The Effect of Social Distance toward Immigrants on Multicultural Acceptance : Verification of the Mediating Effect of Threat Awareness among Chung Nam Residents

Recently, the number of immigrants and multicultural communities moving into the country has continued to increase. Also, Multicultural members appear from professionals to illegal immigrants in a variety of ways. This study verified the impact of the social distance by Chung Nam residents toward immigrants on multicultural acceptance and the mediating effect of threat awareness. As a result of the study, it was found that there were differences in perception between groups depending on the presence of children, age, marital status, and educational level among socio-demographic characteristics. Threat awareness was significant to have a partial mediating effect on the effect of the survey subjects' social distance on multicultural acceptance. Ultimately, in order to reduce the impact of negative perceptions such as social distance and threat awareness on multicultural acceptance, and to resolve conflict issues, continuous monitoring and social integration policies by local communities and related organizations must be implemented.