Social Relationships for Youth and Adolescents within the Korean American Immigrant Church

Some ethnic immigrants socialize around their religious commu-nities. The Korean immigrant church in particular is known to func-tion as a social center where Korean immigrants can perpetuate their cultural and spiritual practices in the U.S. However, few studies have directly focused on the social relationships of younger generations sharing the same space in the church with their parent generations. The main research question is this: How do 1.5-and second-gen-eration Korean-American youths perceive their experience with so-cial relationships in their foreign-born parents’ religious community? The author, through qualitative research methods, examines the ex-periences shared by American-born or American-raised Korean youths involved in their parents’ religious community. This study will provide a space for discussions about the function of the Korean im-migrant church in fostering youths’ socio-cultural development and suggest ways to promote better intergenerational relationships through their time spent together at the immigrant church.