OBJECTIVES: This study examined the relationship of parent-related negative life events with mental health and delinquent behaviors among Korean adolescents. METHODS: A total of 2,976 high school first-grade pupils (1,498 boys & 1,478 girls) taking part in the third wave of Korean Youth Panel Survey completed a self-administered questionnaire regarding parent-related life events, depressive feelings, suicidal ideation, delinquent behaviors, demographic characteristics, parental socioeconomic status, social support, and social capital. Data analyses were conducted using multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: After adjusting for all covariates, the more parent-related negative life events adolescents experienced throughout their whole life, the more likely adolescent were to have mental and behavioral problems. A significant dose-response relationship between them was more clearly observed in girls than in boys. The experience of parentrelated negative events during childhood was significantly associated with suicidal ideation and delinquent behaviors for boys, and with depressive feelings for girls during adolescence. Indeed, parental social support, social capital, and having a close friend with delinquent behaviors, especially for girls, partially mediated the relationship between parent-related negative life events and both outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The study showed a clear dose-response relationship of frequency of parent-related negative life events with poor mental and behavioral health for both genders. The residual effect of being exposed to parentrelated events during childhood on mental health and delinquent behaviors during adolescence still remained.
Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior/psychology ; Demography ; Depressive Disorder, Major/epidemiology ; Female ; Humans ; Juvenile Delinquency/*statistics & numerical data ; Korea/epidemiology ; *Life Change Events ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mental Health/*statistics & numerical data ; *Parents ; Social Support ; Suicide/statistics & numerical data

Youth violence is a public health and social issue of global concern. It will be helpful to reduce the incidence of youth violence if the risk factors and prediction methods can be fully comprehended. This paper summarized the risk factors of youth violence in the aspects of the individual factors, the social psychological factors and the biological factors. Meanwhile, the status of prediction and assessment of youth violence are reviewed, with expectation to reduce youth violence and contribute to further research.
Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior/psychology* ; Age Factors ; Craniocerebral Trauma/psychology* ; Family/psychology* ; Female ; Forecasting ; Forensic Psychiatry ; Humans ; Interviews as Topic ; Juvenile Delinquency/statistics & numerical data* ; Male ; Models, Statistical ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Public Health ; Risk Assessment/methods* ; Risk Factors ; Socioeconomic Factors ; Violence/statistics & numerical data* ; Young Adult

PURPOSE: The present study was intended to compare difference in research variables between delinquent adolescents and student adolescents, and to analyze discriminative factors of delinquent behaviors among Korean adolescents. METHODS: The research design of this study was a questionnaire survey. Questionnaires were administered to 2,167 adolescents (1,196 students and 971 delinquents), sampled from 8 middle and high school and 6 juvenile corrective institutions, using the proportional stratified random sampling method. Statistical methods employed were Chi-square, t-test, and logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: The discriminative factors of delinquent behaviors were smoking, alcohol use, other drug use, being sexually abused, viewing time of media violence and pornography. Among these discriminative factors, the factor most strongly associated with delinquency was smoking (odds ratio: 32.32). That is, smoking adolescent has a 32-fold higher possibility of becoming a delinquent adolescent than a non-smoking adolescent. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings, that smoking was the strongest discriminative factor of delinquent behavior, suggest that educational strategies to prevent adolescent smoking may reduce the rate of juvenile delinquency. Antismoking educational efforts are therefore urgently needed in South Korea.
Adolescent ; Adolescent Behavior/*ethnology ; Adolescent Psychology ; Chi-Square Distribution ; Child Abuse, Sexual/ethnology ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Discriminant Analysis ; Erotica/psychology ; Factor Analysis, Statistical ; Family/ethnology ; Female ; Health Education ; Humans ; Juvenile Delinquency/*ethnology/prevention & control/statistics & numerical data ; Korea/epidemiology ; Logistic Models ; Male ; Mass Media ; Questionnaires ; Risk Assessment ; Risk Factors ; Smoking/adverse effects/ethnology ; Students/psychology/statistics & numerical data ; Substance-Related Disorders/complications/ethnology ; Violence/ethnology