Volume 12, Issue 2 - Special issue: Quality of life of Chinese adolescents: missing research gaps: Editors: Daniel T.L. Shek, Rachel C.F. Sun and Joav Merrick

At The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a course subject entitled “Tomorrow’s Leaders,” which focuses on positive youth development constructs, was developed for the students admitted under the New Undergraduate Curriculum in the 2012/13 academic year. It fulfills the requirement of “Leadership and Intrapersonal Development” under the General University Requirements. The subject was first piloted in the 2010/11 academic year with very positive evaluation results. To refine the subject and to accumulate more experience, the subject was offered again in the first term of 2011/12 academic year. The course content, evaluation strategies, and some initial findings based on the second piloting exercise are presented in this paper. Consistent with the first piloting exercise, evaluation findings based on different strategies generally showed that the subject promoted the holistic development of the enrolled students.

The relationships between perceived parenting style, parental control, family functioning, and parental sacrifice for children’s education and achievement motivation were examined in 275 Chinese adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage in Hong Kong. Consistent with the hypotheses, parenting style, parental control, family functioning, and parental sacrifice for children’s education were related with adolescent achievement motivation. Regression analyses further showed that maternal control and paternal and maternal sacrifice for children’s education were significant predictors of achievement motivation for adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Based on the responses of 275 Chinese adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage in Hong Kong, the relationships between family processes (including perceived parenting style, parental control, family functioning, and parental sacrifice for children’s education) and psychosocial competence were examined in this study. Results showed that parenting style, parental control, family functioning, and parental sacrifice for children’s education were positively related to adolescent psychosocial competence. Regression analyses indicated that family functioning, maternal control, and paternal sacrifice for children’s education were significant predictors of psychosocial competence of adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Based on the responses of 550 Chinese parents experiencing economic disadvantage in Hong Kong, the relationships between parental beliefs (including Chinese cultural beliefs on adversity, attribution of children’s success and failure to effort, and expectations of children’s future) and parenting characteristics (indexed by parenting styles and parental control) were examined in this study. More positive parental child-specific beliefs, particularly parental expectations on children’s future, were found to be associated with more positive parenting styles and stronger parental control in both paternal and maternal samples. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

The relationships between parental beliefs (i.e., Chinese cultural beliefs about adversity, attribution of children’s success and failure to effort, and expectations of children’s future) and family functioning were examined in 550 Chinese parents experiencing economic disadvantage. Results showed that perceived Chinese cultural beliefs about adversity and parental expectations on children’s future were positively related to family functioning in both fathers’ and mothers’ samples. In addition, paternal expectations of children’s future emerged as the most important predictor of perceived family functioning. The findings underscored the important role of the fathers in Chinese families experiencing economic disadvantage. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

The relationships between parent-adolescent discrepancies in perceptions of family functioning and adolescents’ achievement motivation and psychological competence were examined. The respondents included 275 Chinese intact families experiencing economic disadvantage in Hong Kong. Results indicated that parents and adolescents had different perceptions of family functioning. Father-adolescent discrepancies in perceived family functioning were negatively related to adolescent achievement motivation; both father-adolescent and mother-adolescent discrepancies in perceived family functioning were also negatively associated with the psychological competence in poor adolescents. The present findings provided support for the thesis that family functioning plays an important role in shaping the developmental outcomes of adolescent experiencing economic disadvantage.

An indigenous Chinese measure of non-conflict related marital quality attributes from the perspective of adolescent children was developed. Based on a comprehensive literature review and focus group interviews of social workers and adolescents, 14 categories of themes (i.e., respect, appreciation, responsibility, trust, body touch, togetherness, intimacy, communication, acceptance, concern, criticism, consistency, helping, and response) were identified, and a scale assessing adolescent perception of inter-parental non-conflict related attributes was developed. A panel of experts was formed to determine the relevance, clarity and representativeness of the developed items to assess the content validity of the measure, after which the views of the experts were used to further refine the scale. The findings showed that the final 60-item measure had high relevance, clarity, and representativeness of the construct of non-conflict related attributes in inter-parental relationships. The developed measure is a pioneering effort in both Chinese and international contexts.

Post-lecture evaluation findings of a subject on leadership and intrapersonal development, which was designed to promote holistic development of university students at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University in Hong Kong, were reported. In the first 13 lectures, students were invited to respond to a 12-item post-lecture questionnaire after each lecture. Normative findings showed that students generally had positive perceptions of the subject, class and lecturer attributes, indicating an overall positive evaluation. Through factor analyses, three factors were abstracted from the scale, including Subject Attributes, Class Attributes, and Lecturer Attributes. The total scale and subscales were internally consistent. Regarding predictors of the global evaluation of the subject and the teacher, multiple regression analyses showed that subject, class, and lecturer attributes were significant predictors.

Two studies were conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the 37-item Subjective Outcome Evaluation Scale (SOES) developed to evaluate the subject, instructor, and benefits of a course on leadership and intrapersonal development at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Consistent with the conceptual framework, factor analyses in both studies (n=268 and n=195, respectively) showed that three factors (course, instructor, and benefits) were abstracted from the scale. In study 2, the SOES was found to be internally consistent and the different subscales were significantly correlated among themselves. Both perceived qualities of the program and instructor were significant predictors of the perceived effectiveness of the program. Consistent with study 1, results in study 2 showed that the students generally had positive perceptions of the program and implementers, with more than 90% of the participants indicating that they were satisfied with the program.

Under the New Undergraduate Curriculum, a subject entitled “Tomorrow’s Leaders” was developed to enable students to fulfill the requirement in the area of Leadership and Intrapersonal Development at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In the second piloting exercise, process evaluation was carried out for 19 lectures, with each lecture observed by two independent observers. Results showed that inter-rater reliability was generally high. Regarding program implementation, findings showed that the program adherence and implementation quality of the subject were high. Classroom management, time management, and achievement of teaching unit’s objectives were found to be significant predictors of overall quality and success of the program. The present study reinforced the conclusion that the implementation quality of “Tomorrow’s Leaders” was high.

Students were invited to write personal reflections about the subject, called “Tomorrow’s Leaders,” to examine its effectiveness in promoting holistic development in students. Based on the reflections of 104 students, data were separately rated by two independent raters using a standardized rating form. Intra-rater and inter-rater reliability analyses revealed that the coding of reflections was reliable. Results showed that the informants generally had positive feedbacks about the subject and lecturers. Furthermore, they perceived that the subject promoted their overall development in different domains. Exemplar cases were highlighted in this paper.

A quasi-experimental study with an experimental group (n=195) and a control group (n=71) was conducted to examine the effectiveness of a leadership and intrapersonal development subject at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Results showed that there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of gender ratio, age, and background family characteristics. Analyses of covariance controlling for pretest differences between the two groups revealed that students in the experimental group generally showed higher levels of psychosocial competence in terms of composite variables that include resilience, social competence, emotional competence, cognitive competence, behavioral competence, self-determination, self-efficacy, and beliefs in the future. In conjunction with other sources of evaluation findings, the present study suggests that this subject is able to promote the holistic development of Chinese university students in Hong Kong.