Prevalence of Insomnia and Its Psychosocial Correlates Among College Students in Hong Kong

Abstract

Objective: This study examined the prevalence of insomnia and its psychosocial correlates among college students in Hong Kong. Participants: A total of 529 Hong Kong college students participated in the study. Methods: Participants completed a self-reported questionnaire that included the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Revised Life Orientation Test, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory, and questions about sociodemographic and lifestyle factors. A PSQI global score equal to or greater than 5 indicated insomnia. Results: Results indicated that 68.6% of the participants were insomniacs. Adjusted regression analyses revealed that optimism, stress, and depression significantly predicted insomnia (p < .01). Conclusions: These results suggest that insomnia is very common among Hong Kong college students and associated with other psychosocial factors. This study provides preliminary data on sleep quality and risk factors for insomnia, which may be used to guide sleep hygiene promotion and intervention among college students.     

Single Parenthood,Parental Involvement and Students’ Educational Outcomes in Hong Kong

Analyzing data from the Programme for International Student Assessment Hong Kong 2009 and 2012 (n = 7,669), we examined the differences in socioeconomic characteristics of fathers and mothers and levels of parental involvement between two-parent, single-mother, and single-father families in Hong Kong. We found that parents from single-mother and single-father families fare differently in terms of sociodemographic background and parental involvement at home. We also investigated the differences in students’ academic performance among these families. Past studies failed to find any significant effect of single parenthood on students’ academic performance in Hong Kong. We found negative effects of single fatherhood, but not single motherhood, on educational outcomes. The disadvantages of single fatherhood are partially explained by the poorer sociodemographic background and lower levels of parental involvement.     

The Protective Function of Meaning of Life on Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Students in Australia and Hong Kong: A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study

Objective: The authors compared the predictive effects of acculturative stressors and meaning of life on life satisfaction between Chinese students in Australia and in Hong Kong. Participants: In 2006, the researchers recruited 606 Chinese students studying abroad at the University of Melbourne in Australia and at 6 universities in Hong Kong. Methods: Participants completed a questionnaire that included measures of acculturative stressors, meaning of life, life satisfaction, and demographic information. Results: The Australian sample experienced a significantly higher level of acculturative stressors than did the Hong Kong sample, but life satisfaction did not differ significantly between the 2 samples. Meaning of life had a strong positive contribution and acculturative stressors had a negative contribution in predicting life satisfaction in both samples. Meaning of life partially mediated the relationship between acculturative stressors and life satisfaction in both samples. Conclusions: The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications for Chinese students studying abroad.     

Contributions of Family Factors to Career Readiness: A Cross‐Cultural Comparison

The authors examined the contributions of perceived family intrusiveness to career decision‐making difficulties (CDMD) and the mediating effect of family orientation as a personality trait in different cultural settings. In Study 1, a web‐based survey of 1,563 Hong Kong college students showed that perceived family intrusiveness significantly contributed to CDMD. This relationship was mediated by the relational personality trait emphasizing family orientation. Study 2 compared this pattern of relationship between a Hong Kong sample of 392 college students and a U.S. sample of 367 college students. The mediation model was only supported in the Hong Kong sample. Specifically, although the contributions of family intrusiveness to CDMD were demonstrated across the 2 cultural settings, the significant influences of family orientation were only supported in the Hong Kong sample. Implications for career development and counseling with college students from different cultural backgrounds are discussed.     

Validation of the Career‐Related Parent Support Scale Among Chinese High School Students

The Career‐Related Parent Support Scale (CRPSS; Turner, Alliman‐Brissett, Lapan, Udipi, & Ergun, 2003 ) was translated and modified to form the 24‐item Chinese version of the scale. As in the case of the original CRPSS, the Chinese version includes 4 subscales (Instrumental Assistance, Emotional Support, Verbal Encouragement, and Career‐Related Modeling). The Chinese version of the CRPSS was validated in this study with a sample of Hong Kong high school students (N= 677). Reliability analyses showed that the total scale and subscales were internally consistent. The results of the exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis suggested that the Chinese version of the CRPSS provided adequate indicators of Chinese adolescents’ perceptions of parent support for their career aspirations.     

Seeking identity: the transborder lives of mainland Chinese families with children born in Hong Kong

Between 2001 and 2013, Hong Kong regulations permitted pregnant women from mainland China to travel to Hong Kong to deliver their babies. In this article, based on 30 in‐depth interviews, I explore the transborder lives and identities of these mainland Chinese families who, motivated by cost considerations, citizenship and anticipated benefits for their children, chose to give birth to their babies in Hong Kong. In some cases, family networks providing flexible residential practices and family care, supported these transborder activities. However, the complexities of transborder life reveal the diverse ‘identifications’ within Hong Kong society and mainland families. Because neither administration totally accepts them, they are not full members of either society and so the identities they form are both plural and fragmented.     

Problem Gambling of Chinese College Students: Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

The present study, using the theory of planned behavior (TPB), investigated psychological correlates of intention to gamble and problem gambling among Chinese college students. Nine hundred and thirty two Chinese college students (aged from 18 to 25 years) in Hong Kong and Macao were surveyed. The findings generally support the efficacy of the TPB in explaining gambling intention and problems among Chinese college students. Specifically, the results of the path analysis indicate gambling intention and perceived control over gambling as the most proximal predictors of problem gambling, whereas attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control, which are TPB components, influence gambling intention. Thus, these three TPB components should make up the core contents of the prevention and intervention efforts against problem gambling for Chinese college students.     

Risk Factors for Suicide in Taiwanese College Students

Objective: The authors investigated the personality characteristics, psychopathology, parenting style, and family function among Taiwanese college students with high, moderate, and low suicidal risks. Participants: The sample included 2,919 first-year college students (1,414 men, 1,505 women) from a university in Taipei, Taiwan. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire assessed domains covering demographics, personality, psychopathology, frequency of substance use, parenting style, family functioning, and suicidal behaviors. The authors used mixed models for data analysis. Results: The authors observed a positive linear trend between increased suicidal tendency and levels of neuroticism, harm avoidance, novelty seeking, psychopathology, and parenting styles of low affection, overprotection, and authoritarian controlling. Use of tobacco and alcohol and impaired family adaptation and cohesion were associated with high and moderate suicidal risks. Conclusions: Personality, psychopathology, substance use, and familial factors are important correlates of suicidal risks among college students in Taiwan. Optimal suicide prevention strategies in the college setting should incorporate the multiple facets of suicidal risks.     

A Grounded Analysis of Career Uncertainty Perceived by College Students in Taiwan

The authors examined career‐related uncertainties perceived by college students in Taiwan. Five hundred thirty‐two Taiwanese students responded to a free‐response instrument containing 3 questions related to career uncertainties: (a) the sources of career uncertainty, (b) the experiences at the moment of feeling uncertainty, and (c) coping efficacies toward the uncertainty. Responses were sorted into categories within each question based on the grounded theory methodology (B. G. Glaser & A. L. Strauss, 1967). A hypothetical model was developed to describe college students' perceptions of career uncertainties, experiences of feeling uncertainty, and coping efficacy toward the uncertainty.     

Understanding heterosexual Chinese college students' intention to adopt safer sex behaviors

This study aimed to examine Chinese college students' safer sex behaviors and to explore whether or not the Theory of Reasoned Action would be useful in understanding AIDS/HIV‐prevention behaviors of Chinese students. A total of 455 Chinese college students (161 males and 267 females) in Hong Kong participated in the study. Results revealed that 24% of the students were sexually active during the surveyed year, with only 38.2% of them reporting regular condom use. About one third of the students intended to experiment with casual sex in the future, but only 64% would use condoms regularly if they were to have future casual sexual encounters. Results indicated that the Theory of Reasoned Action was most applicable in understanding Chinese college students’ intention to use condoms in future casual sexual encounters, rather than in current and future regular sexual activities. Specifically, students who intended‐to use condoms in future casual sex encounters tended to have accurate AIDS/HIV information, show little prejudice against people with AIDS/HIV, demonstrate greater concern about contracting AIDS/HIV, feel confident in condom use, and have positive attitudes toward safer sex behaviors. Gender disparity was also noted in the pattern of associations between safer sex behaviors and various psychological variables. Limitations of the present study and implications for future research were also discussed.     

Pluralistic ignorance in Sino–Hong Kong conflicts: the perception of mainland Chinese people living in Hong Kong

This study examined pluralistic ignorance in the context of conflicts between Hong Kongers and mainland Chinese in Hong Kong. This focus differs from past studies, which have mainly explored in-group pluralistic ignorance regarding whether people could correctly perceive the opinions of others who belonged to the same social group as they did. The present study investigated whether people could correctly perceive the public opinion of a collective to which they did not belong. Using two representative samples of mainland Chinese students and local students from three universities in Hong Kong, this study found that mainland students overestimated the local public’s unfavorability regarding Chinese mainlanders and the Chinese government. This overestimation was found to be positively associated with their attention to media content about the Sino–Hong Kong relationship and the extent to which they perceived the pertinent media content to be biased toward Hong Kong but negatively associated with their interpersonal communications with Hong Kongers about issues regarding the Sino–Hong Kong relationship. The overestimation of the local public’s unfavorability of Chinese mainlanders and the Chinese government reduced the willingness of mainland students to stay in Hong Kong for further study, work, or domicile. Based on the findings of this study, further research on pluralistic ignorance is recommended in order to determine how migrants perceive the mainstream opinion in the society to which they migrate.     

The protective function of meaning of life on life satisfaction among Chinese students in Australia and Hong Kong: a cross-cultural comparative study

OBJECTIVE: The authors compared the predictive effects of acculturative stressors and meaning of life on life satisfaction between Chinese students in Australia and in Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: In 2006, the researchers recruited 606 Chinese students studying abroad at the University of Melbourne in Australia and at 6 universities in Hong Kong. METHODS: Participants completed a questionnaire that included measures of acculturative stressors, meaning of life, life satisfaction, and demographic information. RESULTS: The Australian sample experienced a significantly higher level of acculturative stressors than did the Hong Kong sample, but life satisfaction did not differ significantly between the 2 samples. Meaning of life had a strong positive contribution and acculturative stressors had a negative contribution in predicting life satisfaction in both samples. Meaning of life partially mediated the relationship between acculturative stressors and life satisfaction in both samples. CONCLUSIONS: The authors discuss the theoretical and practical implications for Chinese students studying abroad.     

Career Adaptability,Self‐Esteem,and Social Support Among Hong Kong University Students

Career adaptability manifests itself through 4 self‐regulated internal resources for coping with occupational challenges and transitions: concern, control, curiosity, and confidence. Few studies have examined career adaptability specifically in the Hong Kong context. The Career Adapt‐Abilities Scale–China Form (CAAS‐China; Hou, Leung, Li, Li, & Xu, 2012 ) was administered, along with measures of self‐esteem and social support, to 522 Hong Kong Chinese undergraduate students. Results indicated that the CAAS‐China is a reliable and valid instrument for use with these students. Data also showed that self‐esteem was strongly associated with career adaptability, and this relationship was partially mediated by perceived social support. Implications for careers counseling in universities and colleges are discussed.     

Revisiting individualism and collectivism: a multinational examination of pre-service teachers’ perceptions on student academic performances

This study explores how pre-service teachers in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the United States perceive educational diversity in relation to students’ academic achievement by means of qualitative content analysis. It takes cultural psychological perspectives to revisit the attribute reasoning embedded in individualist and collectivist orientations. Pre-service teachers in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore are found to attribute academic failure of low social economic status (SES) students to personal factors, such as individual effort, intelligence, and motivation. Pre-service teachers from the United States tend to attribute academic failure of low SES students to situational factors, such as family, school, and community.     

Single Parenthood and Children’s Reading Performance in Asia

Using the data from Program for International Student Assessment, I examine the gap in reading performance between 15‐year‐old students in single‐parent and intact families in 5 Asian countries in comparison to the United States. The ordinary least square regression analyses show negligible disadvantages of students with a single parent in Hong Kong and Korea, once students’ demographic characteristics and socioeconomic background are held constant. Students in single‐parent families in Indonesia and Thailand outperform their peers in intact families. The negative effect of single parenthood remains significant in Japan, even after parent‐child communication is controlled. Interpreting the weak effect of single parenthood in the Asian countries, I consider extended family systems and the relatively high proportion of widowhood among causes of single parenthood.     

Model Hong Kong malls and their development in mainland China: consumer iconicity and the trans/national capitalist class

Relational geographies of capital and consumption between Hong Kong and mainland China have been forming through tourism engagement in Hong Kong and the development of model Hong Kong malls in China. This analysis of urban restructuring for the consumer economy identifies how landmark Hong Kong malls are reproduced in major cities of China by networks of Hong Kong property firms and mainland elites. Adapting Leslie Sklair's formulation of architectural iconicity in the culture‐ideology of consumerism, this economic relationship, which restructures urban space, constructs iconic built forms and develops Chinese consumerism, marks hegemonic opportunities of a national capitalist class, suggesting how Chinese state capitalism and its Hong Kong networks limit and incrementally engage transnational capital while instantiating Hong Kong‐style consumer iconicity. New malls in mixed‐use developments in China often occupy sites of historical markets and thus affirm Sklair's prediction that iconic architecture increasingly proclaims consumer space while claiming historic forms of public space.     

Validating the Scale Measuring Dysfunctional Parenting with Hong Kong Adolescents

Dysfunctional parenting in situations requiring discipline is an important issue in Hong Kong. However, few scales for measuring dysfunctional parenting have been validated in the local context. The current study validated, with a sample of Hong Kong adolescents, a dysfunctional parenting scale that has been widely adopted in the West. A total of 965 adolescent students (males 43.3%, mean age 14.6, and range 12–18) were recruited for this study. Principal component analysis with varimax rotations and Tucker’s congruence coefficient were adopted to examine the factor structure of the scale and its stability. Cronbach’s alpha and correlation analysis were used to assess the internal consistency and the convergent and divergent validity of the scale and of each subscale identified. Three stable factors (laxness, overreactivity, and verbosity) were extracted, and their individual items demonstrated good internal consistency. The convergent and divergent validity of the scale (and subscales) were confirmed by its positive association with the material hardship of the families, the parental stress, and the antisocial behavior of the adolescents, their haughtiness and loneliness, and by its negative association with the adolescents’ social skills. Unlike previous studies that investigated parents’ rearing of young children, where verbosity was not detected as a significant factor, in adolescents, verbosity was detected as a factor affecting discipline. For adolescents in Hong Kong, verbosity is shown to be a dysfunctional parenting behavior; this is also true of Western adolescents but differs from traditional Chinese cultural beliefs.     

Socioeconomic Correlates of Current and Regular Smoking Among College Students in Rhode Island

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine how sociodemographic variables, in particular socioeconomic status, correlate with current and regular smoking among college students in Rhode Island. Participants and Methods: Over a 4-year period (academic year 2000-2001 to 2003-2004), the authors examined sociodemographic correlates of cigarette use among 3,984 students aged 17 to 24 years from 10 colleges and universities in Rhode Island. Results: One-third of participants (32.0%) had smoked a cigarette in the 30 days preceding the questionnaire. Findings from a pair of logistic regression models indicated that participants from upper-income families were more likely to be current smokers—although not regular smokers—suggesting that the effect of socioeconomic status on smoking is partly dependent on the level of addiction. In addition, freshmen were more likely to be current and regular smokers than were upperclassmen, and white students were most likely to be regular smokers. Conclusions: The frequency of college students who reported that they first tried smoking and first smoked regularly while in college increased from freshman to senior year, indicating that the college years are a vulnerable period for smoking initiation and habituation.     

Transnational family strategies and education in the contemporary Chinese diaspora

Abstract In this article I examine the role of education in the family strategies of recent East Asian migrants, contributing to intellectual debates around transnationalism and the contemporary Chinese diaspora. Empirically, the article provides an insight into the experiences and objectives of an often‐neglected group within studies of Chinese migration – students. I also attempt to understand the particular role that children play within a wider family project of capital accumulation. Drawing upon the work of Bourdieu, I emphasize the significance of different forms of capital in underpinning the spatial strategies of East Asian families. The research for this article was conducted in Vancouver, Canada and Hong Kong, involving in‐depth interviews with university students, recent graduates and their families. In conclusion, in the article I maintain that a geographically informed theory of ‘cultural capital’ and its relationship to the family unit can help elucidate recent patterns of trans‐Pacific, transnational mobility, moving beyond more common ‘political’ and ‘economic’ interpretations of this contemporary migration.     

A Tale of Three Cities: Teaching Online to Students in Shanghai from Hong Kong and Texas

SUMMARY

The University of Hong Kong collaborated with the Fudan University in Shanghai to offer a Master of Social Service Management (MSSM) part-time degree for students in Shanghai. While most courses of the program were taught by instructors sent from Hong Kong and other overseas countries on weekends and holidays, the “Information and Communication Technology in Social Service Organizations” course was offered online and supplemented by several face-to-face sessions. Instructors in Texas and Hong Kong collaborated and offered the course to the students in Shanghai. Teaching and learning online was a completely new experience for the students. Technical, social, cultural, and linguistic issues arose throughout the four months during which the course was offered. This paper shares the teaching experience and reflection of the instructors as well as the learning outcome and evaluation of the students.