The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of marital satisfaction and interparental
conflict in multicultural families on peer relationship and emotional intelligence of young
children. For achieving this objective, this study was conducted targeting 60 children of
multicultural families and 60 children of Korean families aged three to five selected from
preschools and multicultural family support center located in Daegu city and
Gyeongsangbuk-do. Marital satisfaction and interparental conflict were assessed by their
mothers using Marital Satisfaction Scale(Roach, Frazier & Bowden, 1981) and Cognitive of
Marital Satisfaction(Choi, 1994). Penn Interactive Peer Play Scale(Fantuzzo, Coolahan,
McDermontt & Sutton-Smith, 1998) and Emotional Intelligence Rating Scale(Kim, 1998) were
used for their teachers to measure young children's peer relationship and emotional intelligence.
The data was analyzed by descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation coefficient, Cronbach's
α and simple regression analysis.
The major findings of this study were as follows;
First, there was no effect of marital satisfaction and interparental conflict on Korean young
children's peer relationship. However, there was negative effect of interparental conflict on
multicultural young children's peer relationship.
Second, there was no effect of marital satisfaction and interparental conflict on Korean young
children's emotional intelligence. However, there was positive effect of marital satisfaction on
multicultural young children's emotional intelligence.
In conclusion, multicultural children's peer relationship and emotional intelligence were more
affected by their mothers' marital satisfaction and interparental conflict than their counterparts'
peer relationship and emotional intelligence.