Nearly 80% of ’goose fathers’ undernourished: survey

Almost 80 percent of Korean fathers separated from their children and wives for education purposes suffer undernourishment, a survey showed Thursday, indicating deteriorating health among so-called "goose fathers."

Large numbers of South Korean wives in recent years have accompanied their children as they go to study abroad, leaving their husbands behind to support them financially. More than 18,700 elementary, middle and high school students went abroad from March 2010 through February 2011, according to government data.

The survey was conducted on 151 goose fathers aged 35-59 for a doctoral dissertation by Cha Eun-jeong, a student of nursing science at Ewha Womans University in Seoul. Koreans commonly refer to fathers with wives and children overseas for study purposes in bird imagery: eagle fathers have enough money to visit the family at will, goose fathers see their families only when they return at school vacation times and penguin fathers can only pine for their wives and children from afar.

Cha said 76.8 percent of the respondents were found to be malnourished despite their relatively high incomes. More than half of those surveyed, or 53 percent, earned at least 6 million won ($5,320) per month.

Nearly a third, or 29.6 percent, of the goose fathers said they felt depressed, and spent an average of 39.4 months away from their families, the survey showed.

"It is difficult to apply the survey results to the general public due to the limited number of respondents," Cha said.

She added, however, that "goose fathers need to be reexamined for their nutritional conditions and put under programs that can improve their eating habits." (Yonhap)