Korean Adolescents' Health Behavior and Psychological Status according to Their Mother's Nationality

Abstract

ObjectivesThis study was conducted to compare adolescents’ health behaviors and psychological status according to whether or not their mother was born in Korea.MethodsThis secondary analysis used nationally representative data from the 2015 Korean Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey. The self-administered questionnaire included computer measured socio-demographic variables, 15 health behaviors, and psychological status. Data from 65,426 middle school and high school students were analyzed. Multiple logistic regression, adjusting for socio-demographic variables, was used to analyze differences in health behaviors and psychological status between adolescents with a foreign-born mother and those with a Korean mother.ResultsAdolescents who have foreign-born mothers had a lower level of current drinking and subjective happiness, but a higher stress level.ConclusionThe stress levels of the adolescents with foreign-born mothers could be affected by their multicultural background. It is necessary to analyze stress-influencing factors of multicultural adolescents by comparing them to adolescents from Korean parents. Additionally, our society should pay more attention to the mental health of multicultural adolescents. Schools should also make various efforts to protect multicultural adolescents by adopting mental health management programs led by school nurses and counselors.

The Mental Health of Ethnic Minority Youths in South Korea and Its Related Environmental Factors: A Literature Review

“…Case-control studies that compared internalizing problems in MY, notably, depression and anxiety symptoms, with those of NKRY, showed variations in relative prevalence or severity. No significant difference was noted in reports on the prevalence and severity of internalizing symptoms including depressive and anxiety symptoms and suicidal ideation [9][10][11][12]. In other studies, however, the prevalence or severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms and suicidal behaviors among MY was high [13][14][15][16], even after adjusting for other sociodemographic variables [17,18].…”

“…For adolescent MY, studies have focused more on delinquent behaviors. In general, MY display a high rate of smoking or substance use [9,10,17,18], but behaviors differ as a function of the multicultural family type. Compared with native-born adolescents, MY with foreignborn fathers or foreign-born parents were more likely to smoke or use drugs.…”

Adolescents in Multi-Ethnic Families under Korean Ethnic Nationalism

“…In the current issue of Osong Public Health and Research Perspectives , a study aimed to compare adolescents’ health behaviors and psychological status according to whether or not their mother was born in Korea [ 13 ].…”

“…The authors have found that adolescents with foreign-born mothers had low levels of subjective happiness and high level of stress. The stress level of adolescents with foreign-born mothers could be affected by their multicultural background [ 13 ].…”

“…The author suggested that stress influencing factors of multicultural adolescents should be analyzed by comparing those of adolescents with non-immigrant Korean parents, and schools should make various efforts to protect multicultural adolescents by adopting mental health management programs led by school nurses and counselors [ 13 ].…”