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<p>Despite South Korea’s ranking as the highest in shadow education expenditure (SEE) and the lowest in adolescent happiness among OECD countries, longitudinal evidence on adolescent happiness trajectories and their ecological predictors remains limited. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems Theory and Self-Determination Theory, this study examined the developmental trajectory of happiness and its ecological predictors—including SEE and individual, family, and school-level factors—among Korean adolescents. We analyzed four-wave longitudinal data from 2,590 Korean adolescents (ages 13–16; 45.8% female) using latent growth curve modeling. Happiness declined significantly over time (b = − 0.043, <i>p</i> &lt; .001). At the initial level, self-esteem showed the strongest positive association with happiness (β = 0.638), followed by warm parenting (β = 0.193), peer relationships (β = 0.147), teacher support, and sleep duration. Higher SEE was associated with lower initial happiness (b = − 0.036, <i>p</i> &lt; .05), even after accounting for individual, family, and school-level factors. Even though there were some protective factors correlated with greater declines in the same way, the negative intercept-slope covariance (− 0.029, <i>p</i> &lt; .001) and the similarity of the average happiness scores to the highest point on the 0–3 scale point to the likelihood that such a result is caused by ceiling effects and regression to the mean, not to the depletion of the protective assets. These findings highlight the robust contribution of individual, family, and school resources to adolescent happiness and identify SEE as one ecological factor of policy relevance in the Korean context.</p>

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Developmental Trajectories of Adolescent Happiness and their Ecological Predictors: A Longitudinal Study in South Korea

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年6月26日

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  • Changmin Yoo

摘要

Despite South Korea’s ranking as the highest in shadow education expenditure (SEE) and the lowest in adolescent happiness among OECD countries, longitudinal evidence on adolescent happiness trajectories and their ecological predictors remains limited. Grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Systems Theory and Self-Determination Theory, this study examined the developmental trajectory of happiness and its ecological predictors—including SEE and individual, family, and school-level factors—among Korean adolescents. We analyzed four-wave longitudinal data from 2,590 Korean adolescents (ages 13–16; 45.8% female) using latent growth curve modeling. Happiness declined significantly over time (b = − 0.043, p < .001). At the initial level, self-esteem showed the strongest positive association with happiness (β = 0.638), followed by warm parenting (β = 0.193), peer relationships (β = 0.147), teacher support, and sleep duration. Higher SEE was associated with lower initial happiness (b = − 0.036, p < .05), even after accounting for individual, family, and school-level factors. Even though there were some protective factors correlated with greater declines in the same way, the negative intercept-slope covariance (− 0.029, p < .001) and the similarity of the average happiness scores to the highest point on the 0–3 scale point to the likelihood that such a result is caused by ceiling effects and regression to the mean, not to the depletion of the protective assets. These findings highlight the robust contribution of individual, family, and school resources to adolescent happiness and identify SEE as one ecological factor of policy relevance in the Korean context.