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Ecological Factors Influencing Breastfeeding Decisions Among Korean Immigrant Mothers In America, Soyoung Lee, Yeon Bai, Soo Bin You

Department of Family Science and Human Development Scholarship and Creative Works

There are complex relationships among individual, family, community, and social factors related to breastfeeding. Immigrant mothers, specifically, face several unique challenges to practicing breastfeeding while negotiating these factors within two cultural worlds. Grounded in the theory of planned behavior and the ecological perspective, our qualitative study findings unveil a part of the complex and dynamic process of breastfeeding decision-making among Korean immigrant mothers in the United States. To elicit mothers’ underlying beliefs of attitude and intention toward breastfeeding as immigrants, we conducted in-person interviews with 13 pregnant and postpartum Korean immigrant mothers, ages ranging from 30 to 39. The findings …