• Korean Journal of Culture and Social Issue
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.567-593
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• 2016

This study examined longitudinal mediated effects of informal labeling on the relationship between adolescent abuse and academic achievement using autoregressive cross-lagged modeling. Data were obtained from the second, third, and fourth waves of the middle school student cohort (N=3,168) of the Korean Youth Panel Survey. The major longitudinal findings of this study are as follows: First, adolescent abuse was found to have a positive association with future informal labeling. Second, informal labeling was found to have a negative association with future academic achievement. Finally, the longitudinal relationship between adolescent abuse and academic achievement was partially mediated by informal labeling. Based on these results, this study suggests directions for adolescent abuse prevention. The need for education and prevention of informal labeling was discussed, as well as the direction of intervention programs for adolescents with experience of informal labeling. Furthermore, this study may provide empirical evidence for labeling theory and contribute to increasing awareness on the longitudinal influence of adolescent abuse and informal labeling.