Drawing on first wave data from the Longitudinal Study of North Korean Migrant Youths’
Education, we examined the structural relationships between the social capital of North Korean
migrant youths and school adjustment, and also explored how the relationships vary by school
level using the structural equation modeling(SEM). Our SEM results showed that parent-child
relationship, among the social capital within family, was found to have an impact directly and
indirectly on school adjustment of North Korean migrant youths. While educational support
within family had little to do with school adjustment, it did to some extent influence
child-teacher relationship. As a part of the social capital at school, the youths’ relationships with
their teachers and peer students were found to play a very important role in school adjustment.
On the other hand, our results from multigroup analysis exhibited that the structural
relationships between the social capital of North Korean migrant youths and school adjustment
indeed vary by school level. Specifically, in the case of elementary school students, parent-child
relationship has a much stronger effect on peer relationship than middle school students.
Overall, these findings suggest that it is necessary to devote special attention and effort to
strengthening the social capital of North Korean migrant youths in order to help them adjust to
the school.