The mediating effect of perceived social support between depression and school adjustment in refugee children in South Korea

Despite an increase of refugee children in Korea, there is a dearth of empirical study on their school adjustment. The purpose of this study is to examine group differences in the level of school adjustment by sex, school level, Korean language proficiency, having a nationality, refugee status, and discrimination experience, and to test a mediating role of perceived social support between depression and school adjustment. We recruited 65 refugee children via purposive and snowball sampling methods, and conducted face-to-face survey for younger children and a self-administered survey for older children from July to October 2017. We found group differences in school adjustment according to having a nationality, refugee status, and discrimination experience. We also found a full mediating effect of social support in the relationship between depression and school adjustment. Based on the results, we discussed ways in which the Korean school system and social-work service agencies need to help refugee children increase their adaptability in schools.