers a coherent and actionable approach to strengthening parenting support and advancing health equity for multicultural families. Coordinated, culturally responsive, and life-course-based strategies across health, education, and social welfare systems are essential to promote the optimal development and well-being of multicultural children.