Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between life-stress of elementary school students from multi-cultural families and their elementary school adjustment and to test moderating roles of self-esteem, parent-child relations and peer relations in that relationship. A total of 100 elementary school participants - 50 students from multi-cultural families and 50 students who are enrolled with children in multi-cultural families - were asked to complete a questionnaire related to the multi-cultures in Korea. According to the results, there were significant differences between the students in terms of elementary school adjustment, parent-child relations, and relations with classmate. However, there were no differences found between the students about life-stress and self-esteem. In relations between the life-stress and school adjustment of children from multi-cultural families, the significant moderating effects of both self-esteem and parent-child relation were found. And the significant moderating effects of peer relations for Korean native children were found. Finally, the effecting indicators of children' adjustment of elementary school from multi-cultural families were discussed in relation to relevant results. (Korean J Str Res 2013;21:51∼60)

• Keywords: Multi-cultural family, Adjustment elementary school, Life-stress;