Beyond Culture, Self-Esteem Raises a Child: The Impact of Korean Immigrant Women’s Cultural Adaptation Types on Parenting Efficacy

This study examines how different acculturation strategies influence parenting self-efficacy (PSE) among married immigrant women in South Korea, with a particular focus on the mediating role of self-esteem. Using a nationally representative dataset of multicultural family parents from the Korean Youth Policy Institute ( N = 1,198), this study employs multiple linear regression and bootstrapping analyses to test the effects of integration, assimilation, and separation strategies on PSE. Self-esteem is introduced as a mediating variable, and Korean language proficiency, income level, native language use, and country of origin are treated as control covariates. Theoretically, the study contributes in three major ways. First, it integrates Berry’s acculturation framework with Bandura’s self-efficacy theory and Rosenberg’s model of self-esteem, proposing a multidimensional pathway from cultural adaptation to parenting outcomes. Second, it reconceptualizes separation not merely as maladaptive, but as potentially empowering under specific identity-reinforcing conditions, particularly when native language use and community embeddedness are strong. Third, it demonstrates that parenting self-efficacy is not only a psychological trait but a contextually contingent construct shaped by structural resources such as language and income, aligning with intersectionality and ecological systems theory. Practically, the findings underscore the importance of culturally responsive parenting support programs that acknowledge and incorporate immigrant mothers’ cultural identity, language practices, and economic contexts. Interventions designed without consideration of these embedded dynamics risk reproducing structural inequality and limiting parenting capacity.