Pathways from school to work: A sequence analysis of non-engaged youth.

INTRODUCTION: Research on heterogeneous pathways in school-to-work transitions (SWT), particularly longitudinal research, has been limited, as have empirical studies examining effective interventions for facilitating multiple SWT pathways among non-engaged youth (NEY), who are generally at risk of being not in education, employment, or training (NEET). METHODS: To develop a typology of SWT pathways, we conducted sequence analysis with longitudinal data from a sample of 630 NEY aged 14-29 (M = 19.78; 63.65% males) in Hong Kong during a 22-month period beginning in September 2020. We also performed multinomial logistic regressions to assess the impact of career and life development (CLD) interventions on SWT outcomes. RESULTS: Our analysis yielded a fivefold typology of SWT pathways: the Employment/Entrepreneurship cluster (31.27%), the Vocational Education and Training cluster (13.49%), the Generic Education cluster (16.83%), the Serious Leisure Development cluster (15.24%), and the long-term NEET cluster (23.17%). NEY in the intervention group receiving CLD services, inspired by the expanded notion of work (ENOW) and youth development and intervention framework (YDIF), demonstrated significantly higher likelihoods of being in the Employment/Entrepreneurship (OR = 34.5, 95% CI [10.53, 105.08]), Generic Education (OR = 3.74, 95% CI [1.81, 7.74]), Vocational Education and Training (OR = 1.55, 95% CI [1.05, 6.26]), and Serious Leisure Development (OR = 1.77, 95% CI [1.04, 4.46]) clusters than the long-term NEET cluster. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the dynamic, heterogeneous nature of NEY's CLD journeys, including that CLD interventions based on ENOW-YDIF have had a beneficial effect on NEY's multiple SWT pathways.

Development and validation of a brief self-assessed wisdom scale.

BACKGROUND: This longitudinal study aimed to develop a nine-item Brief Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale (BSAWS) derived from the original 40-item Self-Assessed Wisdom Scale (SAWS). METHODS: The psychometric properties of the shortened scale were evaluated based on a sample of 157 older adults. The factor structure and dimensionality of the original SAWS were examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Subsequent explorative factor analysis of the BSAWS supported the construct validity of the shortened scale. RESULTS: The internal consistency, convergent validity and construct validity of the shortened scale were also evaluated and the results indicated that the BSAWS possesses good psychometric properties and is comparable with the full version. CONCLUSIONS: This scale refinement may help researchers and practitioners conduct epistemological surveys or clinical research related to wisdom.

Conditions for pets to prevent depression in older adults.

OBJECTIVE: The study aims to determine if and how pet availability and engagement predicted depression in older adults. The prediction can be unconditional or independent of the sociodemographic characteristics of the older adult and/or conditional or dependent on the characteristics. These predictions rest on the contribution of resources pooled from older adults, their spouses, and pets, according to ecological theory. METHOD: The present study analyzed the effects of pet availability and engagement based on a survey of 340 older adults in Hong Kong, China. RESULTS: Pet engagement but not pet availability manifested a significant negative effect on depression unconditionally. In addition, pet availability and engagement indicated some significant negative effects conditionally, including living with the spouse as a condition. CONCLUSION: For preventing depression in older adults, promoting their pet availability and engagement is promising. Particularly, the promotion would be more effective for older adults living with their spouses and being more resourceful than for others.

Engaging adolescent girls in transactional sex through compensated dating.

Transactional sex through so-called compensated dating in adolescent girls is a problem in need of public concern. Compensated dating typically involves the use of information communication technology to advertise, search, bargain, and eventually arrange for transactional sex. The technology enables the sexual partners to maintain privacy and secrecy in transactional sex. Such secrecy necessitates the girls' disclosure about their life experiences in order to address the concern. The disclosure is the focus of the present qualitative study of 27 girls practicing the dating in Hong Kong, China. Based on the disclosure, the study presents a grounded theory that epitomizes engagement in compensated dating by referential choice. Such a referential choice theory unravels that choice with reference to the family push and social norms sustains the engagement. Meanwhile, the choice rests on expectancy and reinforcement from experiential learning about compensated dating. The theory thus implies ways to undercut the engagement through diverting the referential choice of the dating.

Emotional intelligence as a basis for self-esteem in young adults.

As self-esteem is likely to build on favorable social experiences, such as those derived from achievement (i.e., GPA) and social competence, emotional intelligence is likely to be pivotal in fostering social experiences conducive to self-esteem. Accordingly, emotional intelligence is likely to underlie social competence and mediate the contribution of achievement to self-esteem. This uncharted role is the focus of this study, which surveyed 405 undergraduates in Hong Kong, China. Results demonstrated the pivotal role of emotional intelligence. Essentially, emotional intelligence appeared to be a strong determinant of self-esteem and explain away the positive effect of social competence on self-esteem. The results imply the value of raising emotional intelligence in order to consolidate the basis for the young adult's self-esteem.

Career unreadiness in relation to anxiety and authoritarian parenting among undergraduates.

Career unreadiness, covering career indecision and career myth, is an issue for universities to address. Supposedly, career unreadiness is responsible for the university student's anxiety and partly results from authoritarian parenting during the student's childhood. This is an uncharted concern for this study to clarify. The study surveyed 229 undergraduates in two universities in Hong Kong, China. It employed structural equation modelling to clarify nexuses among career unreadiness, authoritarian parenting and anxiety, after minimising their measurement errors. Career unreadiness mediated the negative effect of authoritarian parenting on anxiety. Nevertheless, authoritarian parenting still maintained a negative direct effect on anxiety, after controlling for career unreadiness. The findings imply that reducing undergraduates' career unreadiness is justifiable to prevent their anxiety. Such a reduction would benefit from neutralising the demands of authoritarian parenting. More fundamentally, diverting authoritarian parenting is advisable.

Social identity and social integration: a meta-analysis exploring the relationship between social identity and social integration.

Social identity formation is crucial for psychosocial development, particularly in the case of migrating adults. A body of research exploring how social identity influences social integration among migrants shows that social identity affects social integration through a range of moderators and procedures. This study reports on a meta-analysis of 33 studies with 47 cases (total N = 33,777; Fisher's z = 0.33, moderate effects) examining the relationship between social identity and social integration in research conducted from 2005-2020. The research findings suggest that social identity can affect social integration directly without any moderators, indicating that most of the identified moderators in the previous studies are sample-specific variables. More importantly, the effects of various aspects of identities exert similar degrees of impact (moderate effect) on social integration; in other words, the usefulness of analyzing different aspects of social identity on social integration is challenged.

Distress as a Function of Social Exclusion and Assertiveness among Homosexual/Bisexual People.

Homosexual (lesbian or gay) and bisexual (i.e., LGB) people tend to suffer from social exclusion and thus distress. To prevent or relieve distress, the people's assertiveness about justice and rights is an advocated means, but its effectiveness is uncertain, considering possible conflict with social exclusion. To clarify the effectiveness, this study analyzed data collected from 189 Chinese LGB adults in Hong Kong, which is a special administrative region of China generally Westernized and liberal to sexual orientation. Controlling for prior distress reported, the analysis showed that distress was lower when assertiveness was higher or social exclusion experienced was lower. However, distress was higher when both assertiveness and social exclusion experienced were higher. The higher distress implies a conflict between assertiveness and social exclusion to raise distress. It also implies the need to avoid conflict when promoting assertiveness and eliminating social exclusion to prevent distress in LGB people.

Radicalism and Life Meaningfulness Among Hong Kong Youth.

According to significance quest theory, radicalism arises from a deficit in life meaningfulness. However, radicalism springs from life meaningfulness, according to meaning maintenance and other principles in existentialist How life meaningfulness predicts radicalism is thus a research question. This study addresses the question with a survey of 4,385 youths in Hong Kong, China. Results indicate that life meaningfulness positively predicted radicalism, slightly more positively when radicalism in the previous year had been higher. Meanwhile, education, employment, and native status positively predicted radicalism and life meaningfulness, showing their homology in meaning sources. These results imply that radicalism prevention needs to reform the meaning basis for life meaningfulness to be socially desirable.

National Experiences and Trust in China's National Government Among Hong Kong Chinese Youth.

Trust in the national central government is particularly imperative for promotion in outlying regions, such as by enhancing their residents' national cultural and territorial experiences. The contributions of such experiences, albeit grounded on contact and cultural theories, require empirical investigation. Such investigation engaged a survey of 2277 Chinese youths aged 18-29 years in Hong Kong, an outlying region returning to China's sovereignty. Results evidenced that experience with Mainland Chinese territory in the Greater Bay Area during junior secondary schooling predicted recent trust in China's national government, particularly in those born in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the cultural experience of Chinese enculturation during schooling predicted the trust conditionally with migrant status or the territorial experience. These results imply the value of enhancing national cultural and territorial experiences to promote youth's trust in the central government.

Social Media and Adolescents' Well-Being.

The call for articles for the Special Issue of Healthcare, entitled "Social Media and Adolescents' Well-Being", was proposed at the beginning of 2021 as part of multidisciplinary efforts to understand the complex interactions between social media usage and adolescents' well-being [...].

Conditions for Social Exclusion Leading to Distress Change in Chinese Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual (LGB) People.

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people are likely to be at risk of distress because of social exclusion, including the feelings of resentment, resistance, and rejection they might experience from society. Nevertheless, the conditions for social exclusion leading to changes in distress are empirically unclear, especially in Chinese LGB people. To examine these conditions, this study surveyed 303 Chinese LGB people in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and various places in Mainland China. For comparability with other LGB studies, the study did not explicitly identify asexual, demisexual, or pansexual people in the LGB group. Results show that the retrospective reporting of social exclusion in 2016 did not significantly and unconditionally predict levels of distress in 2017. However, the reporting of exclusion significantly predicted current distress when the retrospective report of distress in 2016 was high. These results from the stress-vulnerability model indicate that prior distress is a vulnerability condition that allows social exclusion to exert its stressful effect. This study implies the need to prevent the social exclusion of highly distressed LGB people.

Prediction of Youth Violence Perpetration by Parental Nurturing Over Time.

Parental nurturing, including maternal and paternal caring and discussing ethics, is likely to predict violence perpetration in the youth negatively. This prediction stands on social bond theory, which specifies that parents and their bonding are crucial to curb violence perpetration. Nevertheless, the prediction is unclear from adolescence to young adulthood. To clarify this, the present study examines the effects over 6 years, using the panel data of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health on 3,947 U.S. youths. The examination controlled for prior violence perpetration and, thus, its confounding factors. Results showed that paternal nurturing but not maternal nurturing at Wave 1 and Wave 2 consistently displayed statistically significant inverse effects on violence perpetration at Wave 3. However, the significant effects were very weak. Paternal nurturing was very weakly inversely predictive of youth violence perpetration 6 years later. This conclusion implies that promoting paternal nurturing is slightly but not tremendously helpful to prevent violence perpetration in youth later. Meanwhile, practice can capitalize on the features of paternal bonding to deploy male nurturing and role modeling for such prevention.

Career and life development intervention for non-engaged youth: Evaluating the Hong Kong Benchmarks (Community) Pilot Program.

In our study, aimed at examining the effectiveness and impact of the Hong Kong Benchmarks (Community) Pilot Program, a career and life development (CLD) intervention program targeting non-engaged youth (NEY) in Hong Kong, we employed a pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design to compare changes in career-related competencies between a pilot group (N = 289) and a comparison group (N = 160). We also conducted five focus group interviews with the leaders of nongovernmental organizations, social workers, NEY, parents, and employers to explore the program's impacts on the CLD service provisions. Our quantitative results indicate that the piloting group showed greater improvement in two career-related competencies-youth career development competency and career and life development hope-than the comparison group. Meanwhile, our qualitative results suggest both the benefits and difficulties experienced by stakeholders in the program. The findings thus provide preliminary evidence of the Hong Kong Benchmarks (Community) Pilot Program's positive impacts on NEY and other important stakeholders. The implications of expanding the existing program and theorizing the community-based benchmark approach are also discussed.

Resilience as a positive youth development construct: a conceptual review.

The concept of resilience is reviewed from a range of disciplinary perspectives in this paper. Both broad and narrow definitions of resilience are highlighted and a working definition of resilience is proposed to inform research, policy and practice. Different psychological, social and ecological protective factors, particularly competence, optimism, and bonding to family and cultural beliefs are highlighted. Theoretical relationships between resilience and positive youth development are examined with an attempt to erase misunderstandings. Finally, how schools can promote resilience among students is discussed.

Availability, use, and cultivation of support networks as predictors of the well-being of middle-aged and older Chinese: a panel study.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the impact of the availability, use, and cultivation of a support network on the well-being of community-dwelling, middle-aged, and older Chinese. METHODS: A total of 2,970 Hong Kong Chinese aged 40-74 years were interviewed using a structured questionnaire in 2004. Out of the original group of interviewees, 2,120 (71.4%) were interviewed again in 2005. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling revealed a good fit of the model employing Wave 1 support network data and demographic characteristics to predict Wave 2 well-being. As hypothesized, the availability of important social ties and the cultivation of one's support networks were found to predict well-being one year later, but not the use of support networks to meet emotional, financial, or companion needs after controlling for demographic variables and baseline well-being. DISCUSSION: Cultivating support networks can be interpreted as positive and active coping. Such cultivation is in line with what socioemotional selectivity theory predicts; specifically, when people age, they become more selective and concentrate on strengthening their relationship with those they are emotionally close to. We argue that network cultivation deserves more attention in theory, practice, and research to strengthen the resilience and adaptability of individuals approaching and experiencing old age.

Work-Family Conflicts, Stress, and Turnover Intention Among Hong Kong Police Officers Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Although work stress, turnover intention, and work-family conflicts among police officers have been extensively investigated, no studies have explored these issues simultaneously under the context of the coronavirus pandemic. Clearly, both work and family domains have been drastically affected by this global health crisis, and it is likely that each domain has a distinctive impact on work outcomes. Using survey data based on a representative random sample of 335 police officers in Hong Kong, this study examines the impacts of resource losses and gains across family and work domains on occupational stress and turnover intention amid the pandemic. A multiple regression indicates that both family-to-work and work-to-family conflicts lead to work stress and turnover intention among police officers. Among officers, supervisory support is negatively associated with turnover intention and moderates the impact of work-to-family conflicts on turnover intention. Finally, measures to mitigate work stress during public health disasters are discussed.

Validating the evaluation capacity scale among practitioners in non-governmental organizations.

The growing emphasis on demonstrating the effectiveness of social services through evaluation has heightened demand for nongovernmental organization (NGO) practitioners to enhance evaluation capacity. However, a lack of validated instruments in the NGO context has hampered efforts to assess NGO practitioners' current evaluation capacity and understand how capacity-building activities could be tailored to meet NGO practitioners' actual needs and enhance their evaluation capacity. Hence, this study aims to develop the Evaluation Capacity Scale (ECS), a self-reporting instrument of NGO practitioners' capacity to conduct an effective evaluation of their service programs. Validation data was derived from 439 NGO practitioners who attended the Jockey Club MEL Institute Project in Hong Kong, China. Exploratory factor analysis of the ECS revealed three factors-evaluation mindset, evaluation implementation, and evaluation communication-and confirmatory factor analysis further validated this three-factor structure. Moreover, MANCOVA analysis demonstrated the ECS's predictive validity. Overall, the ECS demonstrated satisfactory convergent validity, high internal consistency reliability, and predictive validity, and its factor structure was supported in subgroups based on gender, age, and level of education. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Development and Validation of the Career and Life Development Hope (CLDH) Scale among Non-Engaged Youth in Hong Kong.

Increasing career and life development hope (CLDH) is critical for the career and life pursuits of non-engaged youths (NEY) who face various disadvantages in the school-to-work transition, especially considering current challenging labor market conditions and the impacts of the pandemic. Nevertheless, research that explores the assessment of CLDH among NEY is scarce. To address this gap, this study aimed to develop and validate a CLDH measurement instrument. A total of 1998 NEY aged 13-29 years in Hong Kong participated in our study. Exploratory factor analysis of the 20-item CLDH scale suggested a two-factor structure-career and life development pathways (CLDP) and career and life development agency (CLDA)-which accounted for 63.08% of the total variance. The confirmatory factor analysis results show a good model fit (CFI = 0.934, TLI = 0.926, RMSEA = 0.060, 90% CI [0.055, 0.065], SRMR = 0.042) and all the items significantly represented the corresponding sub-constructs. The results also demonstrate a satisfactory internal consistency for all subscales and the full scale (0.89-0.95). Sub-group consistency across subsamples categorized by gender, age, and years of residence in Hong Kong was indicated. Correlations between the CLDH scale and subscales with other career-related and social well-being outcomes (i.e., youth career development competency, career adaptability, civic engagement, social contribution, and social integration) showed good concurrent validity. Our results support that the CLDH scale is a valid and reliable tool for measuring NEY's hope for career and life development in the Hong Kong context. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are also discussed.

Children's sense of belonging and parental social capital derived from school.

Parents' chance to seek help from other parents of schoolchildren attending the same school is an aspect of parental social capital. This social capital is supposed to contribute to schoolchildren's present sense of belonging to their school, society, and country. The relationship between social capital and a child's sense of belonging may vary as a function of the child's prior sense of belonging. Social capital may give a deeper encouragement or positive effect to children with higher prior sense of belonging (the strength building perspective) or to children with lower prior sense of belonging (the need fulfillment perspective). The author surveyed 289 parents and their schoolchildren in Grades 4-9 in Hong Kong, China, to ascertain which of the two perspectives holds. The results indicated that parental social capital was more highly associated with a child's present belongingness if his or her prior belongingness was high rather than low. This interaction effect is supportive of the strength building perspective.