Peers' Private Tutoring and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From Secondary Schools in South Korea

From classroom to life: Gender differences in the persistent effect of learning disabilities on adult depressive symptoms

Despite the well-established link between adolescent learning disabilities (LD) and mental health, little is known about its long-term consequences. This study examines the relationship between adolescent LD and adult depressive symptoms, with a focus on gender differences and underlying mechanisms. Using a sibling sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (N = 3,414), this study estimated sibling fixed effects models to account for unobserved family-level characteristics such as genes and early childhood family and social context. Sobel mediation analyses were conducted to examine social-psychological mechanisms, including the student-teacher relationship, the student-student relationship, and a sense of school belonging. LD in adolescence was positively associated with depressive symptoms in adulthood (b = 0.823, p < 0.05). This association remained robust when controlling for unobserved family-level confounders as well as educational attainment in adulthood. Gender-stratified models showed that only the association for women is statistically significant (b = 1.935, p < 0.05), and its magnitude is nearly three times that of the association for men. Sobel mediation tests indicate that a decline in a sense of school belonging mediates approximately 17% of the association between adolescent LD and adult depressive symptoms. This study's findings suggest that LD in adolescence is associated with an increase in depressive symptoms in adulthood, particularly in women, and a low sense of school belonging may be a potential mediator. Implementing interventions to improve the school integration of girls with LD could be an effective means of improving their long-term mental health.

A longitudinal study of immigrant mothers' destination-language proficiency and their children's psychological well-being: Evidence and mechanisms from a study in South Korea

RATIONALE

Despite the well-established link between an immigrant's destination-language proficiency and psychological well-being, little is known about the relationship between an immigrant's destination-language proficiency and well-being of their children.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated whether and how immigrant mothers' Korean proficiency is associated with life satisfaction and depressive symptoms among their children in South Korea. A comprehensive set of potential underlying mechanisms was also examined.

METHODS

Using four waves of data from the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study (MAPS), this study estimated fixed effects regression models to reduce the possibility of bias due to individual-level heterogeneity. To test for mediation formally, Sobel mediation tests were conducted.

RESULTS

Fixed effects estimates suggested that immigrant mothers' Korean proficiency is positively associated with their children's psychological well-being. Specifically, a one-standard-deviation increase in Korean proficiency was associated with an increase in life satisfaction by 13% of a standard deviation and a decrease in depressive symptoms by 9% of a standard deviation. Mediation tests revealed that this association is explained by a combination of social-psychological factors. Friend support was the most salient mediator, followed by lower acculturation stress, positive perceptions of local community, and teacher support.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings of this study suggest that efforts to improve immigrant mothers' destination-language proficiency would also benefit their children's psychological well-being. Furthermore, promoting children's relationships with peers at school may mitigate the negative psychological consequences of immigrant mothers' limited language proficiency.

Teacher experience and students' mental well-being

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between homeroom teachers' experience and students' mental well-being, in addition to examining the underlying mechanisms that can explain the relationship.

METHODS

Secondary data from the Gyeonggi Education Panel Study was used. The analysis included 3002 fourth graders and 3090 first-year middle school students in Gyeonggi province in South Korea, and the quasi-random assignment of students into classrooms in South Korea was used. The level of students' mental well-being was used as an outcome, and homeroom teachers' experience was used as an independent variable. Students' perception of their homeroom teachers' teaching skills and teachers' self-perceived capacity for understanding students' behaviors were used for mechanism analyses.

RESULTS

Students assigned to homeroom teachers with less than 5 years of experience had lower mental well-being than those assigned to more experienced homeroom teachers. Mechanism analyses revealed that teachers who had more than 5 years of experience were more confident about understanding their students than those who had less than 5 years of experience.

CONCLUSIONS

Homeroom teachers' experience is highly associated with students' mental well-being. To promote students' mental well-being, deeper understanding of the relationship between teachers' experience and students' mental well-being is necessary.

Peers' parental education and cardiovascular disease risk in adulthood: The mediating role of health-related behaviors

RATIONALE

Although there is a growing body of empirical evidence on the relationship between peers' parental education and adolescents' educational outcomes, little is known about whether exposure to highly educated peers' parents is associated with improved physical health in adulthood.

OBJECTIVE

This study investigated the relationship between the education level of peers' parents (Wave I) and the risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adulthood (Wave IV). Moreover, we considered a set of health-related behaviors (Wave II) as the underlying mechanisms linking peers' parental education to later-life physical health such as substance use (smoking, binge drinking, and marijuana use) and other lifestyle behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, and unhealthy dietary habits).

METHODS

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), spanning respondents' adolescence to adulthood, were used. To address the endogenous school selection problem and account for the unobserved school-level confounders, this study exploited quasi-experimental within-school/across-cohort variation in peer composition. To formally test for mediation, Sobel tests were conducted.

RESULTS

The results of this study revealed that independent of own parents' education levels, exposure to higher levels of peers' parental education is associated with a lower CVD risk score in adulthood. For a one-standard-deviation increase in peers' parental education-that is, about a 0.98-year increase in grademates' parental educational attainment, a CVD risk in adulthood increased by about 6.2%. Our mediation analyses showed that part of this association is explained by a decrease in substance use (27% for smoking, 10% for binge drinking, and 11% for marijuana use). In contrast, none of the other lifestyle behaviors evaluated significantly mediated the association.

CONCLUSION

The study's findings suggest that the role of peers' parents should not be overlooked when developing health-promoting interventions for adolescents. Policymakers and practitioners may wish to increase opportunities for students to benefit from health-related social learning from their peers' highly educated parents.

The gendered relationship between cumulative exposure to lower community attachment and adolescent health

This study examines whether the longitudinal association between cumulative exposure to lower community attachment and adolescent health differs by gender. Using seven waves of the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey spanning 2010-2016, this study examines the association between cumulative exposure to lower community attachment and self-rated health among Korean adolescents. This study estimated fixed-effects models to account for unobserved confounders at the individual level. Fixed-effects estimates revealed that cumulative exposure to lower community attachment is associated with a decreased likelihood of reporting excellent health. Starting from the initial exposure, girls' self-rated health continued to deteriorate over time. In contrast, boys' self-rated health decreased for up to 3 years of persistent exposure, but has since returned to pre-exposure levels. The association between cumulative exposure to lower levels of community attachment and a decline in self-rated health is more pronounced among girls than boys. Gender-specific community-based interventions during adolescence may be required to promote adolescent health and well-being.