Abstract

This study was intended to examine the effects of social supporter on the adolescent's delinquent behavior and depression. The subjects for this study were 1,135 students attending middle schools and high schools in Seoul and Kyunggi-Do area. The subjects were asked to respond to social support scale, delinquency scale, and depression inventory. The results indicated that the relative importance of three different social supporters(parent, teacher, peer) on the adolescent's delinquent behavior was different from that of the three different supporters on the depression. In the case of adolescent's delinquency, the most predictible variable was teacher's support, on the other hand, the parent's support was the most predictible variable in the case of the depression. Comparing the early adolescence with the middle adolescence, the relative importance of the three different supporters on the delinquent behavior and depression found to be different. In the early adolescence, delinquent behavior was predicted, in order of importance, by the teacher's support, parent's support, and peer's support. However, in the middle adolescence, the order was teacher's support, peer's support, and parent's support. In the case of early adolescent's depression, the order of predictability was parent's support, teacher's support, and peer's support, but in the case of middle adolescent's depression, the order was parent's support, peer's support, and teacher's support.