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home :: resource & revenge :: researches on korean abductees in sweden
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This is some hardcore research from a Korean abductee in Sweden, Lee Sam-dol (Tobias), who's doing this to raise awareness of the problems with intercountry adoption of Koreans, and for his PhD (!) Okay, so I don't really understand probably 80% of what's going on with all the numbers and what not, but you can get the general idea, right? It's depressing. But the good news is that someone is actually doing this work. Critical abductees need to be everywhere, using everything we can get our abducted hands on as a tool of resistance. Thanks to Sam-dol for letting us add this to our site.
A presentation on research concerning inter-country adoptees and adopted Koreans in Sweden
1. Demographic background
| Worldwide | U.S.A. | Europe | Scandinavia | Sweden | |
| ICA | 300,000 | 200,000 | 100,000 | 60,000 | 40,000 |
| AK | 150,000 | 100,000 | 50,000 | 25,000 | 9,000 |
| (Overseas Koreans) | (10%) | (60%) | (95%) | (90%) |
(ICA=Inter-Country Adoptees, AK=Adopted Koreans)
2. Factors for ICA in Sweden
Gender (G): Female (F) 2/3, Male (M) 1/3
Class (C) (social background):
| SWE (=Swedes) | ICA | |
| 1. Upper | 10% | 50% |
| 2. Middle | 40% | 40% |
| 3. Lower | 50% | 10% |
Adoption (A) (all adoptees): 1.5% (ICA+DA=Domestic Adoptees)
Ethnicity (E) (all non-Whites): 5% (ICA+IMM=Immigrants)
3. Study group 1: Born 1970-79 (quantitative population study based on data from national registries)
Hjern, Lindblad and & Vinnerljung, "Suicide, psychiatrich illness, and social maladjustment in intercountry adoptees in Sweden: A cohort study", The Lancet, August 10, 2002.
Lindblad, Hjern & Vinnerljung, "Inter-country adopted children as young adults - A Swedish cohort study", forthcoming.
ICA: 11,000 (1/2 AK, 2/3 F) (excluding those adopted above age 7 and those adopted to a single adoptive parent, expatriate adoptive parents or to a family where one adoptive parent was born abroad)
SIB=Siblings: 2,500 (adoptive parents' biological children with whom ICA grew up together)
IMM= 4,000 (non-Whites born in the same countries as ICA) SWE=850,000 (the general White Swedish majority population)
Epidemiological variables as of 1986-95 (OR=Odds Ratio, CI=Cumulated Incidence)
| ICA | SWE | SIB |
| Suicide | 3.6 | 4.4 |
| Suicide attempt | 3.6 | 4.2 |
| Psychiatric disorder (CI F 5%) | 3.2 | 3.5 |
| Alcohol abuse | 2.6 | 2.9 |
| Drug abuse | 5.2 | (?) |
| Severe crime (CI M 6%) | 2.5 | 4.8 |
Socio-economic variables as of 1999
ICA are:
- more living with parents (M), less being married (M), less having children (M)
- if having children, more living without children (M) or as single parent (F) (1/3 versus 1/5 respectively)
- less educated, more unemployed (M), more living on social welfare (M)
Summary: 18% of M and 8% of F have either indicators of poor mental health or social maladjustment
4. Study group 2: Born 1960-79 (quantitative population study based on data from national registries)
Source:
Swedish Board of Health and Welfare, Swedish Television, April, 2002.
ICA: 17,000 (2/3 AK, 2/3 F) (excluding those adopted above age 7 and those adopted to a single adoptive parent, expatriate adoptive parents or to a family where one adoptive parent was born abroad)
DA=Domestic Adoptees: 25,000 (White Swedish adoptees)
IMM= 20,000 (non-Whites born in the same countries as ICA)
SWE=1,030,000 (the general White Swedish majority population)
Epidemiological variables as of 1987-99 (OR=Odds Ratio, CI=Cumulated Incidence)
| ICA | SWE |
| Suicide | 2.8 (+DA) |
| Suicide attempt | 3.6 |
| Psychiatric disorder | 2.0 (+DA) |
| Alcohol abuse | 1.3 |
| Drug abuse | 2.2 (+DA) |
| ICA F | SWE |
| Suicide | 4.5 |
| Suicide attempt (CI 5%) | 4.6 |
| Psychiatric disorder | 2.7 |
| Alcohol abuse | 3.6 |
| Drug abuse | 3.1 |
Socio-economic variables as of 1999
ICA are:
-less married (SWE 10% versus 30% OR 2,3, DA 10% versus 40% OR 3,4), more living in big cities (+IMM)
- less educated, more unemployed (40% versus 20%) (+IMM), having lower incomes (50% versus 30% in the lowest group and 2% versus 7% in the highest), more living on social welfare (+IMM)
5. Other studies
Female issues
Source:
Berg-Kelly & Eriksson, "Adaptation of adopted foreign children at mid-adolescence as indicated by aspects of health and risk taking - A population study", European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 6/1997.
ICA F 13-18 years (study based on 86 informants)
| SWE | ICA | |
| Unpleasant sexual experience | 6% | 20% |
| Sometimes drinking alcohol alone | 14% | 29% |
| Sometimes using illicit drugs | 5% | 24% |
| Always using contraception | 86% | 35% |
Marital status
Source:
Bjoerklund & Richardson, "How adopted children born abroad fare as young adults in the Swedish labor market", Stockholm University: Center for social research, 2000.
ICA 23-34 years (quantitative population study based on data from national registries)
| SWE | ICA | |
| Married | 29% | 13% |
| Co-habitant | 32% | 15% |
| Total | 61% | 28% |
Suicide
Source:Hjern, "Suicide in first and second generation immigrants in Sweden - A comparative study", forthcoming in Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology.
ICA born 1968-79 (quantitative population study based on data from national registries)
OR 5,0 (ICA M CI 0,52%, more violent methods: 1/3 versus 1/2 for intoxication and 1/3 hanings)
6. Future studies
Suicide among AK in Sweden (autopsy reports)
Material: 29 suicide cases among AK 1982-99 (out of 64 AK deaths and a total of 61 suicide cases among ICA)
Sexualization of East Asian ICA F in Sweden (deep interviewing)
Material: 20 informants from Korea and Thailand
Cognitive development and IQ level among ICA M (quantitative population study based on data from national registries)
Material: Swedish Military Register
7. Conclusions
| Variables | Epidemiological | Socio-economic | Factor |
| ICA-SWE | Negative | Negative | C, A, E, G |
| ICA-SIB | Very Negative | Very Negative | E, A, G |
| ICA-DA | Equivalent | Negative | E, G |
| ICA-IMM | Negative | Equivalent | C, A, G |
Equivalent groups: foster children (epidemiological and socio-economic variables), vagrant street children (suicide)
Equivalent countries: Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, (U.S.A.)
Explanation model: Theory of multiple burdens
Class: no similar outcomes for ICA-SIB for neither epidemiological nor socio-economic variables (no reproduction of adoptive parents' upper class status, no correlation between high education of mother-high education of child)
Adoption: similar outcomes for ICA-DA for epidemiological variables Ethnicity: similar outcomes for ICA-IMM for socio-economic variables Gender: negative outcomes for ICA F for epidemiological variables and for ICA M for socio-economic variables