Expanding Liberal Arts Education Infrastructure (Liberal Arts Teacher Ratio) and Its Impact on Disciplinary Expulsion Rates Through Maladjustment-Related Voluntary Withdrawal: A Moderated Mediation Analysis of School Violence

This study analyzed the impact of liberal arts teacher ratios on disciplinary expulsion rates in high schools across 25 administrative districts in Seoul from 2019-2020, examining the mediating effect of maladjustment-related voluntary withdrawal rates and the moderating effect of school violence incidence rates. Psychological counseling teacher ratios were included as control variables to exclude the potential influence of psychological counseling services on student school adjustment and behavioral problems, thereby enhancing the internal validity of the study. Using Hayes's Process Model 7 for moderated mediation analysis, the results showed that schools with higher liberal arts teacher ratios had significantly lower disciplinary expulsion rates, and this relationship was fully mediated by maladjustment-related voluntary withdrawal rates. Additionally, the interaction between school violence incidence rates and liberal arts teacher ratios was found to have a significant effect on maladjustment-related voluntary withdrawal rates. Particularly, schools with higher liberal arts teacher ratios showed relatively lower maladjustment-related voluntary withdrawal rates and disciplinary expulsion rates even in high school violence environments. The moderated mediation effect verification confirmed that these indirect effects were statistically significant. This study empirically demonstrates the importance of strengthening liberal arts education as a policy approach to reducing school maladjustment and problematic behaviors, particularly suggesting that strategic investment in liberal arts education may be more effective in high schools in areas with high school violence rates. This provides academic and policy evidence for the necessity of differentiated educational resource allocation to address educational inequality and support students' emotional development.