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영어

This study aimed to examine the direct influences of early onset of drinking and problem drinking on suicidal behavior and the mediating effect of depression among multicultural adolescents in South Korea. For this purpose, this study was performed based on a sample of 952 multicultural adolescents living with at least one foreign-born parent from the 13th Korea Risk Behavior Web-based Survey conducted in 2017. The main findings of this study are as follows. First, early onset of drinking was associated with higher likelihood of having suicidal behavior among multicultural adolescents. Second, problem drinking was also associated with higher likelihood of having suicidal behavior among multicultural adolescents. Finally, multicultural adolescents’ depression partially mediated the influence of early onset of drinking on suicidal behavior, and perfectly mediated the influence of problem drinking on suicidal behavior. Based on the findings stated above, this study discussed ways to reduce and prevent suicidal behavior among multicultural adolescents.