Maternal Involvement in Education, Bicultural Acceptance, and School Adjustment: An Autoregressive Cross-Lagged Modeling Study among Adolescents from Multicultural Families

This study examined the associations between maternal involvement in education and bicultural acceptance and school adjustment during the first year of middle school among adolescents from Korean multicultural families as well as the reciprocal relationships between bicultural acceptance and school adjustment during the three years of middle school. The present study used three-wave longitudinal data of 1185 dyads of adolescents (50.8% girls; mean age = 12.96 ± 0.35 years at the first wave) and their immigrant mothers (mean age = 43.54 ± 5.19 years at the first wave), who participated in the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study. An autoregressive cross-lagged modeling analysis revealed that maternal involvement in education was significantly and positively associated with adolescents' bicultural acceptance and school adjustment in the first year of middle school. Individual levels of bicultural acceptance and school adjustment among adolescents remained moderately stable over the three years. Whereas the positive effects of school adjustment on bicultural acceptance were significant over time, the effects of bicultural acceptance on school adjustment were not. Finally, this study highlights the roles of intervention programs (e.g., parent and multicultural education) in facilitating maternal involvement in education and school adjustment as well as in increasing bicultural acceptance among minority youths.

Developmental trajectories of Korean and heritage language proficiencies and their association with maladjustment among Korean multicultural adolescents

This study identified changes in Korean and heritage language proficiencies across five waves (2011-2015) and examined the association between linguistic acculturation trajectories and adjustment (2016) among Korean adolescents with immigrant family backgrounds (N = 1441; 51.21% female; M_{age(baseline)}  = 9.97). All adolescents were from multiethnic families with 91.65% comprising a non-Korean Asian mother (e.g., Japan, Philippines, China, Thailand) and Korean father. Parallel process latent class growth modeling and multivariate regression analysis were conducted to estimate the trajectories of linguistic acculturation and their effects on adolescents' future adjustment. Linguistic acculturation trajectories were classified into three latent groups. Bilingual adolescents demonstrated better adjustment over adolescents in other trajectories. Findings highlight the importance of considering patterns of change in linguistic acculturation for understanding Korean multicultural adolescents' adjustment.

Assessment of life factors affecting the experience of depressive symptoms in adolescents: a secondary analysis using the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey

BACKGROUND

Adolescents may experience several changes in their lifestyle, such as social activity and school life, which makes them vulnerable to developing a depressive disorder. Therefore, the present study aimed to identify the factors affecting the experience of depressive symptoms during adolescence.

METHODS

We conducted a secondary analysis using the 2019 Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based survey data, including a total of 57,303 middle and high school students selected from among 400 schools. Factors such as dietary habits, physical activity levels, time spent studying, duration of internet use, and other health risk behaviors were included in the analysis. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify factors that predict the risk of experiencing depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

The perceived stress of Korean adolescents showed a tendency to increase with age, and high school seniors and girls were more likely to report depressive symptoms. Perceived health status, academic performance, time spent studying, physical activity, duration of internet use, and effort to control weight were associated with individual experiences of depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSION

We identified factors that influence the experience of depressive symptoms in adolescents. Our results suggest the possibility that the purpose of students' physical activities and their leisure activity preferences may be related to their emotional status. We suggest that activities that are appropriate to the culture and lifestyle of adolescents should be recommended to reduce the occurrence of depressive symptoms.

Context of biethnic acceptance, biethnic affirmation, and life satisfaction among Korean biethnic adolescents

INTRODUCTION

This study aimed to identify latent profiles based on familial ethnic socialization, peer discrimination, and school multicultural climate among biethnic adolescents in South Korea and to examine how the emerged profiles were related to their life satisfaction.We also examined how biethnic affirmation interacted with the profiles in predicting life satisfaction.

METHODS

Questionnaire data from the first wave of the Panel Survey of Korean Multicultural Youth Adjustment was used. The sample consisted of 358 biethnic adolescents in 5th and 6th grade in South Korea. The meanage was 11.41 years old. Approximately 60% of the participants were in 5th grade and 51.68% were girls.

RESULTS

The results of LPA showed that familial ethnic socialization, peer discrimination, and school multicultural climate formed two distinct profiles in the current sample. These profiles were characterized as contexts of high and low biethnic acceptance. Biethnic adolescents in the context of high biethnic acceptance were significantly more satisfied with their lives than those in the context of low biethnic acceptance.Further, the positive association between biethnic iaffirmation and life satisfaction was more pronounced among adolescents in the context of low biethnic acceptance.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings suggest the importance of promoting biethnic acceptance across family, peer, and school settings for adolescents' biethnic affirmation and life satisfaction.