• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.56
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• pp.69-99
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• 2016

Taking the perspective of children's welfare, this study aimed at critically analyzing the system of notification disposition which institutionalized children have experienced. Notification disposition is a juvenile justice process that, when a child (10 th 18 years old ) has been delinquent or is at risk for delinquency, is initiated without investigation or prosecution procedures by direct notification to a judge from the caregivers, school principals, chief probation officers, or directors of child care institutions. The data used in the analysis included case records of probation offices, and court sentencing documents of juvenile protective dispositions. Results showed that notification cases were initiated by directors of child shelters/care institutions. The most common reasons of notification were theft, runaway, physical violence, drinking, and smoking. Furthermore, there were more controversial reasons, such as "bad influence on another institutionalized children", "showing no remorse", "no sense of guilt"and "challenge of rearing in institutions" Based on the results, we discussed three problematic aspects of the direct notification system by directors of childcare institutions : (1) too much reliance on the judicature judgment of juvenile court; (2) less stability of the judicial status of notified children, and (3) inadequacies of the notifying eligibility for directors of child care institutions.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.57
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• pp.43-82
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• 2017

As material perspective that stresses absolute income has limitations in explaining socioeconomic gradients in health, research on the relationship between an individual's subjective socioeconomic status(SSS) and health has emerged in recent years. Although previous research has been conducted mostly on adults, late school-aged children, who frequently evaluate themselves using social comparisons, are likely to subjectively perceive their socioeconomic status and be affected by their perception. Accordingly, this study examined the relationship between late school-aged children's SSS and their physical health, and its underlying path based on a psychosocial perspective. For this purpose, data from the first year survey of the Seoul Education and Health Welfare Panel (2014), which consisted of responses from 394 children ($4^{th}$ graders in elementary school) and their parents, were analyzed utilizing structural equation modeling. The results showed an indirect but significant relationship between late school-aged children's SSS and their physical health, via stress, self-efficacy, and health behaviors, which are mediating variables grounded on a psychosocial perspective. No direct relationship was found between late school-aged children's SSS and physical health. Based on these findings, we suggested several implications to improving children's health, including efforts to prevent adverse effects of low SSS on physical health through psychosocial factors.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.58
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• pp.171-203
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• 2017

There has been a growing number of research about children's development indicators and child well-being indicators. After the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and concluding observations on the second report of Korea, the effort to monitor and measure children's rights and the use of child rights indicators has increased within policy and academic research. However, few indicators provide a realization of children's rights. The purpose of this paper was to analyze children's own perceptions of their rights and to develop a children's rights index to measure children's rights. In this study, a children's rights index was developed from 38 indicators categorized into nine components and four domains (survival rights, development rights, protection rights, and participation rights) to measure children's rights. Data were gathered from 17,000 elementary and middle school children and their parents in 16 cities. The survey revealed significant differences in the children's rights index by region and age group. There was also a correlation between the economic circumstances of both households and communities and the children's rights index. In the light of the findings, it is suggested that there is a need to increase public investment on children and to raise awareness of children's rights in order to improve children's rights and to decrease disparity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.36
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• pp.7-27
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• 2011

This study empirically examines the effects of after-school self-care on children's development. More specifically, we examine whether the level of after-school self-care experiences that a child had during the 4 to 6 grade period affects the levels of school achievement, internalizing problem behaviors, externalizing problem behaviors, and delinquent behaviors during the child's middle school years. The study utilized the data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study's 1st and 4th year child supplementary surveys. The results show that the level of after-school self-care experiences negatively affects children's school achievement and internalizing problem behaviors. The study finds that, as the level of after-school self-care experiences increase, school achievement decreases and internalizing problem behaviors increase. The effects of after-school self-care on school achievement and internalizing behaviors were statistically significant even after controlling for the other variables that are known to be important factors on child development including child, parent, and family characteristics. The findings suggest that there is an independent effect of the level of after-school self-care on school achievement and internalizing problem behaviors. We also provide policy implications of the study. The policy considerations for latchkey children should include not only increasing the quantity of after-school programs, but also paying attention to the need of child development support programs beyond basic protection and care.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.36
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• pp.133-163
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• 2011

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between social support and child behavior problems and cognitive development in low income female-headed families. Informed by the stress-coping theory, family process model, and theoretical perspectives related to social support, this study estimates both direct and indirect effects of social support on child behavior problems and cognitive development. In particular, we focus on how the relationship between child outcomes and social support is mediated by mothers' parenting stress. The first three waves of longitudinal data from a subsample of 1,315 single and non-cohabiting low-income mothers in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study were utilized in this study. Results suggest that social support is directly associated with child behavior problems and also indirectly associated with child behavior problems mediated by mothers' parenting stress. Social support did not have a direct effect on children's cognitive development but rather had an indirect effect, which was mediated by mothers' parenting stress. The policy and practice implications of these findings are discussed.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.26
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• pp.7-30
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• 2008

The survival rate of children with cancer has increased significantly from less than 30% in 1960s to 75% during the recent years with the development of modern medical technologies. As a result, the cancer of children today is no longer classified as incurable diseases. Rather, it is recognized as a chronic illness. However, children with cancer are still suffering from physical and psychosocial ailments caused by long-term hospitalization. In particular, teenagers are more likely to be affected by these problems because of interests on one's appearance and peer relationships This study investigated the relationship of the level of body distortion and disease adjustment of children with cancer, and how demographic factors, disease factors, and the level of body distortion affect disease adjustment. Data were collected between October 22, 2007 and November 16, 2007 and the total respondents consisted of 82 children, ages 10 to 18. SPSS 12.0 with descriptive statistics, t-test, correlation and multiple regression were used for data analysis. The results showed that the factors which influence the disease adjustment of children with cancer were age, school enrollment, and the level of body distortion. The result of this study has major implications for the government to provide support for children with cancer to stay in school. Additionally, programs that assist children to build positive body images need to be developed in accordance with their ages and psychosocial characteristics.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.32
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• pp.69-97
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of high school students' academic problems such as academic stress and low academic achievement on suicidal ideation and the mediating effects of individual-level risk factors (e.g., depression, aggression) and protective factors (self-esteem, emotion regulation) on the relationship between academic problems and suicidal ideation. This study used data of three waves(2005-2007) from the Korea Youth Panel Survey(KYPS). The analyses were conducted on 2,093 academic high school students, who participated in this panel study. The results from structural equation modeling show that academic stress has positive effects on depression and aggression, but negative effect on self-esteem. Low academic achievement has positive effect on aggression but negative effect on self-esteem. Depression and aggression as individual-level risk factors have positive effects on suicidal ideation. In contrast, self-esteem and emotion regulation as individual-level protective factors have negative effects on suicidal ideation. The relationship between academic problems and suicidal ideation is mediated by depression, aggression, and self-esteem. Based on the study findings, practice implications for youth welfare are discussed to screen high-risk youths and to prevent adolescent suicide in advance.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.57
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• pp.83-112
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• 2017

This study aimed to investigate the mediating effects of spiritual well-being and ego resilience in the association between parent-child relationships and cultural adaption among children from multi-cultural families. For this purpose, surveys were administered to 4th to 6th graders in 200 elementary schools (150 multi-culturally focused and 50 in preparation for multi-cultural education) located in seven provinces in Korea. For the current study, we analyzed data collected from 706 children in 119 schools by utilizing structural equation modeling. To verify the mediating effects and its significance, a Sobel test was conducted. The results showed that parent-child relationships within the multi-cultural families was positively and significantly associated with spiritual well-being and ego-resilience in children, but not with children's cultural adaptation. Also, the results of the Sobel test showed significant mediating effects of spiritual well-being and ego-resilience in children in the association between parent-child relationships and children's cultural adaptation. Based on these results, policy and practice implications for children from multi-cultural families are suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.55
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• pp.31-55
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• 2016

This study investigated the impact of the experience of being discriminated on their actual experience of discrimination, and verified the moderating effect of the education for human rights. The data used in this study were sampled from the 2014 children and youth human rights survey of Korea National Youth Policy Institute, and 4,023 students in middle or high school were selected for the final data analysis. The moderation model was analyzed by applying SPSS PROCESS macro. The analysis suggested the following. First, it was shown that the experience of being discriminated and the level of help and frequency of the education for human rights were significantly distinguished in the statistics. Second, even though the experience of being discriminated and the level of help of the education for human rights meaningfully influenced the experience of discrimination, frequency of education did not. Third, it was verified that the level of help from education of human rights moderates the relationship between the experience of discrimination and the experience of being discriminated. It also showed that the higher the level of help is, the more the experience of being discriminated exerts influence on the experience of discrimination. Thus, on the basis of the results, the theoretical discussion on the youth discrimination was drawn out and the practical implication on the direction of the education for human rights was suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Child Welfare
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• no.40
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• pp.41-71
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• 2012

The purpose of this study is to examine longitudinal impacts of various factors on happiness in primary school children. Specifically, attachment theory and ecosystems perspective were utilized for the purpose of this study. We used Korea Youth Panel Survey, which is a 5-year longitudinal data collected from fourth grade in elementary school to second grade in middle school Latent growth model was employed as the analytic method. The findings of this study are as follow: first, academic achievement, self-esteem, parent attachment, peer attachment, teacher attachment, and community attachment all decreased over the 5-year study period. Also, the intercept and the slope variance of variables were found to be statistically significant. This means that there are significant differences in the intercept and the slope of individuals. Second, self-esteem, parent attachment, and peer attachment were found to have cross-sectional influences on happiness. This means that self-esteem, parent attachment, and peer attachment are positively associated with happiness at the intercept. Also, self-esteem, parent attachment, teacher attachment, and community attachment were found to have longitudinal influences on happiness. This means that the higher levels of community attachment at the intercept is associated with slower the rate of decrease in happiness at the slope. In addition, faster rates of decrease in self-esteem, parent attachment, teacher attachment, and community attachment are associated with faster the rate of decrease in happiness. Third, this study conducted multiple group analysis with gender. The findings of this analysis revealed no significant differences in analytic models between males and females. Based on these findings, theoretical and practice implications with regard to happiness in primary school children are discussed.