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.

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.