• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.1-13
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• 2011

The main purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effects of the hours spent on book-reading on the relationship between academic achievement and the Key Competency of Acting Autonomously. This study utilized data from the 'Korean Assessment of the Key Competencies of Youth in 2009', which was conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute. The participants were 2,781 elementary school students, 2,770 middle school students and 3,599 high school students who were selected from 12 areas of Korea. The data was analyzed by means of Pearson's correlation coefficients and also through linear regression analysis. The results indicated that 1) academic achievement and the hours spent in book-reading was positively correlated to the competency of acting autonomously, 2) the effect of academic achievement on the competency of acting autonomously was partially mediated by the hours spent in book-reading, 3) and the mediating effect was the most influential when it came to elementary students, followed next by middle school and then finally high school students.