The social and cultural climate of high schools in Korea have overwhelmingly focused on academic
achievement. Without doubt, at-risk students for LD have spent hard time at schools because of
their low achievement itself and social and parental pressures on them. They need school-related help
with stress as they spend most of their time at school. In this regard, this study tried to find
variables that could buffer the negative impacts of stress on students’ school life and their
self-concept such as autonomy, relationship with teachers and peers, and collaborative classroom
climate. For this, we analyzed 2,104 high school at-risk students with LD and 8,567 general
students. The results of this study showed that at-risk students with LD experienced less academic
stress than their normal peers. According to buffering effects, relationship with teachers buffered
effectively only for at-risk students with LD. In addition, relationship with peers showed buffering
effects on the satisfaction of school life and self-concept for both types of students.