Psychometric Testing of Three Chinese Online-Related Addictive Behavior Instruments among Hong Kong University Students.

Given that there is a lack of instruments assessing internet-related addictions among Chinese population, this study aimed to validate the Chinese version of the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scales- Short Form (IGDS-SF9), Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), and Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) among Hong Kong university students. Participants aged between 17 and 30 years participated in the present study (n = 307; 32.4% males; mean [SD] age = 21.64 [8.11]). All the participants completed the IGDS-SF9, BSMAS, SABAS, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were used to examine the factorial structures and the unidimensionality for IGDS-SF9, BSMAS, and SABAS. CFAs demonstrated that the three scales were all unidimensional with satisfactory fit indices: comparative fit index = 0.969 to 0.992. In addition, the IGDS-SF9 and BSMAS were slightly modified based on the modification index in CFA. The Chinese IGDS-SF9, BSMAS, and SABAS are valid instruments to assess the addiction levels of internet-related activities for Hong Kong university students.

Evaluation of Service-Learning in Project WeCan under COVID-19 in a Chinese Context.

Service-learning is a widely adopted educational pedagogy and philosophy. With the support from the Wharf (Holdings) Limited (Group), service-learning was conducted in the "Project WeCan" in Hong Kong. Prior to COVID-19, traditional service-learning was implemented with students learning in the classroom and applying their knowledge and skills to the community through providing direct face-to-face service. With the COVID-19 outbreak in the 2019-20 academic year, school lockdown measures appeared. Students had to learn online and to design and implement service offsite. As the impacts of this rapid shift in paradigm remain unknown, this study examined changes in university students using a pretest-posttest design (n = 124) and perceptions of service-learning experience via the subjective outcome evaluation design (n = 192) under COVID-19. The authors also investigated service recipients' (n = 56) satisfaction with service activities they participated in during the pandemic. Both objective outcome evaluation and subjective outcome evaluation findings revealed that service providers (university students) and recipients (secondary school students) experienced benefits from the Project. Findings support the benefits of online service-learning in "Project WeCan" even during unprecedented times such as COVID-19.

Comparing generalized and specific problematic smartphone/internet use: Longitudinal relationships between smartphone application-based addiction and social media addiction and psychological distress.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The literature has proposed two types of problematic smartphone/internet use: generalized problematic use and specific problematic use. However, longitudinal findings on the associations between the two types of problematic use and psychological distress are lacking among East-Asians. The present study examined temporal associations between both generalized and specific problematic use of the smartphone/internet, and psychological distress. METHODS: Hong Kong University students (N = 308; 100 males; mean age = 23.75 years; SD ± 5.15) were recruited with follow-ups at three, six, and nine months after baseline assessment. All participants completed the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (for generalized problematic smartphone/internet use), the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (for specific problematic smartphone/internet use), and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (for psychological distress) in each assessment. Latent growth modeling (LGM) was constructed to understand temporal associations between generalized/specific problematic use and psychological distress. RESULTS: The LGM suggested that the intercept of generalized problematic use was significantly associated with the intercept of psychological distress (standardized coefficient [ß] = 0.32; P < 0.01). The growth of generalized problematic use was significantly associated with the growth of psychological distress (ß = 0.51; P < 0.01). Moreover, the intercept of specific problematic use was significantly associated with the intercept of psychological distress (ß = 0.28; P < 0.01) and the growth of psychological distress (ß = 0.37; P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The initial level of problematic use of smartphone/internet increased the psychological distress among university students. Helping young adults address problematic use of the smartphone/internet may prevent psychological distress.

Time invariance of three ultra-brief internet-related instruments: Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS), Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), and the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale- Short Form (IGDS-SF9) (Study Part B).

Given the many technological advances over the past two decades, a small minority of young people are at risk of problematic use or becoming addicted to these technologies (including activities on the internet and smartphones). Many brief psychometric scales have been developed to assess those at risk of problematic use or addiction including the six-item Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale [SABAS], the six-item Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale [BSMAS], and the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form [IGDS-SF9]). However, to date, the reproducibility of these three scales has only been examined over a short period of time (e.g., two weeks), and it is unclear whether they are time invariant across a longer period (e.g., three months). Given the emergence of internet and smartphone addiction in Chinese population, the present study translated the three instruments into Chinese and recruited 640 university students (304 from Hong Kong [99 males] and 336 from Taiwan [167 males]) to complete the three scales twice (baseline and three months after baseline). Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) was applied to examine the time invariance. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was used to assess the relative reliability, and the percentage of smallest real difference (SRD%) was utilized to explore the absolute reliability for the three scales. MGCFA showed that all three scales were time invariant across three months. ICC demonstrated that all the scales were satisfactory in reproducibility (0.82 to 0.94), and SRD% indicated that all the scales had acceptable measurement noise (23.8 to 29.4). In conclusion, the short, valid, reliable, and easy-to-use Chinese SABAS, BSMAS, and IGDS-SF9 show good properties across periods of three months.

Measurement invariance across young adults from Hong Kong and Taiwan among three internet-related addiction scales: Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS), and Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form (IGDS-SF9) (Study Part A).

Internet addiction has been found to be prevalent worldwide, including Asian countries, and related to several negative outcomes and other behavioral addictions. The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS), and nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form (IGDS-SF9) have been extensively used to assess internet-related addictions. However, the three aforementioned instruments have rarely been used in Asian countries. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the BSMAS, SABAS, and IGDS-SF9 were appropriate for use in heterogeneous subsamples from Hong Kong and Taiwan. University students from Hong Kong (n = 306) and Taiwan (n = 336) were recruited via an online survey. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) was used to assess measurement invariance of the BSMAS, SABAS, and IGDS-SF9 across the two subcultures. The original unidimensional structures of BSMAS, SABAS and IGDS-SF9 were confirmed through confirmatory factorial analysis in both subcultures. The MGCFA results showed that the unidimensional structures of the BSMAS and IGDS-SF9 were invariant across the two Chinese cultural areas (Hong Kong and Taiwan). However, the measurement invariance of the SABAS was established after some model modifications. In conclusion, the present study found that the Chinese BSMAS, SABAS, and IGDS-SF9 were all adequate instruments to validly assess internet-related addictions among university students. The three brief instruments used for assessing addictions to social media, smartphone applications, and online gaming are valid and psychometrically robust across two Chinese subcultures and can be used by healthcare professionals in these regions.

Adolescent Sexual Risk Behavior in Hong Kong: Prevalence, Protective Factors, and Sex Education Programs.

Although Hong Kong is considered to be a relatively westernized Chinese society, sex remains to be a subject that is rarely discussed openly. This article provided a brief overview on the prevalence of sexual behaviors and attitudes among adolescents in Hong Kong. Compared with the West, Hong Kong adolescents are less sexually active; however, increasing rates and more liberal sexual attitudes have been reported over the decades. These worrying trends have caused great concern and begged the question of occurrences and the effectiveness of sex education programs. Endeavor has been made to identify protective factors for reducing adolescent risky sexual behaviors and promoting sexual health from a strength-based perspective, such as the positive youth development (PYD) approach. However, to date, there is little synthesis of empirical evidence in the literature on the relations between PYD and adolescent sexual behaviors. We attempted to fill in this gap by outlining empirical evidence on the protective roles of PYD attributes in youth sexual outcomes. We reviewed local sex education programs and outlined several observations regarding foci, implementation, and evaluation. To conclude, we provided suggestions to inform practice in the future development and implementation of sex education programs to promote sexual health among youths.

Development of Contextually-relevant Sexuality Education: Lessons from a Comprehensive Review of Adolescent Sexuality Education Across Cultures.

As reported by the World Health Organization in 2017, there are 2 million+ young people living with HIV worldwide. The World Health Organization also reported that a third of all new HIV infections around the world are estimated to occur among youths (aged 15⁻25). and teen pregnancy rates are on the rise in many places. These worrying trends suggest that existing sexuality education programs and interventions may be inadequate and/or ineffective. Although the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development's (ICPD) Programme of Action highlighted the roles of Governments to offer sex education to young people to promote teenage reproductive health, yet inconsistency exists in the related initiatives in the global context. The present article aims to provide a comprehensive literature review of the existing sexuality programs in selected places in both English-speaking (i.e., the United States of America, the United Kingdom) and Chinese-speaking contexts (i.e., Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan). Based on the review, observations and implications for sexuality education policy and practice, as well as recommendations for future research for youths are outlined.

The effect of subgroup homogeneity of efficacy on contribution in public good dilemmas.

This paper examines how to maximize contribution in public good dilemmas by arranging people into homogeneous or heterogeneous subgroups. Past studies on the effect of homogeneity of efficacy have exclusively manipulated group composition in their experimental designs, which might have imposed a limit on ecological validity because group membership may not be easily changed in reality. In this study, we maintained the same group composition but varied the subgroup composition. We developed a public good dilemmas paradigm in which participants were assigned to one of the four conditions (high- vs. low-efficacy; homogeneous vs. heterogeneous subgroup) to produce their endowments and then to decide how much to contribute. We found that individuals in homogeneous and heterogeneous subgroups produced a similar amount and proportion of contribution, which was due to the two mediating effects that counteracted each other, namely (a) perceived efficacy relative to subgroup and (b) expectation of contribution of other subgroup members. This paper demonstrates both the pros and cons of arranging people into homogeneous and heterogeneous subgroups of efficacy.

Evaluation of "Colorful Life": A Multi-Addiction Expressive Arts Intervention Program for Adolescents of Addicted Parents and Parents with Addiction.

This study evaluated an expressive arts intervention program ("Colorful Life") for adolescents with addicted parents and parents with addiction in Hong Kong. Different evaluation strategies were employed. Objective outcome evaluation adopting a one group pretest-posttest design showed positive changes in adolescents' (N = 43) beliefs about addiction. Both adolescents' and parents' (N = 21) psychosocial competencies were enhanced post-intervention. Subjective outcome evaluation from both adolescent (N = 47) and parent (N = 22) groups showed positive perceptions of the program content, implementers, and achievement of program objectives. Findings provided preliminary evidence to support and yielded practical implications for the adoption of the multi-addiction syndrome model, positive youth development, and expressive arts approaches in the development of interventions for high-risk adolescents and addictive parents.

Development, implementation, and evaluation of a multi-addiction prevention program for primary school students in Hong Kong: the B.E.S.T. Teen Program.

Based on the evaluation findings of the B.E.S.T. Teen Program which aimed at promoting behavioral, emotional, social, and thinking competencies in primary school students, it is argued in this paper that promotion of psychosocial competence to prevent addiction in primary school students is a promising strategy. A total of 382 Primary 5 (Grade 5) and 297 Primary 6 (Grade 6) students from five primary schools in Hong Kong participated in the program. Different evaluation strategies were adopted to evaluate the program. First, objective outcome evaluation adopting a non-equivalent group pretest-posttest experimental-control group design was conducted to examine change in the students. Second, to gauge students' perceptions of the program, subjective outcome evaluation was conducted. The evaluation findings basically converged to tentatively suggest that young adolescents benefited from participating in the program. Implications on the development, implementation, and evaluation of addiction prevention programs for teenagers are discussed.

Positive youth development, life satisfaction, and problem behaviors of adolescents in intact and non-intact families in Hong Kong.

This study investigated whether Chinese adolescents living in intact and non-intact families differed in their positive development, life satisfaction, and risk behavior. A total of 3,328 Secondary 1 students responded to measures of positive youth development (such as resilience and psychosocial competencies), life satisfaction, and risk behavior (substance abuse, delinquency, Internet addiction, consumption of pornographic materials, self-harm, and behavioral intention to engage in problem behavior). Findings revealed that adolescents growing up in intact families reported higher levels of positive developmental outcomes and life satisfaction as compared with adolescents from non-intact families. Adolescents in non-intact families also reported higher levels of risk behaviors than those growing up in intact families.

Asia has the global advantage: Race and visual attention.

In studies of visual attention, and related aspects of cognition, race (continent/s of ancestry) of participants is typically not reported, implying that authors consider this variable irrelevant to outcomes. However, there exist several findings of perceptual differences between East Asians and Caucasian Westerners that can be interpreted as relative differences in global versus local distribution of attention. Here, we used Navon figures (e.g., large E made up of small Vs) to provide the first direct comparison of global-local processing using a standard method from the attention literature. Relative to Caucasians, East Asians showed a strong global advantage. Further, this extended to the second generation (Asian-Australians), although weakened compared to recent immigrants. Our results argue participants' race should be reported in all studies about, or involving, visual attention to spatially distributed stimuli: to continue to ignore race risks adding noise to data and/or drawing invalid theoretical conclusions by mixing functionally distinct populations.