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Family wellbeing is studied worldwide. However, there is a dearth of studies on the wellbeing of families in Chinese societies such as Hong Kong, nor is there any socially relevant and culturally unique instrument for measuring such wellbeing. This paper reports the validity and reliability of an instrument that was developed to assess the wellbeing of Hong Kong Chinese families. Through a comprehensive literature review, interviews with service users from a diversity of backgrounds, consultation meetings with experts on families and related issues, and a pilot study, the framework of a family wellbeing index was developed. Using data from 1343 participants collected via a cross-sectional telephone survey, we employed exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to develop the factorial structure of the tool. Six domains, six subdomains, 23 single-question indicators, and 26 questions were constructed. The six domains were family solidarity, family resources, family health, social involvement, social resources, and work-life balance. The internal consistency of the overall index was 0.904. The scale had a significant predictive effect on the subjective appraisal of the current and future status of the wellbeing of a family, which provided initial evidence of convergent validity. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the construct of the tool encompassed different domains. This study is significant because it provides directions for future studies on family wellbeing and insights for social policy formulation and social service development. Highlights: Five steps were used to develop a family wellbeing index for Hong Kong Chinese families. The results of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the factorial structure of this family wellbeing index included six domains and six subdomains. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis indicate that the six-factor index fits the data well. This is the first study in a Chinese context to develop a socially relevant and culturally specific index of family wellbeing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between gender, academic achievement, and family functioning in a Chinese cultural background. Primary and secondary school students ( n = 1597) in Hong Kong participated in a survey questionnaire. Two competing hypotheses are derived and empirically tested based on the idea that parents are likely to have higher expectations toward their sons. First, when boys perform well academically, their parents might not feel particularly overjoyed because their sons simply achieved what they were expected to, which would not affect the parents' attitudes within the family and thus the boys' perceptions of the family. Second, when parents have such high expectations for their sons, they would feel particularly satisfied when the outcome fulfills their high expectations. The results indicated that boys did well academically to prevent their parents from potential disappointment, whereas parents were actually happier if their daughters overachieve because they have lower initial expectations. Such differences affected parents' attitudes, family functioning, and thus adolescents' view of family. The results of this study carry implications for the study of family functioning and parenting among Chinese families. In particular, parents should avoid having gender-based expectations toward their children, which could adversely affect how boys view their family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study describes participants' experiences with a community-based family intervention. Guided by a positive psychology framework, the brief intervention was designed to enhance positive communication among family members using cooking and dining as a platform. Our interest was in understanding perceptions of benefits and barriers, with the intention of improving future development of communitybased family programs. Purposive sampling was used to recruit focus group participants from those who had participated in the family programs. Overall, 10 focus groups including 65 participants were conducted from April to July 2013. Thematic analysis of the focus groups suggested that the intervention was effective in promoting positive communication, increasing the use of age-appropriate parenting practices, and promoting quality family mealtime. These changes in turn led to perceived positive outcomes by our participants, including a sense of happiness and enhanced family relationship. Cultural and gender beliefs were identified as challenges and are important to consider for future family interventions. Time constraint was further highlighted as an important consideration both in the context of integrating skills into the family routine as well as a barrier to participation in family programs. Our findings add to the small but steadily increasing body of knowledge, especially from qualitative studies, on the effectiveness of brief family interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interparental conflicts have long been recognized as a risk factor for maladjustment in adolescents. Many studies have been conducted to examine mediators that account for the negative effects of interparental conflicts on adolescents' adjustment, well-being, and development. However, locus of control, which is about the extent to which people believe life events and outcomes are attributed to personal and/or non-personal factors, has not been examined as a mediator in this association. Hence, this study aimed to fill this research gap and tested the mediating role of locus of control in the association between interparental conflicts and adjustment of Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. A total of 366 senior secondary school students in Hong Kong participated in the study and 353 of them provided complete data for analyses. They completed a set of questionnaires about their perceptions of interparental conflicts, locus of control, and adjustment and well-being. Results indicated that the associations between interparental conflicts and adolescents' adjustment (measured by subjective happiness, life satisfaction, negative mood, and problem-focused coping) were significantly mediated by locus of control. A higher level of interparental conflicts was related to a lower sense of personal control in adolescents which in turn was associated with worse adjustment and well-being. Implications regarding the role locus of control can play in intervention programs are discussed. Highlights: This study examined the association between interparental conflicts and adjustment of Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. Locus of control was tested as a potential mediator. Interparental conflicts were found to be negatively associated with adolescents' adjustment. Internal and external loci of control significantly mediated this association. The findings provide support to a previously unstudied pathway by which conflicts between parents affect adolescents' adjustment and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hong Kong adolescents are at increased risk for poor psychological well-being. A higher quality relationship between adolescents and their mothers may promote positive adjustment, given the strong family-oriented culture in Hong Kong. Potential pathways by which the mother–adolescent relationship may facilitate better adolescent subjective well-being, however, remains unclear. Current resilience theories underscore the importance of examining the role of external resources for individual's resilience capacity, and cascading effects of family functioning on adolescent subjective well-being outcomes by promoting their resilience resources. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that a higher quality mother–adolescent relationship will be associated with better adolescent subjective well-being via improved resilience resources. Adolescents from Hong Kong (N = 133; M age = 11 years, SD = 0.21, 51.8% female) reported on their relationship with their mothers, resilience resources, and subjective well-being at Time 1 and one year later at Time 2. We used the half-longitudinal mediation model for testing mediation with two time points. Both resilience resources and mother–adolescent relationship quality were positively associated with adolescent subjective well-being, concurrently and one year later. Further, adolescents' resilience resources mediated the association between mother–adolescent relationship quality and their subjective well-being one-year later. Our findings provide support for the cascading effect of external resources (i.e., mother–adolescent relationship quality) on adolescents' resilience resources and their later subjective well-being. The findings can inform the improvement of existing resilience enhancement programs by adding components that strengthen family relationships. Highlights: We used a half-longitudinal mediation model to test the pathway by which mother–adolescent relationship quality is associated with Hong Kong adolescents' subjective well-being over time. Findings support that adolescents' resilience resources mediated the longitudinal link between mother–adolescent relationship quality and adolescents' subjective well-being. Findings have practical implications for improving existing resilience-based intervention programs among Hong Kong adolescents, by integrating intervention components to improve mother–adolescent relationship quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grounded in emotional security theory and a dualistic model of harmony, the present study tested a moderated mediation model of disintegration avoidance, interparental conflict, and emotional security associated with child adjustment. A total of 70 Chinese parents completed a set of questionnaires on parents' disintegration avoidance (i.e., a dimension of harmony), constructive interparental conflict, and children's emotional security, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems (32 girls and 38 boys; Mage = 4.83 years old; SDage = 1.90). Multi-group path analysis was conducted to examine the mediating role of children's emotional security between constructive interparental conflict and child adjustment between parents with high vs. low disintegration avoidance. Significant pathways emerged to suggest emotional security as a mediator when parents reported a high level of disintegration avoidance. Supplementary analysis with disintegration avoidance as a continuous moderator suggested that disintegration avoidance and constructive conflict interactively predicted emotional security. Post-hoc simple slopes analysis further revealed that the relation between constructive interparental conflict and emotional security had a positive trend when disintegration avoidance was high. The findings enhanced our knowledge on the mediating role of emotional security in the context of Chinese culture. Evidence informs translational research in promoting constructive interparental conflict and emotional security as assets of child adjustment, particularly in families experiencing a high level of disintegration avoidance. Highlights: Emotional security mediated between constructive conflict and child adjustment when disintegration avoidance was high. Disintegration avoidance moderated the mediating role of emotional security. Mediation existed when parents' disintegration avoidance was high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The present study aims to formulate a conceptual model of the mediating factors between parents' marital satisfaction and children's academic performance, with a sample drawn from Hong Kong Chinese parents and children. The mediators included parental involvement, parents' psychopathological symptoms, and children's internalizing behavior and school engagement. Methods: Survey responses from 507 Grade 4–6 children and their parents, who were primary caregivers, were analyzed. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the internal structures of the seven scales, and the finalized scales have moderate to high reliabilities (Cronbach's α values ranging from 0.74 to 0.95). Structural equation modeling analysis was applied to test the relationships between the latent variables in the proposed model. Results: Structural equation modeling revealed that parents' marital satisfaction had a significant indirect effect on children's academic performance via two pathways: (1) with parents' psychopathological symptoms, children's internalizing behaviors, and school engagement as mediators; (2) with parental involvement and school engagement as mediators. Marital satisfaction had no direct effect on school engagement or on academic performance. Conclusions: Our findings highlighted the importance of parents maintaining harmonious relationships with their spouses and being highly involved in their children's education, in order to provide an optimal social environment to promote children's academic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The contribution of parental gratitude to the adolescent's hope is plausible in light of social integration theory but empirically unverified. According to the theory, parental gratitude facilitates an integrative social environment for the adolescent to sustain hope. The theory also suggests that the adolescent's anomie or normlessness, as a negative indicator of social integration, is a mediator of the contribution. Methods: To verify the contributions, the present study surveyed 310 pairs of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents and their parents. In each of the pairs, the adolescent reported his or her hope and anomie, whereas the parent reported his or her gratitude. Results: Supporting the theory, results demonstrated the contribution of parental gratitude to adolescent hope through mediation by adolescent anomie. Specifically, parental gratitude showed a negative effect on adolescent hope, which in turn displayed a negative effect on adolescent hope. Conclusions: The results imply the value of promoting parental gratitude particularly and social integration generally for sustaining adolescent hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of parental behavioural control in influencing developmental outcomes of children and adolescents has been inconsistently delineated in the literature. The present study aims to examine the relationships among parental behavioural control, academic self-efficacy, anxieties and academic achievement of young Chinese children in Hong Kong, paying particular attention to understanding the role of academic self-efficacy and anxieties in influencing the relationship between parental behavioural control and children's academic achievement. Two hundred and thirty-five parents of junior elementary school students completed a battery of standardised questionnaires. Results interestingly documented an inconsistent mediation effect for both academic self-efficacy and social anxiety. In essence, parental control indeed had a significant positive influence on academic achievement among Chinese junior primary school students in Hong Kong. Nevertheless, parental behavioural control at the same time decreased academic self-efficacy and induced social anxiety feelings, which in turn led to a lower level of academic achievement. Given that a greater parental behavioural control is inherently culturally accepted in Chinese communities, such findings shed light on that enhancing academic self-efficacy and reducing social anxiety are potential mechanisms through which parents could facilitate growth and development in their children. The results could also lessen the "guilt and blame" that are unnecessarily placed on some Chinese parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study tested the mediating role of adolescents’ emotional intelligence for the effects of family risks on adolescent adjustment in two Chinese settings, namely Hong Kong and Macau. A total of 804 Chinese adolescents (36.3% female) in Hong Kong (n = 441) and Macau (n = 363) completed a set of self-reported questionnaires. Findings based on path analysis suggested that economic stress was positively associated with family conflict. In addition, family risks including economic stress and family conflict were inversely associated with adolescents’ emotional intelligence and prosocial behaviors, and positively associated with both internalizing and externalizing problems. Bootstrapping supported emotional intelligence as a mediating mechanism between family risks and adolescent adjustment, as indexed by their prosocial behaviors, internalizing problems, and externalizing problems. Multi-group path analysis further demonstrated gender similarities in the risk and protective processes underlying adolescent adjustment. Extending the findings based on studies conducted in Western contexts, the present research indicated the detrimental effects of family stressors, including economic stress and family conflict, on adolescent functioning in Hong Kong and Macau. Findings contributed to the growing literature that delineates risk and protective processes underlying adjustment outcomes in Chinese adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although researchers widely use the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) to measure parenting behaviour in terms of parental care and overprotection, its development using Western samples has cast doubt on its applicability among non-Western ones. In response, we examined psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the PBI by using survey data collected from a sample of 1997 Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong, whose mean age was 14.6 years and 50.3% of whom were girls. Our results supported a 4-factor structure representing caring, indifferent, overprotective, and autonomous parenting behaviours that we confirmed to be applicable to paternal and maternal parenting behaviours. Results of Cronbach’s alpha tests indicated that the measure is of good reliability, and correlations between the PBI and character strengths confirmed the scale’s good concurrent validity. Parental care and autonomy positively correlated with bravery, honesty, perseverance, kindness, love, self-regulation, social intelligence, and fairness, whereas indifference and overprotection negatively correlated with those eight character strengths. Parenting differences emerged regarding parental and children’s gender. In all, the Chinese version of the PBI proved to be a psychometrically robust measure for capturing adolescents’ perceptions of parenting behaviours in Hong Kong, which we discuss in terms of implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improvements in parenting skills do not necessarily lead to improvements in child and parent outcomes for children with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Cognitive factors such as parental cognitions and parenting self-efficacy may influence such outcomes. Clinical research on the effects of cognitive-behaviour therapy (CBT) on parental cognitions, parenting self-efficacy and mental health in Chinese parents of children with ADHD is lacking. This quasi-experimental study intended to assess the effects of a culturally attuned group CBT treatment on the mental health and quality of life of Chinese parents aged 26-58 years, with children with ADHD in Hong Kong. Participants in the experimental group received group CBT and standard treatment and their counterparts in the control group received standard treatment. Primary outcome variables of mental health and quality of life and process variables including parenting stress, parenting efficacy and dysfunctional attitudes were measured at baseline, post-treatment and 3-month follow-up. Data were analysed using 2 × 3 ANCOVAs, Cohen's d statistics and multiple mediation analyses. Group by time interactions were found for most outcome variables. Effect size statistics indicated that group CBT had small to moderate effects on most outcome variables at post-treatment and follow-up assessments. The effect of CBT on mental health was mediated by the reduction in parenting stress and the effect of CBT on quality of life was mediated by the reductions in parenting stress and dysfunctional attitudes. Given its potential benefit, it is worth considering incorporating this group CBT programme into interventions for Chinese parents with ADHD children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overparenting is an emergent parenting style where parents are highly involved in their children's routines and they remove the perceived obstacles that may happen in their children's lives. However, validated measures that objectively assess overparenting are severely lacking in the Chinese communities. Based on a sample of 642 undergraduate students from Hong Kong, psychometric properties of the perceived Chinese Paternal Overparenting Scale (CPOS) and Chinese Maternal Overparenting Scale (CMOS) were examined in terms of internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent validity and factorial validity. Results indicated that both CPOS and CMOS showed good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. As predicted, the findings gave support for the convergent validity of the scales: CPOS and CMOS were significantly related to measures of paternal and maternal behavioral control, psychological control, and support; they were also negatively associated with self-efficacy but positively related to narcissistic behavior of emerging adults. Moreover, factor analyses showed that eight factors corresponding to the proposed conceptual model were abstracted from the CPOS and CMOS, respectively. The present study suggests that both CPOS and CMOS are reliable and valid assessment tools that can be used to measure parental overparenting in the Chinese context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research involving Hong Kong Chinese parents and their children showed that parental home involvement, beliefs of their children's cognitive ability and their expectations for academic achievement mediated the relationship between their children's cognitive ability and school achievement scores. This mediation effect was interpreted as the cognitive-affect model of academic achievement. The current research confirms the generalizability of the findings and tests the hypothesis that there are cultural differences in the mediation effects with the inclusion of non-Chinese students and their parents as a comparison group. The responses from 103 Chinese speaking (CS) and 163 non-Chinese speaking (NCS) primary students and parents from two schools in Hong Kong were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Student measures included self-concept, cognitive ability and academic achievement in mathematics, English and Chinese. Parent measures included home involvement, beliefs of their child's cognitive ability and expectations of academic success. Initial model showed that parental expectations mediate the link between cognitive ability and academic achievement for both CS and NCS groups, with parental involvement predicting English achievement for only the NCS group. After the inclusion of academic self-concept, the model showed that CS parental expectations also mediate the link between self-concept and academic achievement. However, the model showed that the parental expectations of NCS play a lesser role in mediating the link between academic self-concept and their children's academic achievement. Despite the differences, the results provide evidence for the generalizability of the cognitive-affect model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological flexibility (PF) refers to an individual's capacity to deal with the present moment non-judgmentally and to commit to value-based actions. This study evaluated how parental PF, psychological adjustment to a child's illness, and psychological symptoms including anxiety, depression, and stress in parents are associated with asthma morbidity in children. Three-hundred and twenty-four parents of children aged 3-12 years with asthma completed a self-administered questionnaire to measure their PF, psychological adjustment, and symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress, their children's asthma symptoms and their use of bronchodilators. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationships among these constructs. The results showed that poor PF was significantly associated with poor psychological adjustment to the child's illness and increased psychological symptoms in parents. Parental PF was found to be the only latent construct possessing a significant association with the child's asthma morbidity ( β = 0.27, 95% CI [0.09, 0.42], p = .002). These results suggest that by fostering their PF parents may improve their own psychological well-being as well as their child's asthma condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated a peer-support program for low-income mothers that is designed to serve the objectives of (1) enhancing the parents' competence, (2) reducing their stress and tension, and (3) building social support networks for parents. This program involves a service delivery model that is characterized by community-based, social worker- and parent-mentor-led support groups, with informal group support at a later stage. We evaluated whether the program was effective for enhancing the social support, psychological well-being and parenting competence of the users. We also identified the most crucial elements of peer-support services for disadvantaged mothers. In conducting this study, we applied a mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods in three phases. For the quantitative study, two groups (service user and control) were examined three times over a 6-month period. For the qualitative study, we constructed a purposeful sample by drawing mothers from the pool of parents who had participated in the program, and conducted focus-group interviews with these mothers at three points, parallel to the quantitative study. The results suggested that the community-based peer-support group program is effective. There is, however, a need to strengthen the models of peer support by better defining the respective roles of the parent participants, the peer counselors and the social workers. More fundamentally, there is a need to clarify the basic philosophy of the program along the continuum of professional/expert-vs. indigenous/peer-led participants. The program also needs to better capture the strengths of peers and mentors in its peer-support group model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex education in schools has had a slow start in Hong Kong. Research has shown that many young people are dissatisfied with the inadequacy of existing sex education. This research used a survey to explore Hong Kong parents' views on topics related to sex, marriage, and homosexuality, and when these topics should be taught. Altogether, 12 schools participated in the study. The results show that parents were reluctant to have schools discuss love and courtship with secondary students. Parents were more willing to have their children educated about the use of contraceptives and homosexuality as early as primary school. Parents expressed serious reservations about their children developing homosexual lifestyles and entering same-sex marriages. We also found differences in parents' views with respect to age, education attained, and religion. Findings of this study were discussed with reference to future research directions and to strengthen Hong Kong parents' contribution to the design of sex education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the theories of child abuse are developed and referenced from the West, while their applications to Chinese society are unclear. It is necessary to examine the cases in Hong Kong to acknowledge the uniqueness in perception and conceptualization of child abuse and the impact of resilience, across different cultural settings. The current study aims to advance an ecological model of child abuse for Hong Kong families by integrating resilience perspective with the ecological systems, namely An Integrated Resilience and Ecological Model of Child Abuse (REC-Model), and to examine the interactions between resilience and risk factors among chronosystemic, microsystemic, marcosystemic, and ontogenic systems on child abuse. Using a cross sectional survey research method and path analysis, 565 families with children studying at ages between 9 and 13 participated and returned self-administered questionnaires in the study. The results showed that Chinese cultural parenting values moderated the influences of risk factors on child abuse, while forgiveness buffered the negative impact of microsystemic factors on child abuse. To prevent child abuse, it is important to decrease the detrimental effects of childhood abuse experiences, reduce marital conflicts, and avoid developing insecure parent-child attachment. Promoting forgiveness, while reducing parents' rigidity of certain Chinese cultural parenting values, may also help decrease child abuse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suicidal ideation is defined as the thoughts about engaging in suicidal-related behaviors. Very few studies have been conducted on children's suicidal ideation as there is a biased perception that suicidal behavior under the age of 12 is scarce. However, suicide is the leading cause of death among young children. Child suicidal ideation is predictive of suicidal ideation and suicide attempts in adulthood. Association between certain parenting styles and suicidal ideation have been found in empirical studies. However, little is known about the role of parenting and suicidal ideation in Chinese young children. We examined whether gratitude can reduce the risk of suicide by moderating the association between parenting styles and child suicidal ideation. We recruited 447 Chinese children (53.3% female; mean age = 10.06, SD = 1.76) to participate in a survey. Perceived parenting style (warmth/accepting, dominating, and autonomy granting), gratitude, and suicidal ideation were assessed using self-reported measures. We found that all three perceived parental styles were significantly associated with child suicidal ideation. Further, gratitude was found to have a significant moderating effect on suicidal ideation, across the analysis of the three perceived parenting styles. This suggests that gratitude may be adopted in preventive and clinical interventions so that children at risk can benefit from reducing the negative effects of ineffective parenting styles and suicidal ideation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Childhood internalizing problems such as anxiety and depression can have serious personal, familial and societal repercussions, including drug and alcohol abuse, delinquency, unplanned pregnancy, and even suicide. There is little research on mindfulness interventions for children with clinical levels of internalizing problems, and school-based mindfulness research with children has focused on non-clinical groups. We employed a two-stage screening and intervention procedure to evaluate an in-school mindfulness-based cognitive intervention for Hong Kong children with subclinical internalizing difficulties. Ninety-three fourth to sixth graders were screened, and twenty students (age 9-13, median age 10) highest among their peers on internalizing problems, but lowest on externalizing problems, participated in a 9-week group mindfulness-based intervention. We employed a two-phase open trial design, with random assignment to an immediate intervention group or wait-list control group. In single-trial analysis, one-tailed dependent sample t-tests showed significant decreases in both worry and in symptoms of panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety and overall internalizing problems. In a randomized controlled trial analysis, the immediate intervention group evidenced larger but nonsignificant reductions on almost all measures. Eighty-five percent of the participants rated the program as helpful, and 65-80 % reported improvement in handling emotions and interpersonal relationships at post-treatment, with some treatment gains maintained at 3-month follow-up. These preliminary findings have encouraging implications for implementing time-limited school-based mindfulness interventions targeting elevated childhood internalizing difficulties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authoritative parenting provided by the parent and received by the child offers support and demand to socialize the child, possibly in terms of the performance of taking others' perspectives and self-esteem. Nevertheless, when the child receives less authoritative parenting than the parent claims to provide, a discrepancy in authoritative parenting between the parent-child pair happens and would be likely to reduce the performance. Such impacts on the performance are the focus of this study. Based on cross-sectional data collected from 223 children (aged 14-21 years) and their parents through self-administered questionnaires, results analyzed from structural equation modeling show that (1) authoritative parents, based on the reports of both the parent and child, engendered a positive direct effect on the child's perspective taking, which in turn sustained a positive effect on the child's self-esteem; (2) discrepancy in authoritative parenting between the parent-child pair indicated negative direct effects on both the child's perspective taking and self-esteem; and (3) the child's perspective taking significantly mediated, although not totally, the effects of authoritative parenting and its discrepancy on the child's self-esteem. The present study supports the propositions of symbolic-interactionist theory in explanation of the importance of authoritative parenting and its discrepancy in relation to the child's development of perspective taking and self-esteem. Implications and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data of 337 female-headed divorced families living in poverty in Hong Kong, the relationships among maternal beliefs (Chinese cultural beliefs of familism, maternal expectations of children's future, maternal attribute of children's achievement to effort), adolescents' perceived maternal control and adolescent psychological competence (indexed by beliefs in the future, clear and positive identity, and resilience) were examined. Results indicated that adolescents' perceived maternal control mediated the influence between maternal beliefs and adolescent psychological competence in poor female-headed divorced families in Hong Kong. With the paucity of research on family beliefs and indigenous parenting practice, the present study underscores the importance of maternal beliefs and maternal control on nurturing adolescent psychological competence in Chinese divorced families facing adversity, which contributes to the development of Chinese familial model of resilience. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parenting stress has been found to negatively predict marital satisfaction for both fathers and mothers. While marital satisfaction was found to affect individual mental health, family functioning and child development, the various parenting correlates may buffer the association between parenting stress and marital satisfaction. This study aims to examine the relationship among the parenting correlates, namely parenting stress, parenting self-efficacy, co-parenting alliance, and marital satisfaction. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with a sample of 2029 fathers and 1430 mothers of children aged two to six recruited from 48 nurseries in Hong Kong. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that fathering self-efficacy and fathers' co-parenting alliance moderated the effect of fathering stress on fathers' marital satisfaction. However, there was no such moderating effect for mothers. Findings support the gender role model of the fathers being less of child carers than the mothers. The absence of such an effect for the mothers can be explained by their attainment of marital satisfaction from factors other than parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although parental meaning has been found to be a crucial dimension in examining parental cognitions and parental well-being, it has previously only been studied qualitatively. The goal of this research was to develop and validate a quantitative measure for the assessment of sources of parental meaning. Two samples of Hong Kong Chinese parents were recruited to fill out a questionnaire comprising items about different aspects and sources of parental meaning and several validation measures. An exploratory factor analysis on the first sample of 1557 parents yielded a fourfold factor structure with 22 items. A confirmatory factor analysis on the second sample of 352 parents demonstrated a good model fit. These factors revealed four categories of Chinese sources of parental meaning, including (1) the degree to which parents underline their positive personal development through childrearing (self-enhancement), (2) the degree to which parents emphasize the nurturing of their children's psychosocial growth (child nurturing), (3) the degree to which parents affirm the social values of being parents (instrumental consideration), and (4) the degree to which parents attach importance to strengthening the couple relationship (marital relationship). The findings show that the components of the CSPMQ were associated in different directions with different measures of parental well-being. Some of the factors were able to discriminate between the clinical group and non-clinical group, as well as between the father group and mother group. The development of this scale can fill part of the knowledge gap and initiate future research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School bullying has always been a global concern. Little is known about the joint occurrence of bullying perpetration and victimization. Using a large sample of Hong Kong secondary school adolescents ( N = 1,880), this study investigates the overlap between these two experiences. Grounded by the theoretical propositions of Hirschi's social control theory, the adolescents' familial and school bonding, along with their psychological characteristics (i.e., self-efficacy, empathy, and prosocial behavior), are examined. Findings reveal that different bullying perpetration and victimization subtypes are positively correlated, and multivariate analyses confirmed the link between these two experiences. Bivariate probit models indicate a considerable degree of overlap between bullying perpetration and victimization. Being a female with poor empathic understanding, low level of prosocial behavioral manifestation, weak family attachment and perception of a harmonious school, poor sense of school belonging, and overall negative school experience and involvement are found to be significant risk factors for the joint occurrence of bullying perpetration and victimization. Practical implications, study limitations and future research directions are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationships between parental attributions of children's success and failure and family processes of Chinese families experiencing economic disadvantage were examined in this study. A sample of 275 Chinese couples who had at least one child aged 11-16 experiencing economic disadvantage in Hong Kong were invited to participate in the study. Fathers and mothers completed the Parental Attributions Questionnaire, Parenting Style Scale, Chinese Parental Control Scale, Parental Sacrifice for Child's Education Scale and Chinese Family Assessment Instrument. Results indicated that paternal attribution of children's success and failure to effort influenced different family processes, including paternal control, paternal sacrifice for children's education, and fathers' perceived family functioning, whereas maternal attribution of children's success and failure to effort influenced maternal control and maternal sacrifice for children's education. Furthermore, we found that paternal and maternal attribution of children's success and failure to ability predicted paternal and maternal control, respectively. On the contrary, attribution of children's success and failure to luck did not predict any family processes in economically disadvantaged Chinese families. The present findings provide important insights on the relationships between parental attributions and family processes in Chinese families experiencing economic disadvantage, which helps to develop Chinese family model in the context of poverty. The study also suggests that human service workers should assess and promote parental attributional beliefs of effort and ability in assisting their children in their future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Parenting can possibly prevent addictive Internet use among schoolchildren. To explore such a possibility, this study surveyed 1,771 secondary school students (Grades 10 and 11) in Guangzhou and Hong Kong about their addictive Internet use and the parenting style they experienced. Five distinguishable patterns emerged from the cluster analysis of three parenting styles, permissive, authoritarian, and flexible parenting. The 'high or inconsistent' parenting pattern, which attained high scores in all three parenting styles, exhibited the least degree of addictive Internet use among the students. By contrast, authoritarian parenting pattern resulted in the highest level of addictive Internet use. The variation caused by the parenting patterns far exceeded that caused by parenting styles. The results indicate that balanced parenting will most likely prevent students' addictive Internet use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research is to investigate the prevalence of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) in primary school children in Hong Kong and to explore the interrelationship between EDS, unhealthy sleep behavior, and depression. 911 primary 4-6 students were recruited to a cross-sectional study. They completed a pack of questionnaires measuring sleepiness, depression, unhealthy sleep behaviors, and some socio-demographic information. Univariate logistic regression was performed to identify the potential risk factors of UBS on EDS and depression. A multivariate logistic regression was performed to examine the mediation role of EDS between UBS and depression. An EDS prevalence rate of 25.1 % was observed. Staying up late to study was significantly associated with both EDS and depression, eating before sleep was strongly associated with EDS and an inconsistent sleep time was strongly associated with depression. EDS only partially mediated the relationship between staying up late to study and depression. Unhealthy sleep behaviors are common among children and which may be due to heavy homework, poor time management, lack of house rule regarding snack time. They will increase the risk of depression and excessive sleepiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, a distinction between proactive (deliberate aggressive behavior aimed at influencing others) and reactive (defensive response to provocation) aggression has been documented. Further, investigators have discovered an association between cognitive, social, and emotional variables and these two types of aggression. This study investigated this relationship with 251 (males = 170; females = 81) proactive and reactive aggressive Hong Kong secondary students ( M age = 13.07; SD = 1.38). Canonical analyses revealed proactive aggression was negatively related to transposing oneself into feelings and actions of fictional characters, feeling warmth and concern for others, and feeling discomfort in reaction to others' emotions. Reactive aggression, in contrast, was positively associated with experiencing and expressing anger without specific provocation, expressing anger when provoked, suppressing anger, expressing anger towards others or objects, and feeling anxiety-depression. Implications to address the aggression of students in Hong Kong and elsewhere are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marital satisfaction is crucial to mothers' well-being, as well as parent-child relationship and family functioning. Existing literature has shown the impact of marital relationship on parenting. Yet, there are few studies to examine the impact of parenting on marital satisfaction. Family systems theory postulates that there is a reciprocal association between functioning in the parental and spousal subsystems. This study thus aims to examine the associations of various parenting correlates, including parenting self-efficacy, parenting stress, co-parenting alliance, satisfaction with father involvement, and marital satisfaction of mothers. A cross-sectional survey was conducted and a sample of 1,140 mothers was recruited in this study using convenience sampling from 20 nurseries. After controlling for mothers' age, education level, and household income, hierarchical regression analyses showed that greater co-parenting alliance, higher satisfaction with father involvement, and lower parenting stress were associated with higher maternal marital satisfaction. Findings support the 'spillover' hypothesis in the family systems theory, indicating that positive factors in the parental subsystem are significantly associated with higher marital satisfaction in the spousal subsystem. Measures that cultivate father involvement, alleviate mothers' parenting stress, and improve co-parenting alliance may be adopted to increase mothers' marital satisfaction and maintain marital relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]