The Effect of Social Stigma on Thoughts about Future in Adolescents Who Have Experienced Delinquency: Focusing on Mediating Effects of Depression

Abstract

Adolescence is an important time to prepare or decide the career path and direction of life in order to plan for the future, but out-of-school adolescents find themselves in an environment where it is difficult to plan or prepare for the future. This study aimed to verify the mediating effect of the depression of whom out-of-school adolescence where the social stigma affects the thoughts about the future. As a result of this study, it was found that social stigma had a significant positive effect on depression, and depression had a significant negative effect on thoughts about the future. In addition, it was found that social stigma had a significant influence on thoughts about the future. Therefore, the depression had a mediating effect in the process of the social stigma affecting the thoughts about the future. In the results of bootstrapping to verify the mediating effect, the indirect effect of the depression was found to be significant in the process of the social stigma affecting thoughts about the future. Also, the social stigma had a significant indirect effect on the thoughts about the future through depression. Based on it, this study recommended that various information or counseling programs be expanded for out-of-school adolescence.