Dimensions of Emotional Intelligence and Their Relationships with Social Coping Among Gifted Adolescents in Hong Kong

Two hundred and fifty-nine gifted adolescents were assessed on their emotional intelligence and social coping strategies using the Emotional Intelligence Scale (N. S. Schutte et al., Personality and Individual Differences, 25, 167–177, 1998) and the Social Coping Questionnaire (M. A. Swiatek, Gifted Child Quaterly, 39, 154–161, 1995). An item factor analysis yielded four dimensions of emotional intelligence, leading to the construction of 4 empirical scales of emotional intelligence. Students scored most highly on Social Skills and Self-Management of Emotions, followed by Empathy, and Utilization of Emotions. In coping with their being gifted, students endorsed to different degrees their use of 6 coping strategies, which were Valuing Peer Acceptance, Involvement in Activities, Attempting Avoidance, Denying Giftedness, Prizing Conformity, and Discounting Popularity. Social Skills emerged as the most important component of emotional intelligence predicting the use of strategies of Valuing Peer Acceptance and Involvement in Activities. Implications of the findings for enhancing emotional intelligence of adolescents in coping with problems arising from their being gifted and the need for further studies using longitudinal data are discussed.     

香港中央雇员补偿保险机制的问题探析

现行的香港《雇佣补偿条例》(保险),未能涵盖某些高风险行业工人的工伤权益,保险业界为此推出"联保计划"。但是,由于保费过高,令一些雇主不按法例购买劳工保险。一旦发生工伤意外,雇员的工伤权益将受侵害。为了堵塞法例漏洞,编织完善的工伤病保障网,设立中央补偿保险机制这一公共政策,已成为工会、政府及保险业必须面对的社会问题。     

Depressive symptoms and coping strategies among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

Depressive symptoms and coping strategies of 161 Chinese adolescents were assessed and described using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). Using the BDI cutoff scores of 9/10 and 29/30, respectively, over 64% of the adolescents would be in the depressed range, and 9% would be in the severely depressed range. For general depressive symptom level, Chinese adolescents appeared to have higher mean BDI score than U.S. adolescents and Chinese young adults. Their depressive symptom levels were found to relate to avoidant coping strategies as well as low self-es-teem and reduced social support. Implications for promoting adaptive coping, peer support network, and self-esteem enhancement were discussed.This study was supported in part by a Chinese University of Hong Kong UPGC direct grant for research.Received Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 1978. Research interests include self-esteem, stress, coping, health, and psychopathology.     

Dimensions of self-esteem and psychological symptoms among chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

Self-esteem and psychological symptoms were assessed in a sample of 1082 Chinese adolescents who responded to the Chinese versions of Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory and the General Health Questionnaire. Three dimensions of self-esteem, interpreted as Family Acceptance/Rejection, Self-Depreciation, and Peer Affirmation/Disaffirmation, were found to relate substantially to general psychological symptoms and particularly to specific symptoms of anxiety, social dysfunction, and depression as reported by these adolescents. The implications of the relative importance of appraisal from internal feedback as sources of self-esteem as opposed to the external feedback from family and peers were discussed in relation to self-esteem enhancement in adolescents.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario in 1978. His research interests include self-esteem, stress, coping, health and psychopathology.Received her Ph.D. from the University of South Dakota in 1983. Her research interests include stress, coping and health, and geriatric psychology.     

台湾、香港、大陆三地业主自治机构之比较

物业管理的出现促进了我国城市住宅小区管理的专业化、科学化、现代化。但目前我国物业管理方面的部门规章和各地自行制定的地方性法规比较混乱,业主自治的意识还比较薄弱。借鉴台湾、香港地区相关管理条例,可以促进内地管理问题的逐步完善和提高业主自治能力。     

Depressive symptoms and perceived competence among Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong

Depressive symptoms of 621 Grade 7 to Grade 12 secondary school students were assessed and described in terms of dimensions of disturbances in mood, self-image, behavior, hedonic capacity, and self-efficacy using the Childrens Depression Inventory (CDI). Using the cutoff score of 20, 24% of the adolescents would be in the depressed range. In a subsample of 319 students who also completed the Self-Perception Profile for Adolescents, depressive symptom levels tended to be highest among students who perceived themselves to be relatively incompetent academically and socially, and lowest among students who perceived themselves to be academically and socially competent, supporting the cumulative effects of perceived academic and social incompetence on depressive symptoms. The relatively more elevated CDI scores and subscores among Chinese adolescents compared with US adolescents and the choice of a cutoff score for screening in the Hong Kong school population are discussed.This study was supported in part by a Chinese University of Hong Kong RGC direct grant for research.     

Effects of self-monitoring and perceived approval on delinquent behavior among Hong Kong adolescents

It has been established that perceived approval from relevant others is related to delinquent behavior. The aim of the present study was to investigate how this relationship was mediated by self- monitoring. Eight hundred twenty-eight students from Grade 7 to Grade 9 were asked to respond to a questionnaire that measured their self-monitoring, the frequency they committed delinquent acts, and the perceived approval of committing these acts from their parents, teachers, and friends. Regression analyses indicated that self- monitoring wax an interacting factor between perceived approval and delinquency. On further path analyses, it was found that self- monitoring acted as a mediating factor, and that the relationship between delinquent behavior and perceived approval was more apparent among high self- monitoring individuals. The present study was based on data collected in the delinquency project by S. Lau and Kwok Leung.Received M.Phil. from University of Hong Kong and M.A. in education from Chinese University of Hong Kong. Research interests include self-monitoring, problem solving, and learning environments.Received Ph.D. from Purdue University. Research interests include values, self-concept, family processes, and the psychology of adolescence.     

Interpersonal and Personal Antecedents and Consequences of Peer Victimization Across Middle Childhood in Hong Kong

Although much is known about peer victimization, the majority of the longitudinal research in this area has been restricted to Western settings. The main objective of this study was to examine the interpersonal (rejection) and personal (withdrawal, aggression) antecedents and consequences of victimization for Chinese children living in Hong Kong. A sample of 1,058 children (501 boys; M age = 9.5 years) in Hong Kong was followed longitudinally from the 3rd and 4th grades to the 7th and 8th grades. Consistent with a transactional framework, rejection and withdrawal contributed to, as well as resulted from, victimization. Although victimization predicted later aggression, aggression was unrelated to later victimization. These findings closely replicate past research conducted in North America and European settings, and suggest considerable correspondence in the links between maladaptive child characteristics and victimization across Western and Hong Kong schools.     

Dimensionality of Hardiness and Its Role in the Stress-Distress Relationship Among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

The three components of hardiness, life events, coping strategies, and psychological distress, were assessed in a sample of 245 Chinese secondary school students in Hong Kong. While commitment, control, and challenge were not clearly differentiable as distinct constructs, three dimensions interpretable as resigned acceptance, cynical concession, and pragmatic orientation emerged. In the stress-distress relationship, hardiness did not interact with stress to moderate its influence on distress, however, both hardiness and stress had independent main effects on distress. Although high hardy students, compared with low hardy students, did not appraise positive events as having greater impact, they perceived that negative events had significantly lesser impact. In addition, low hardy students reported using passive and avoidant coping strategies significantly more frequently than high hardy students.     

Family,School, Peer,and Media Predictors of Adolescent Deviant Behavior in Hong Kong

Based on a self-report study of 1139 secondary school students in Hong Kong, this paper estimates the strengths of selected family variables, school variables, peer variables, and media variables in the prediction of adolescent deviant behavior. Regresssion results show that the equation containing peers' deviant behavior, peers' disapproval of deviant behavior, frequency of media exposure, preference for violent/obscene content, imitation of media characters, parents' deviant behavior, and teachers' negative evaluation explained the amount of variance of adolescent deviant behavior. Theoretical and research implications of these and other findings for the rapidly industrializing and modernizing society of Hong Kong are discussed.     

香港建造业关怀基金在维护工人权益中的地位和作用

“建造业关怀基金”是香港建造业惟一的非盈利慈善团体,按香港税务法例第88条注册.它为工业意外的死亡工友家属,提供灾危援助及善后的系列服务,弥补了政府服务的不足及法例的缺失.“建造业关怀基金”的启动,亦引起了工会的深刻反思.如何维护香港法律框架之外,非工伤伤亡工人的权益,是工会所要解决的重要问题之一.     

香港抗逆力辅导工作及其启示——以“成长的天空”计划为例

为了提升青少年面对逆境、面对挫折的适应力、迎接成长挑战的能力,香港开展了抗逆力研究及辅导工作,“成长的天空”计划是比较系统的一项抗逆力辅导服务。抗逆力对青少年的成长起着关键的作用,抗逆力辅导工作提供了一种优势视角,从系统介入的角度,建构青少年的支援网络。该计划的理念、提出的背景、内容、运作等情况,对内地青少年辅导工作的进一步发展和完善有着多方面的启示及参考借鉴意义。     

The Effects of Single Parenthood on Educational Aspiration: A Comparative Study of Children in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong

Using data collected by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment in 2003, this study examines the gap in the educational aspirations of children from single-parent families and two-parent families in the United Kingdom (UK) and Hong Kong. Consistent with previous research on the relationship between cultural orientation and academic motivation, our analysis shows that children in the UK have statistically significant lower levels of educational aspiration than those in Hong Kong. Moreover, children from single-parent families in the UK and Hong Kong are found to have statistically significant lower levels of educational aspiration than those from two-parent families. Further analyses indicate that family capital and school experience are important factors for understanding the negative effects of single parenthood. Finally, we observe that single parenthood has a less negative effect on educational aspiration in the UK than it does in Hong Kong, which can be explained by differences in government family policy and family capital between the two regions. Based on the outcomes from the current analysis, we put forward several policy and service recommendations for improving children's educational aspiration and enhancing family well-being.     

Self-Control,Social Factors,and Delinquency: A Test of The General Theory of Crime Among Adolescents in Hong Kong

The objectives of this study were to test the predictive power of self-control theory for delinquency in a Chinese context, and to explore if social factors as predicted in social bonding theory, differential association theory, general strain theory, and labeling theory have effects on delinquency in the presence of self-control. Self-report data were collected from 1,015 Chinese secondary school students (463 boys and 552 girls) in Hong Kong aged between 14 and 19. Bivariate results showed that low self-control is correlated with delinquency in the Chinese setting. We also found that low self-control is linked to a range of negative social conditions in Chinese adolescents, including disrupted social bonds, delinquent association, deviant definition, educational under-achievement, coercive parenting, negative school experiences, negative relations with peers, stressful life events, and labeling by parents and teachers. However, contrary to self-control theory and many previous studies based on Western samples, self-control fails to predict delinquency when social variables are controlled for among Chinese adolescents. The effects of social factors on delinquency remain significant net of self-control. This suggests that it is the combination of self-control and social factors in the prediction of delinquency that might be variant across cultures. These findings from adolescents from Hong Kong only partially support the culture-free thesis of self-control theory. The implications of Chinese cultural forces on the influence of self-control merit closer attention.

Changes in Discrepancies Between Desired and Present States of Developmental Tasks in Adolescence: A 4-Process Model

Individuals direct their own development by setting developmental goals and striving for goal attainment. Human development includes reductions in discrepancies between desired and actual states, as is the case in goal attainment and reduction of aspirations, as well as increases of discrepancies, for example, when individuals increase their aspirations or face setbacks. The present study analyzed how ways of changing discrepancies between desired and actual states of solving developmental tasks relate to changes in adolescents' self-esteem across a 2-year period. With regard to discrepancy-reducing processes we found that increases in goal attainment were associated with increased self-esteem whereas reductions of aspirations were not systematically associated with self-esteem change. With regard to discrepancy-producing processes, diminishing of the present state was consistently associated with declines in self-esteem, whereas increases in aspirations showed inconsistent associations with self-esteem changes. The results indicate similarities and differences between developmental regulation in adolescence and adulthood.     

培育青年学生践行社会主义核心价值观的路径

社会主义核心价值观是青年学生的精神追求。社会实践是青年学生培育和践行社会主义核心价值观的重要路径。青年学生在社会实践中加深理性认同,增进情感认同,强化行为认同,提高社会主义核心价值观的认同度。将社会主义核心价值观教育融入课程学习社会实践、校园社会实践和校外社会实践,增强青年学生社会主义核心价值观的践行力。积极创新社会实践路径,实现青年学生社会主义核心价值观"内化于心"和"外化于行"的统一。     

高校学生社会实践全员化育人模式的构建

在新时期,探索和构建高校学生社会实践全员化的育人模式,对于增强实践育人效果,进一步加强和改进大学生思想政治教育十分必要。高校学生社会实践对广大高校学生坚定理想信念、提升责任意识、增强就业能力、完善个人素质等方面具有较强的育人功能。当前,高校学生社会实践育人模式已不适应时代发展需要。因此,建立高校学生社会实践全员化育人模式必须通过树立高校学生社会实践全员化的工作理念、建立高校学生社会实践全员化的工作机制、营造高校学生社会实践全员化的社会氛围等来实现。     

The Individual Characteristics,Ethnic Identity,and Cultural Orientation of Successful Secondary School Students of Turkish and Moroccan Background in The Netherlands

The present study focuses on the individual characteristics, cultural orientation, and ethnic identity of academically successful 17-year-old adolescents of Turkish and Moroccan background in the Netherlands. One hundred and six successful and less successful adolescents of Turkish, Moroccan, and Dutch background participated in the study. The successful ethnic minority students were expected to be highly motivated and determined to succeed. They were thought to have more problems with their ethnic identity as well. It was concluded that success might be explanable in terms of a more positive attitude toward the Dutch society. The successful students did not need to be highly motivated to be academically successful. Although the successful Turkish and Moroccan background students had somewhat more doubts and more negative feelings about belonging to their ethnic group, this does not seem to lead to identity problems.