The Relationship between Academic Stress and Depression among Korean Adolescents

Abstract

이미 많은 연구로 청소년 학업스트레스와 우울의 관계가 밝혀졌지 만, 우리나라의 학벌주의로 인한, 청소년기 학업스트레스 때문에 발생하는 우울에 대한 해결책을 사회적 차원에서 찾기에는 부족한 실상이다. 따라서 개인적 차원의 해결책을 마련하도록 이론•실천적 함의를 이끌어내기 위해, 인식된 자기효능감과 부모 지지 두 가지 변수 모두 학업스트레스-우울 관계 에 있어 조절효과를 가지는지를 살펴보고자 하였다. 연구대상을 중학교 3학 년으로 정했는데, 그 이유는 종단적 연구에 의하면 중학교 3학년이 청소년 기 중에 우울 수준이 가장 높고, 부모 관련 스트레스 수준도 가장 높으며, 아울러 자기효능감 수준이 가장 높은 시기이기 때문이다. 이론적 틀로 Lazarus와 Folkman (1984) 의 스트레스와 평가, 그리고 대처에 관한 인지 이 론을 사용했다. 스트레스, 평가, 대처, 정서, 사기 중에 대처 및 정서 단계를 제외하고 모두 본 연구에 적용했다. 단, 선행 연구 중에 인식된 부모 지지 가 조절효과를 가지지 못한다는 부분적인 결과가 있는 연구도 존재했다. 본 연구는 한국청소년정책연구원에서 실시한 한국아동청소년패널조사 초4코호 트 제6차(2015년) 자료를 사용했다. 총 2,061명의 중학교3학년 학생들이 설 문에 응답했다. 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 학업스트레스와 우울은 유의 미한 관계가 있다. 둘째, 자기효능감은 학업스트레스와 우울의 관계에서 유 의미한 조절효과를 갖는다. 셋째, 부모 지지는 학업스트레스와 우울의 관계 에서 유의미하지 않은 조절효과를 갖는다. 셋째 연구결과가 보여주는 사실 은, 선행연구에서는 인문계 고등학생 집단과 높은 스트레스 수준을 가진 집 단에서는 부모 지지가 조절효과를 가지지 못한다는 점을 비추어볼 때, 전반 적으로 높은 스트레스 수준을 가진 집단이 부모 지지의 조절효과를 보지 못할 것이라는 점이다. 또한 중학교3학년이 자기효능감과 부모스트레스가 가장 높은 학년이라는 점을 본 연구의 결과와 연결시킬 수 있다.

Many studies have already pointed out problems relating to the relationship between academic stress and depression. However, despite such interest from researchers, depression arising from academic stress continues to plague Korean adolescents. The emphasis on alma mater is widespread in Korean society. Consequently, adolescents competition to obtain a place at a top university is real. This struggle results in academic stress which leads to lower life satisfaction and happiness levels. This study deemed the 3rd year of middle school as a crucial stage in adolescents mental health issues. Adolescents must, at least tentatively, decide on their career path; studies have reported adolescents to be the most depressive overall then; adolescents are under the most stress from their parents; and, they are at the peak of self-efficacy. It is difficult to conjure a social solution to the influence academic stress has on adolescent depression. Nevertheless, it is possible to study and analyze factors that may protect adolescents on an individual level. Among the protective factors that alleviate adolescent depression, this study will focus on perceived self-efficacy and parental support. Although research has been conducted on perceived self-efficacy and parental support respectively, few studies have valued a simultaneous emphasis (note: this is not a simultaneous analysis) on perceived self-efficacy and parental support. One can consider two facets to moderating factors in the relationship between academic stress and depression for Korean adolescents: the person and situational factors. Social support alone does not suffice in explaining what leads to low, or high, morale. Concerning the person factor, Everyone needs resilience, and self-efficacy is a subordinate concept of self-resilience. For the situational factor, a childs perceived relationship with their parents can lead to higher levels of resilience. A study also showed that among protective factors leading to adolescent resilience, parental support showed the highest frequency. The theoretical framework of this study is Lazarus and Folkmans (1984) cognitive theory of stress, appraisal, and coping. There are five components in this theory: (1) stress, (2) appraisal, (3) coping, (4) emotions, and (5) morale. Among the components of this theory, this study will deal with mainly (1) stress, (2) appraisal, and (5) morale. This study will not deal with coping due to the fact that the nature of its focused moderator variables, which are perceived self-efficacy and perceived parental support, are appraisal and not coping. Neither is depression emotion; it is a type of negative morale. First, (1) stress in this study is academic stress, which is the independent variable. Second, (2) cognitive appraisal (of stress), includes the moderator variables perceived self-efficacy and perceived parental support. In other words, if one thinks they can control a stressful situation well (i.e. self-efficacy, Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), the outcome the person with high self-efficacy experiences will differ substantially in quality with the person with low self-efficacy. On the other hand, perceived parental support (cognitive appraisal) that an adolescent retains on an everyday basis becomes the basis for an adolescents belief that they will receive parental support in time of need. Thus, this study sees perceived parental support as the second moderator variable in the relationship between academic stress and depression for adolescents. Finally, the (5) morale part of the process includes depression. Concerning empirical research, many consistently show that adolescents academic stress spawns negative mental health problems such as depression. Various studies also attest to the moderating effects of self efficacy, in a variety of mental health-related situations. Although most literature reported a moderating effect of parental support in the relationship between stress and depression for adolescents, a few studies showed mixed results, such as different types of groups having different results. Therefore, this study will examine firstly the effect of academic stress on adolescent depression, and secondly whether self-efficacy and parental support have a moderating effect on the relationship between academic stress and depression. The three hypotheses to be examined are as follows. [Hypothesis 1]: Increase in academic stress is associated with increase in symptoms of depression, for Korean 3rd-year middle school students. [Hypothesis 2]: Perceived self-efficacy will moderate the relationship between academic stress and depression such that the impact of academic stress on depression will be affected among Korean 3rd-year middle school students with higher perceived self-efficacy levels. [Hypothesis 3]: Perceived parental support will moderate the relationship between academic stress and depression such the impact of academic stress on depression will be affected among Korean 3rd-year middle school students with higher perceived parental support levels. This study uses Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS) data following 4th year elementary school students into the 6th year of the survey, 2015, when the subjects were in their 3rd year of middle school. A total of 2,061 students were surveyed. From the KCYPS research table, ten questions relating to depression were used to measure depression, and five concerning studying habits were used to measure academic stress. Four from the category of self-identity, that by face validity reflects Sherer et al.s (1982) original scale on self-efficacy, were used to measure self-efficacy. Four from the category of parental affection/attachment were used to measure parental support, given that Tsai et al. (2018) cites Armsden and Greenbergs (1987) scale on parent-child attachment and uses it interchangeably with the words parental support, and Bong-eun Seo (2009) reports parental attachment is a subordinate factor of parental support. Concerning the results, the researcher examined sample characteristics, descriptive statistics, and correlation coefficients. Following this, the relationship between academic stress and depression was examined. Then, through hierarchical regression analysis, the moderating variables — self-efficacy and parental support — were inserted into the equation, along with their interaction terms. Study results are as follows. Firstly, this study supports the first hypothesis that as academic stress increases, depression increases. Secondly, the second hypothesis was supported in that self-efficacy proved to be a significant moderator variable in the relationship between academic stress and depression. Thirdly, the third hypothesis was rejected in that parental support proved to not be statistically significant in moderating the relationship between academic stress and depression. The regression coefficient of the interaction term of academic stress and parental support was not statistically significant. Past research also presents mixed results similar to that of the third result of this study, which was a rejection of the original hypothesis—a lack of statistical significance in the moderating effects of parental support. In other words, the relationship between academic stress and depression for Korean adolescents with high stress levels cannot be significantly moderated by parental support. Additionally, the fact that the 3rd year of middle school is highest in parental stress may hinder the affect parental support has on the relationship. The second result may be supported or elucidated by the fact that the 3rd year of middle school is highest in self-efficacy. Conclusively, the result that self-efficacy is statistically significant as a moderator in the relationship between academic stress and depression for Korean adolescents, holds many theoretical and practical implications for studies on social welfare.