Effects of parenting attitudes on the suicide risk of adolescents in South Korea and the moderating effect of out-of-school youth status

This study aimed to investigate the impact of parenting attitudes on the suicide risk of adolescents in South Korea, and to verify the moderating effect of out-of-school youth status. Utilizing data from the Mental Health Survey of Korean Adolescents (2021), conducted by the National Youth Policy Institute, 5,937 school youths (SYs) and 752 out-of-school youths (OSYs) were selected for this study. Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the relationship between parenting attitudes and the impact on the suicide risk of adolescents along with the moderating effect of OSY status. Parenting attitudes consist of a total of six sub-types: warmth, autonomy support, structure, rejection, coercion and chaos. The results showed that the parenting attitude of warmth, autonomy support and rejection had a significant effect on the risk of suicide among adolescents. The study also confirmed that OSY had a moderating effect related to the parenting attitude types of structure, rejection and chaos. The result of this study filled the gap in prior research which overlooked the moderating factor of OSY related to parent attitudes and the suicide risk of adolescents. Some useful insights for practical and policy measures to reduce the suicide risk of adolescents are suggested.