Confirming the multidimensionality of psychological well-being among Korean immigrant mothers in the United States.

Ryff's Psychological Well-Being (PWB) Scale is a theoretically derived instrument that focuses on six dimensions of eudaimonic well-being. Although the PWB scale has been widely used in both clinical and general samples with different sociodemographic characteristics, its factor structure within first-generation Korean immigrant mothers require examination, as they often face socio-cultural challenges due to immigration (e.g., experiencing acculturation stress, being socially and culturally segregated, following heritage cultural obligations to be a "wise mother and good wife," taking less prestige jobs, etc.) that could negatively influence their well-being. This study examined the factor structure of an 18-item version of the PWB Scale in a sample of 169 first-generation Korean immigrant mothers of young children in the U.S. A second-order confirmatory factor analysisdid not support the original factor structure of the PWB scale. More importantly, high correlations among some of the PWB subscales suggested that the PWB factors may not be distinct from each other and the number of factors should be reduced. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on the four highly correlated factors in subsequent analyses and three new factors (Satisfaction with Life, Goal Orientation, and Positive Self-Perceptions) were identified. The newly derived PWB factors were negativelycorrelated with mothers' depressive symptoms.These findings advanced our understanding of psychological well-being in first-generation Korean immigrant mothersand highlighted the need to consider socio-cultural factors in mental health research on this population.