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This study explores the possibility of copyright attribution for creative works generated through youth songwriting activities utilizing generative artificial intelligence (Generative AI) and proposes directions for copyright protection and legal improvement. The development of generative AI enables adolescents without musical expertise to join creative activities, while songwriting serves as an art-based educational and welfare medium promoting emotional and social development. However, as AI intervenes in the process, criteria for determining authorship based on adolescents’ creative contributions remain ambiguous. Using White and Marsh’s (2006) qualitative content analysis, this study analyzed prior research and reconstructed major issues through legal interpretation. Findings indicate that human creative involvement is essential for AI-generated works to qualify as copyrightable. In welfare and educational contexts, when adolescents lead the creative process, separate standards for copyright protection are required. This study integrates legal perspectives to lay a foundation for safeguarding adolescents’ creative rights in the era of artificial intelligence.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of adolescents’ perceived social skills on school adjustment and to empirically identify the mediating effect of subjective well-being as well as the moderating and moderated mediating effects of social support in this relationship. To achieve this aim, the study targeted middle and high school students in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. A total of 528 valid responses were collected through a survey conducted from March 31 to May 9, 2025. The main findings are as follows. First, social skills had significant positive effects on both subjective well-being and school adjustment. Second, subjective well-being significantly mediated the relationship between social skills and school adjustment. Third, social support moderated the relationship between social skills and subjective well-being, indicating that the positive effect of social skills on subjective well-being was stronger when social support was high. Fourth, social support also moderated the mediating effect of subjective well-being, confirming a significant moderated mediation effect in the relationship between social skills and school adjustment.

Amid a widening gap between Korea's declining school-age population and the steady increase in multicultural and immigrant students, mainstream schools are showing clear limitations in meeting diverse needs. This study investigates the institutional viability and practical strategies for setting up university-affiliated accredited multicultural alternative schools. Through document analysis and comparative case studies, it reviews Korea's legal frameworks, such as alternative school accreditation, funding mechanisms, and student protections, alongside six local examples and two international ones. The findings highlight four key pillars for long-term success: (a) complete academic accreditation under the current system, (b) reliable and varied public funding, (c) bilingual pedagogy that sustains cultural identities, and (d) partnerships rooted in community ties. Universities stand out as ideal hosts, with their expertise in teaching, counseling, and research allowing for cost-effective, high-quality operations through shared resources and faculty input. Drawing from this, the study suggests starting small in phases, blending Korean language basics and core subjects with emotional and career guidance, then scaling up based on local demands. More than just practical, these university-linked schools bring wider benefits: curbing dropouts, cutting social integration expenses over time, building stronger local alliances, and fulfilling universities' role in society. In conclusion, they provide a feasible, timely route for Korea's shift to a multicultural era, serving as an adaptable framework for fair education among varied young people.

This study investigated the structural relationships among gender role flexibility, conflict resolution attempts, relational autonomy, and conflict perception in adolescent dating relationships. Survey data were collected from 337 middle and high school students with dating experience in Seoul, South Korea. The data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling(SEM) and bootstrapping. The results indicated that gender role flexibility and relational autonomy had significant negative effects on conflict perception. Interestingly, conflict resolution attempts showed a significant positive direct effect on conflict perception. However, relational autonomy significantly mediated the relationship between conflict resolution attempts and conflict perception, revealing a suppression effect. This implies that while conflict resolution attempts can paradoxically heighten conflict perception, relational autonomy functions as a buffer that mitigates this negative impact. These findings suggest the importance of fostering adolescents’ relational autonomy alongside conflict management skills, and highlight the need to understand dating conflicts as complex relational dynamics rather than mere individual deficits.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the moderated mediating effect of career barriers in the effect of parental autonomy support and career resilience on career preparation behavior as perceived by adolescents. The results of the research are as follows. First, the results of the analysis of the effect of parental autonomy support as perceived by adolescents on career preparation behavior showed that parental autonomy support as perceived by adolescents had a significant effect on career preparation behavior. These results indicate that the higher the degree of autonomy support from parents that adolescents perceive, the higher the level of career preparation behavior. Second, the results of the analysis of the mediating effect of career resilience in the relationship between parental autonomy support and career preparation behaviour as perceived by adolescents confirmed that career resilience as perceived by adolescents has a mediating effect in the relationship between parental autonomy support and career preparation behavior. In other words, parental autonomy support as perceived by adolescents has a direct effect on career preparation behaviour, but also an indirect effect through career resilience. Third, the results of the analysis of the moderating effect of career barriers on the relationship between career resilience and career preparation behavior, as perceived by adolescents, showed that career barriers have a significant impact on the relationship between career resilience and career preparation behaviour. In other words, the higher the level of career resilience perceived by adolescents, the higher the level of career preparation behaviour, and career barriers play a role in alleviating career preparation behaviour in this process.

UNICEF’s Child-Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) promotes children's rights through local governance. While South Korea now has 110 certified municipalities, research regarding the certification's impact on local finances is scarce. This study aims to examine the impact of CFCI certification on local finance. To this end, panel data on local finance classified by CFCI domains were constructed for 159 municipalities from 2016 to 2024, and Difference-in-Differences (DID) estimation was conducted. The analysis was structured into two models to consider the effects of the COVID-19 period. The results indicate that Model 1 (2016–2019) had extensive effects, showing significant increases in "Play and Leisure" (projects and total budget), "Participation and Citizenship" (municipal budget), and "Health and Social Services" (total and municipal budgets). In contrast, Model 2 (2021– 2024), covering COVID-19, revealed a significant increase only in the "Education" domain (projects). Overall, certified municipalities demonstrated positive financial growth compared to non-certified ones. These findings provide research and policy implications for achieving the goals of the Child-Friendly Cities Initiative, which aims to guarantee children's rights and enhance their well-being in local communities.

This study aimed to explore the transition to parenthood and parenting experiences of youth parents in P City, Gyeonggi Province. In-depth interviews were conducted with seven youth parents who had their first child between the ages of 16 and 22, and the data were analyzed using Stake's (1995) qualitative case study method. The findings revealed that youth parents became parents through unplanned pregnancies, with significant delays in recognizing their pregnancy. After learning of their pregnancy, they faced a series of decision-making situations but gradually accepted their parental role by forming emotional bonds with their fetus. However, they experienced psychological isolation due to family rejection and social prejudice. During the parenting process, they faced complex difficulties including family role confusion, identity conflicts, mental health problems, economic hardships, and lack of parenting knowledge. This study is distinctive in that it analyzed the experiences of youth parents in general, including both single youth parents and youth couples. Based on the findings, the study suggests the need for integrated support across the life cycle from pregnancy to parenting, strengthened academic and employment support for economic self-reliance, and the establishment of an integrated support system to strengthen family and social support.

This study examines usage patterns of Youth Free Spaces in Pyeongtaek City, Gyeonggi Province, focusing on two facilities—Cheongbuk and Poseung—operated under the same opening hours. Using visitor logbook records from July to December 2025, the study conducts descriptive statistical analyses of (1) user distribution by school level, (2) time-of-day visit patterns, (3) day-of-week usage characteristics, and (4) space-function preferences within each facility. The findings indicate that facility use is not evenly distributed across the full youth age range (approximately 9–24 years) but is heavily concentrated among elementary and middle school users, while high school students and young adults show limited participation. In terms of time-of-day, visitation is concentrated in after-school hours, suggesting that operational performance may depend more on crowding, safety management, and space turnover than on program provision. Space-function usage also varies by site: some functions attract disproportionately high demand, whereas others are used more evenly, implying that similar spatial configurations can yield different utilization outcomes depending on context and operational conditions. Additionally, weekend visitation is relatively high in both facilities, highlighting the role of Youth Free Spaces not only as after-school venues but also as neighborhood-based leisure and peer interaction spaces on weekends. Based on these findings, the study discusses implications for demand-based operations, adjustments to spatial configurations, and the need for standardized reporting systems and institutional guidelines to support sustainable management of Youth Free Spaces.

This study examines the longitudinal effects of smartphone dependency on social withdrawal among middle school students, as well as the sequential mediating roles of attention problems and negative peer relationships. Using data from the first (2018) and second (2019) waves of the KCYPS 2018, the sample consisted of 2,395 middle school students. Data were analyzed using the PROCESS macro Model 6. The results indicated that smartphone dependency in the first year of middle school significantly predicted social withdrawal in the second year. Second, attention problems and negative peer relationships each significantly mediated the relationship between smartphone dependency and social withdrawal. Third, a sequential mediating effect was found, such that smartphone dependency increased attention problems, which subsequently led to negative peer relationships and, in turn, heightened social withdrawal. These results suggest that smartphone dependency serves as an antecedent that exacerbates social withdrawal over time through attentional and social pathways. This study is significant as it identifies a multifaceted developmental mechanism for preventing social withdrawal, highlighting the importance of integrated interventions that address attentional difficulties and the quality of peer relationships.

The purpose of this study is to comprehensively analyze the results of individual qualitative studies on North Korean defector adolescents’ adaptation to school. Therefore, a qualitative meta-analysis, a research method that comprehensively analyzes the results of individual qualitative studies, was conducted by selecting domestic academic journal papers on school adaptation for North Korean defector adolescents published until December 2025 as the scope of the study. A total of 15 related papers were selected for analysis, and as a result of analyzing them, 20 subcategories and 5 categories were derived from the concepts, which are semantic units extracted from the school adaptation tasks and patterns of North Korean defector adolescents, such as ‘academic’, 'career', 'relationship with teachers', 'friendship and peer culture', and 'identity'. This study provided more specific suggestions for school education and policies of North Korean defector adolescents in the future by providing not only contextual understanding but also multi-layered and complex insights through comparison and contrast through comprehensive analysis of these individual studies.