P. D. DIJKSTRA ET AL. 95
To end, our data show that Korean male adoptees face more
difficulties finding a partner than their female counterparts.
This may have implications for adoption policy makers who are
concerned with the general well-being of adoptees. Overseas
adoption from South Korea, and more recently China, is a
widespread phenomenon in the West; debates about adoption
policies and procedures, as well as how well adoptees fare in
early life (Lien, Meyer, & Winick, 1977; Teilmann, Pedersen,
Skakkebæk, & Jensen, 2006; Winick, Meyer, & Harris, 1975)
and adult life (Shiao & Tuan, 2008), often attract a lot of atten-
tion. Some studies on Korean adoptees have revealed that they
have done well in academic achievement and socioeconomic
adjustment compared to other ethnic groups (Kim, 1995), but
our study reveals that Korean male adoptees have considerably
more troubles finding partners in their adoptive Western coun-
tries than their female counterparts. The ability to find a partner
or spouse has a positive effect on a person’s subjective
well-being (Ribar, 2004; Soons & Liefbroer, 2008). We there-
fore conclude that subjective well-being factors such as dating
success and romantic opportunities should be seriously consid-
ered by policy makers in the discussion of general well-being of
transracial adoptees and Asian minorities in the West.
References
Basow, S. A., Lilley, E., Bookwala, J. J., & McGil-
licuddy-DeLisi, A. (2008). Identity development and psy-
chological well-being in Korean-born adoptees in the U.S..
American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78, 473-480.
doi:10.1037/a0014450
Belot, M. V. K., & Fidrmuc, J. (2010). Anthropometry of love:
Height and gender asymmetries in interethnic marriages.
Economics and Human Biology, 8, 361-372
doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2010.09.004.
Black, D., Gates, G., Sanders, S., & Taylor, L. (2000). Demo-
graphics of the gay and lesbian population in the United States:
Evidence from available systematic data sources. Demography,
37, 139-154. doi:10.2307/2648117
Chow, S. (2000). The significance of race in the private sphere:
Asian Americans and spousal preferences. Sociological In-
quiry, 70, 1-29. doi:10.1111/j.1475-682X.2000.tb00893.x
Diener, E., & Fujita, F. (1995). Resources, personal strivings,
and subjective wellbeing: A nomothetic and idiographic ap-
proach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68,
926-935. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.5.926
Ellison, C. G., & Powers, D. A. (1994). The contact hypothesis
and racial attitudes among Black Americans. Social Science
Quarterly, 75, 385-400.
Eng, D. (2001). Racial castration: Managing masculinity in
Asian America. Durham: Duke University Press.
Espiritu, Y. L. (1997). Asian American women and men: Labor,
laws, and love. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Hoehn, M., & Moon, S. (2010). Over there: Living with the
U.S. military empire from World War Two to the present.
Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Huebinette, T. (2006). Comforting an orphaned nation: Repre-
sentations of international adoption and adopted Koreans in
Korean popular culture. Seoul: Jimoondang.
Jacobs, J. A., & Labov, T. (1995). Sex Differences in intermar-
riage: Asian exceptionalism reconsidered. American Socio-
logical Association Meeting, Washington.
Johnson, D., & Poddar, P. (Eds.). (2005). A historical companion
to postcolonial thought in English. New York: Columbia Uni-
versity Press.
Jung, A., Gwon, J., & Schwekendiek, D. (2008). Survey on the
status of overseas adopted Koreans and proposals for effec-
tive post-adoption services (in Korean). Seoul: Ministry of
Health, Welfare and Family Planning.
Kim, E. J. (2010). Adopted territory: Transnational Korean
adoptees and the politics of belonging. Durham: Duke Uni-
versity Press.
Kim, W. J. (1995). International adoption: A case review of
Korean children. Child Psychiatry and Human Development,
25, 141-154. doi:10.1007/BF02251299
Laumann, E. O., Gagnon, J. H., Michael, R. T., & Michaels, S.
(1994). The social organization of sexuality. Sexual practices
in the United States. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Liang, Z., & Ito, N. (1999). Intermarriage of Asian Americans
in the New York City region: Contemporary patterns and fu-
ture prospects. International Migration Review, 33, 879-900.
doi:10.2307/2547356
Lien, N., Meyer, K., & Winick, M. (1977). Early malnutrition
and “late” adoption: A study of their effects on the develop-
ment of Korean orphans adopted into American families.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 30, 1734-1739.
Overseas Koreans Foundation. (2006). International Korean
Adoptees Resource Book.
Ribar, D. C. (2004). What do social scientists know about the
benefits of marriage? A review of quantitative methodologies.
IZA Discussion Paper, No. 998.
Rooth, D.-O. (2002). Adopted children in the labour mar-
ket—Discrimination or unobserved characteristics. Interna-
tional Migration, 40, 71-98. doi:10.1111/1468-2435.00186
Schwekendiek, D. (2009). Happy birthday? Official versus
chronological age of Korean adoptees. Journal of Korean
Adoption Studies, 1, 25-39.
Shiao, J. L., & Tuan, M. H. (2008). Some Asian men are attrac-
tive to me, but for a husband…: Korean adoptees and the sa-
lience of race in romance. Du Bois Review, 5, 259-285.
doi:10.1017/S1742058X08080132
Soons, J. P. M., & Liefbroer, A. C. (2008). Together is better?
Effects of relationship status and resources on young adults’
well-being. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 25,
603-624. doi:10.1177/0265407508093789
Takaki, R. (1998). Strangers from a different shore: A history
of Asian Americans. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
doi:10.1542/peds.2005-2939
Teilmann, G., Pedersen, C. B., Skakkebæk, N. E., & Jensen, T.
K. (2006). Increased risk of precocious puberty in interna-
tionally adopted children in Denmark. Pediatrics, 118,
e391-e399.
Tuan, M. H., & Shiao, J. L. (2011). Choosing ethnicity, negoti-
ating race: Korean adoptees in America. New York: Russel
Sage Foundation.
Wilson, C. M., & Oswald, A. J. (2005). How does marriage
affect physical and psychological health? A survey of the
longitudinal evidence. IZA Discussion Paper, No. 1619.
Winick, M., Meyer, K., & Harris, R. (1975). Malnutrition and
environmental enrichment by early adoption. Science, 190,
1173-1175. doi:10.1126/science.1198103