Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong Family Life, Psychological Well-Being and Risk Behavior

This book documents the findings of a 3-year longitudinal study on the quality of family life, personal well-being and risk behavior in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. It presents the profiles of quality of family life (family functioning, parental behavioral control, parental psychological control and parent-child relational qualities); personal well-being (positive youth development and life satisfaction measures) and adolescent risk behavior (substance abuse, delinquency, self-harm and suicidal behavior and behavioral intentions to engage in risk behavior) in different adolescent populations across time. It also examines theoretical issues concerning the interrelationships between family quality of life, psychological well-being and risk behavior in adolescents. Practically speaking, the findings can help youth workers appreciate the importance of family quality of life and positive youth development in shaping the personal well-being and risk behavior in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong.

Chapter 1: Family Quality of Life, Personal Well-Being, and Risk Behavior in Early Adolescents in Hong Kong: Related Phenomena and Research Gaps.- Chapter 2: A Longitudinal Study of the Personal Well-Being and Family Quality of Life among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong.- Chapter 3: Positive Youth Development in Junior Secondary School Students: Do gender and time matter?.- Chapter 4: Parental Behavioral Control, Parental Psychological Control and Parent-Child Relational Qualities: Relationships to Chinese Adolescent Risk Behavior.- Chapter 5: Perceived Family Quality of Life, School Competence and Academic Adjustment amongst Early Adolescents in Hong Kong.- Chapter 6: Subjective Well-being of Early Adolescents in Hong Kong.- Chapter 7: Development of Delinquent Behavior in Early Adolescents in Hong Kong.- Chapter 8: Substance Abuse in Junior Secondary School Students in Hong Kong.- Chapter 9: A Longitudinal Study on Deliberate Self-Harm and Suicidal Behaviors among Chinese Adolescents.- Chapter 10: Compensated Dating and Juvenile Prostitution in Early Adolescents in Hong Kong.- Chapter 11: Intention to Gamble Amongst Junior Secondary School Students In Hong Kong: Changes and Predictors.- Chapter 12: Promotion of Positive Youth Development and Family Quality of Life in Chinese Adolescents.

Daniel T.L. Shek (PhD, FHKPS, BBS, SBS, JP) is Chair Professor of Applied Social Sciences in the Department of Applied Social Sciences and Associate Vice President (Undergraduate Programme), The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has taught social work students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels for roughly thirty years. He was Dean of Students (1996-1998) and Dean of General Education (2006-2008) of New Asia College, The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He was elected to be the Best Lecturer teaching the major courses in the Department of Social Work in 1995-1996. He was awarded the Exemplary Teaching Award, Faculty of Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2002-2003. Daniel T.L. Shek has to date published over 85 books, 154 book chapters and more than 500 articles in international refereed journals.

Rachel Sun got her BSocSc and PhD at The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. She is Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong. She is a Principal Investigator of school misbehavior research studies and Co-Principal Investigator of positive youth development programs and a service leadership program in Hong Kong. Her research areas include academic achievement motivation, school satisfaction, life satisfaction, positive youth development, problem behavior, school misbehavior, adolescent suicidal ideation and psychological health. She is a member of the editorial boards of Research on Social Work Practice, and Frontiers in Child Health and Human Development.

Cecilia Ma (BEd, MPhil, PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She received her PhD from the University of South Carolina. Her research interests include psychometrics, structural equation modeling and program evaluation. She has published peer reviewed papers in journals such as Research on Social Work Practice, Social Indicators Research and International Journal on Disability and Human Development. She has also co-authored book chapters and articles in the area of Chinese adolescents’ psychological development. Her current research projects focus on positive youth development programs and the development of a university leadership program.