Drawing on public opinion data on Korean adolescents’ perception on the socially
disadvantaged collected in 2015 by the SSK Cultural Diversity and Coexistence Research Team,
we examined determinants of caring attitudes towards the socially disadvantaged among
adolescents. We applied multiple regression model to investigate factors associated with caring
attitudes towards the socially disadvantaged. Our regression results exhibited that family
background has little to do with the caring attitudes. In contrast, such social psychological
factors as egalitarian attitudes, a sense of community, peer relationship, student-teacher
relationship, perception on the scope of the underprivileged were closely related to the caring
attitudes. Also, it was discovered that parental education has a moderating effect on the
relationship between parent- adolescent relationship and caring attitudes. When the determinants
of caring attitudes were estimated separately for junior high and high school students,
discernible difference was found in factors affecting the caring attitudes between the two
groups. Specifically, for junior high school students, family background was not associated with
their caring attitudes towards the socially disadvantaged. For high school students, however,
household income had a negative impact on their caring attitudes, albeit a weak one. Moreover,
junior high school students tended to show stronger caring attitudes when they regarded
themselves as not being the socially disadvantaged, which was not witnessed among high school
students. The interaction effect between parental education and parent-adolescent relationship was
also revealed among junior high school students only. We discussed briefly based on the major
findings implications and policy suggestions that can enhance adolescents’ caring attitudes
towards the socially disadvantaged.