Abstract
Suicide is the topmost cause of death among adolescents in South Korea and is deeply related to depression. This study aimed to identify gender differences in the factors affecting depression among multicultural adolescents. This study is a secondary analysis using data from a national survey, the Multicultural Adolescents Panel Study (MAPS) conducted in 2017. The participants were 1160 multicultural adolescents ranging from 15 to 18 years, living in Korea, and whose fathers were Koreans and mothers were foreigners. The results showed that depression scores were higher for females (18.35) than males (16.38, t = 6.42, p < 0.001). In total, seven factors affected depression among male multicultural adolescents’ and the model explained 50.5% of the total variance (F = 77.99, p < 0.001), while four factors affected female multicultural adolescents’ depression, and the model explained 51.4% of the total variance (F = 100.02, p < 0.001). Significant gender differences were found in factors that influence depression among multicultural adolescents. Therefore, depression prevention programs for multicultural adolescents need to vary according to gender. Additionally, these programs should target families and teachers of multicultural adolescents as well.
Highlights
The number of married migrant women has sharply increased in South Korea since the early 2000s, and this number has doubled over the last decade (2010–2019) [1]
A cross-sectional design was used in this study; a secondary data analysis was conducted on the data obtained from the national survey for multicultural adolescents in South
Depression, social withdrawal, attitudes toward bicultural adjustment, and parenting style in multicultural adolescents had higher reported scores among females than males, while self-esteem and family support scores were higher among males than among females
Summary
The number of married migrant women has sharply increased in South Korea since the early 2000s, and this number has doubled over the last decade (2010–2019) [1]. Korean society is undergoing a change due to the sudden increase in multicultural families. Middle and late adolescents experience impulsive thinking and unstable psychological conditions such as conflict, tension, and stress, due to different social roles and expectations from their parents and school [4]. This phenomenon is more prominent among adolescents belonging to multicultural families.
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