Paper Title
The Study on a Sense of Community of Female Spouses of New Immigrants

Abstract
For over a decade the government of Taiwan has been providing subsidies and holding language and life-skills activities to help women who have recently immigrated to Taiwan for marriage to adapt to their new homeland. While such efforts have significantly enhanced the social and employment opportunities of these new immigrants, there is still a need to determine how successful they have been in cultivating a sense of community amongst these women. In this study, 239 female immigrants from mainland China and Southeast Asia were surveyed; 45.2% were from Vietnam, 26.4% were from China, 16.3% were from Indonesia, and 12.1% were from Thailand. It was found that the participants who have been residing in Taiwan between 16 and 20 years have a significantly stronger sense of community than those who have been residing in Taiwan between 6 and 10 years. The two factors which had the closest correlation with a strong sense of community were working outside the home and belonging to two or more social organizations. As for the influence of the four factors of “shared emotional connection,” “reinforcement of needs,” "influence," and "relationship with members of a community organization," We found a close connection between the participants’ work situation and their “shared emotional connection” and “reinforcement of needs.” Finally, the results indicate a new immigrant’s sense of community is fostered by positive interactions with the native population. For these reasons we suggest that government agencies organize more courses for helping new immigrants and their family members enhance their interpersonal communication skills.