사교육 부담감과 아동의 학업 스트레스: 사교육 효과 인식의 매개 역할

Private Education Burden and Children’s Academic Stress: The Mediating Role of Perceived Private Education Effectiveness

Objective: This study aims to examine the current state of private education and the impact of the financial burden of private education, focusing on the recognition of its effectiveness as a mediator of children’s academic stress. Methods: To achieve this, data from the 14th-year Panel Study on Korean Children, conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education, were used. A total of 1,348 children, aged 156~165 months, were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, hierarchical multiple regression, Baron and Kenny’s procedures for testing mediation hypotheses, and the Sobel test. Results: First, 83.7% of respondents participated in private education. Most perceived private education was not burdensome and recognized its effectiveness. Second, the variables that explained children’s academic stress included gender, age, the number and cost of private education, perceived private education burden, and recognition of private education’s effectiveness. Third, the recognition of private education’s effectiveness was found to partially mediate the relationship between the children’s private education burden and academic stress. These findings suggest that recognizing the effectiveness of private education can alleviate children’s sense of burden and reduce their academic stress. Conclusion/Implications: Based on these results, various discussions and implications were proposed regarding strategies to reduce children’s academic stress and alleviate the financial burden of private education.