Int J Psychol. 2025 Aug;60(4):e70066. doi: 10.1002/ijop.70066.
ABSTRACT
North Korean refugee (NKR) undergraduate students in South Korean universities often conceal their NKR identity to mitigate discrimination, a strategy that can impede social connection and access to vital resources for college adjustment. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a resilience-disclosure intervention designed to encourage strategic identity management over complete concealment. In a quasi-randomised controlled trial, NKR students were assigned to either a resilience-disclosure intervention (n = 75) or a control intervention (n = 68) condition. The resilience-disclosure intervention highlighted strengths associated with participants’ stigmatised NKR identity and encouraged intergroup contact, while the control intervention focused on general strategies for college success without addressing NKR identity. Results demonstrated that the intervention significantly buffered the decline of identity disclosure among participants with heightened concerns about identity-based rejection. These findings contribute to the literature on psychological interventions, intergroup relations, and the experiences of individuals with CSIs, offering practical strategies to address challenges faced by NKRs.
PMID:40534307 | DOI:10.1002/ijop.70066
