The moderating effect of social support in the relationship between the risk factors of school interruption and career decision-making among multicultural adolescents

Objectives This study examined the relationship between the risk factors of academic interruption and career decisions of multicultural adolescents, and verified the moderating effect of social support in the relationship between the risk factors of academic interruption and career decisions. Methods Ihis study used data from 1,635 middle school seniors who participated in the 6th year (2016) among the longitudinal data of the multicultural youth panel survey of the Korea Youth Policy Institute, excluding missing values, for the final analysis. The SPSS 18.0 program was used for the analysis, and descriptive statistical analysis was conducted to confirm the mean and standard deviation of demographic characteristics and variables, and Pearson correlation analysis was conducted to diagnose multicollinearity. In order to examine the hierarchical regression analysis and the moderating effect specifically for the analysis of the moderating variable social support, the significance of ±1SD and the slope of the mean in the standardized score of the moderating variable was verified and schematized.. Results The main results of this study are as follows. First, it was found that the risk factor for interruption of study among multicultural adolescents had a negative (-) effect on career decisions. Second, it was found that family support, teacher support, and friend support, which are social supports, had a positive (+) effect on the career decision of multicultural adolescents. Third, it was confirmed that family support and teacher support were the moderating effects of career decision protection in the relationship between the risk factors for academic interruption and career decision-making. Conclusions Based on the research results, social welfare intervention measures were proposed to strengthen the career decision-making of multicultural adolescents.