• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.55-64
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• 2009

This study examined the relationship between children's academic stress and their sense of hopelessness. In order to expand the study on this relationship, special attention was given to the possible effects of moderators on children's emotional processing style as manifested in a depressed mood. The subjects were 424 $5^{th}$ and 6th graders(197boys and 227 girls) residing in Seoul City and Kyunggi Province, South Korea. It was found that the children's level of academic stress was significantly related to their sense of hopelessness. The results indicated that the higher the children's academic stress, the higher the levels of hopelessness they indicated. No significant effects from moderators as applied to a ruminative emotional processing style were found in the relationship between children's academic stress and their sense of hopelessness. In addition, children's reflective or distractive emotional processing styles were found to be a significant moderator in the relationship between their academic stress and hopelessness. These findings indicate that children's reflective or distractive emotional processing styles could function as a bumper for children who feel academic stress.