Host Language's Association with Delinquency and School Maladjustment among Immigrant Background Youths in South Korea: The Moderating Role of Heritage Language Ability, Self-Esteem, and Parental Support

• In Event: Poster Session 05
  In Poster Session: PS 05 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Due to the growing number of immigrant youth in South Korea, whether and how they adapt to society has drawn much public attention. The higher delinquency rate and maladaptive school experience among adolescents with immigrant background than those without is of rising concern. These maladaptive outcomes in adolescence result in huge costs not only for the individual, but also for society; thus intervention is imperative. Factors related to delinquency and school maladjustment should be verified based on a solid theoretical framework. General strain theory has been proven cross-culturally to identify factors that are related to adolescents’ maladaptive experiences. It is also necessary to explore multi-systematic and multi-cultural protective factors in individuals for effective intervention.

Methods: This study used data from the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study (2015; N=1,279), collected by the National Youth Policy Institute in South Korea. First, binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the association between strain from host language and delinquency, and to examine the moderation effect of protective factors. Second, multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the association between strain from host language and school maladjustment, and to examine the moderation effect of protective factors. The dependent (delinquency, school maladjustment), independent (Korean language stress, Korean language ability), moderating (heritage language ability, self-esteem, parental support), and control (gender, age, household income, size of residential area, bullying victimization) variables were carefully selected based on theory.

Results: First, although Korean language stress and Korean language ability did not have main effects on delinquency, Korean language stress was shown to predict delinquency by interacting with heritage language ability. For relatively high levels of heritage language ability, the higher the level of heritage language ability, the greater the association between Korean language stress and delinquency. However, when heritage language ability was extremely low, Korean language stress was associated with lower delinquency. Among the moderating variables considered in this study, only heritage language ability and parental support had main effects on delinquency and were identified as factors associated with lower probability of delinquency. Second, Korean language stress and Korean language ability showed main effects on school maladjustment, with Korean language stress and Korean language ability each having a positive and negative relationship, respectively. Higher heritage language ability, self-esteem, and parental support were associated with reduced school maladjustment. However, none of the interaction effects were statistically significant.

Conclusions and Implications: Based on general strain theory, this study investigated the relationship between strain from host language and delinquency, as well as school maladjustment, and further examined multi-systemic protective factors, among adolescents with immigrant background in South Korea. This study attempted to ultimately lay the foundation for effective intervention toward delinquency and school maladjustment among adolescents with immigrant background in South Korea. This study suggested host language ability, heritage language ability, self-esteem, parental support as points of intervention for alleviating youth delinquency and school maladjustment. Particularly, greater public attention should be given towards enhancing heritage language ability among adolescents with immigrant background in South Korea.

Authors

• Ji Won Choe, The Blue Tree Foundation
  Presenting Author

• Yoonsun Han, Seoul National University
  Non-Presenting Author