近二十年來台灣經濟與社會快速發展並積極在亞洲地區投資設廠，引發外籍勞工大量進入台灣，近十年更迅速吸納來自東南亞的外籍配偶，促使台灣社會發展進入多元文化社會的階段。對於東南亞國家如印尼、越南、菲律賓、泰國等的民眾與文化逐漸形成既定的刻板印象，然片面或不當的負面刻板印象卻可能成為影響台灣與東南亞地區在貿易往來、人際關係之間與文化交流的絆腳石。 本研究有鑑於台灣社會對於外籍配偶恐怕有認知上的差異，如外籍配偶皆是「用錢買的」、「知識水平與文化水準較低」、「小孩教育出現嚴重問題（如遲緩兒）」、「對臺灣社會是一種負擔」等，以至於使得社會形成外籍配偶會台灣擾亂社會的刻板印象。這樣的錯誤刻板印象很容易加深社會對外籍配偶的排斥感，甚至延伸到外籍配偶家庭，造成家庭關係緊張，使得外籍配偶在生活適應、融入社會以及求職方面遭受更大阻力，也對外籍配偶所生的「新臺灣之子」帶來不良的影響，容易被貼上標籤，造成心理障礙。

The rapid increase in foreign investment in South-east Asia during 1980s has helped to start the transformation of Taiwan into a new multicultural society with the continuing employment of a large number of alien workers since early 1990s and a massive immigration of foreign spouses from Southeast Asian countries, e.g., Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia since late 1990s. For Taiwanese, recent contacts with these Southeast Asians and other sources of information such as books and media reports have created stereotypes of these Southeast Asians in regard to their cultures, personalities, and behaviors. However, inaccurate stereotypes, negative stereotypes in particular, may turn out to be the stumbling block of ongoing economic, social, and cultural interactions among people from different countries. In Taiwan, the problems associated with negative stereotypes of Southeast Asian spouses and workers, for example, under-educated person, greedy personality, and violent behavior, have become a major concern for both government authorities and non-government organizations. Research shows that some negative stereotypes have been transformed into stigma passed on to the children from families consisting of a Taiwanese spouse and a spouse originated from Southeast Asian countries. Yet, there is a lack of empirical research on what the major stereotypes are and what causes these stereotypes. This research attempted to fill up this gap. Based on a pilot study and a survey of 164 Taiwanese adults about their stereotypes of spouses from four Southeast Asian countries, we found the existence of negative stereotypes in all five aspects: demographics of Taiwanese spouse, perception about marriage, attitude towards job, level of social acceptance, and social-economic status. Newspapers and TV news were reported to account of the negative stereotypes. We suggest that government authorities and non-government organizations play an active role in waiving negatives stereotypes and promote the development of a true multicultural society.