Life Satisfaction,Positive Youth Development,and Problem Behaviour Among Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong

This paper examines the relationships among life satisfaction, positive youth development, and problem behaviour. A total of 7,975 Secondary One students (4,169 boys and 3,387 girls; with most aged 12) of Chinese ethnicity recruited from 48 schools responded to validated measures of life satisfaction, positive youth development and problem behaviour. While life satisfaction was positively correlated with different measures of positive youth development, these measures were negatively correlated with measures of substance abuse, delinquency and intention to engage in problem behaviour. Based on a series of structural equation models, a non-recursive model was found to best fit the data, which suggests that adolescents having higher levels of positive youth development are more satisfied with life and have fewer problem behaviour, with life satisfaction and problem behaviour negatively reinforcing each other.     

Longitudinal Influences of Positive Youth Development and Life Satisfaction on Problem Behaviour among Adolescents in Hong Kong

The cross-sectional and longitudinal influences of positive youth development and life satisfaction on adolescent problem behaviour were examined in this study. The respondents were 4,523 Chinese students recruited from 43 secondary schools in Hong Kong, and the study followed them from Grade 7, Grade 9 to Grade 11. Repeated measurements employing validated self-reported assessment tools were used. Analyses using structural equation modelling showed that positive youth development directly influenced life satisfaction and reduced problem behaviour at Grades 7 and 9. However, the direct effect of positive youth development on problem behaviour was mediated by life satisfaction at Grade 11. The mediating effect of life satisfaction on the enhancement of future positive youth development was also discovered. These pioneer longitudinal findings contribute to the existing literature in delineating the causal and mediating roles of positive youth development and life satisfaction in adolescent problem behaviour, particularly in the Chinese context.     

Life Satisfaction in Junior Secondary School Students in Hong Kong: A 3-Year Longitudinal Study

The present longitudinal study examined life satisfaction and the related socio-demographic, family, and positive youth development correlates in junior secondary school students in Hong Kong. Results showed that adolescents perceived life satisfaction decreased in their junior secondary school years. Several socio-demographic correlates of life satisfaction were identified from the results of mixed effects ANOVAs and multiple regression analyses: girls showed higher life satisfaction than did boys; adolescents in non-intact families had lower life satisfaction than did adolescents in intact families; adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage showed relatively lower life satisfaction. Results also showed that both family functioning and positive youth development had generally positive predictive relationships with adolescent life satisfaction over time.     

An Exploration of the Burnout Situation on Teachers in Two Schools in Macau

To explore the burnout situation of teachers in two schools in Macau and to investigate any differences made of demographic characteristics. The relation of burnout on social problem solving and holistic health of teachers is also studied. A self reported questionnaire with the Chinese Maslach Burnout Inventory (C-MBI), Chinese Social Problem Solving Inventory (C-SPSI) and the Body-Mind-Spirit Well-Being Inventory (BMSWBI) were used. Totally 138 teachers participated in the study. With Hong Kong data as a reference, Macau teachers scored in the average range of burnout in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization but scored in the low range of burnout in personal accomplishment. Significance differences were found in some dimensions of burnout in age, marital status, teaching experiences, education background and satisfaction with income. Both C-SPSI and BMSWBI were found to be significantly negative correlated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization and positive correlated with personal achievement. The findings identified those with greater degree of burnout, to whom more attention should be paid. The study also contributed to the limited literature on the quality of life of teachers in Macau. Finally, the findings added on the data base for comparison internationally among the Chinese population.     

Fertility,gender preference,the Birth Planning Policy and life satisfaction in China

Using data from China Family Panel Studies 2010, we evaluate the role of the Birth Planning Policy (BPP) in altering decisions to have another child by birth parity, and the relationship of life satisfaction with the gender structure of the children of Chinese residents. We find strong positive effects of the BPP on the decision of having an additional child for Chinese residents, particularly if the previous children were girls. In spite of strong son preference in fertility behaviour, residents whose children are all daughters are found to be more satisfied with their lives than with other gender structures. The empirical findings support the view that daughters are more helpful in providing assistance to parents and in mitigating family conflicts hence increasing life satisfaction, while son preferences may be pursued reasons of lineage and hence do not result in more satisfied lives. We also find evidence that the BPP penalty might be a reason why having more sons could reduce life satisfaction.     

Self-Esteem as Mediator and Moderator of the Relationship Between Social Support and Subjective Well-Being Among Chinese University Students

This study examined both the mediating and moderating effects of global self-esteem on the relationship between social support and subjective well-being among Chinese university students. Three hundred and ninety-one university students (260 males and 131 females) from two different Chinese universities completed the social support scale, the self-esteem scale and the subjective well-being scale. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that global self-esteem partially mediated the influence of social support on life satisfaction and positive affect, whereas it fully mediated the influence of social support on negative affect. Moreover, global self-esteem moderated the relationship between social support and life satisfaction, and positive affect, but not negative affect. When students reported a high level of global self-esteem, those with high social support reported higher scores in life satisfaction and positive affect than those with low social support. However, there were no differences in life satisfaction or positive affect between groups with high and low social support when global self-esteem was low. The significance and limitations of the results are discussed.     

Life Satisfaction Among Turkish and Moroccan Immigrants in the Netherlands: The Role of Absolute and Relative Income

In this paper we investigate the role of several socio-economic and non-economic factors such as absolute and relative income, education and religion to explain the differences of happiness levels of Turkish and Moroccan Immigrants in the Netherlands by using ordered logit model. We focus on members of the Moroccan and Turkish communities, as these are the two largest non-EU immigrant communities in the Netherlands. Our findings reveal that Moroccans, although they have lower income levels and higher unemployment rates than Turkish immigrants, their happiness level is higher than the Turkish immigrants. In order to understand this dilemma a questionnaire survey was performed to 111 Turkish and 96 Moroccan immigrants in Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Den Haag, Utrecht and Arnhem in 2010. The main purpose is to investigate how reference group’s self-reported life satisfaction is related to the level of absolute income; the level of relative income and other socio-economic factors. The main findings are that for Turkish sample relative income is significantly and negatively correlated with life satisfaction whereas, both absolute income (positively) and relative income (negatively) are significantly correlated with life satisfaction for Moroccan case.     

Personal Well-Being and Family Quality of Life of Early Adolescents in Hong Kong: Do Economic Disadvantage and Time Matter?

Differences in personal well-being and family quality of life in Chinese adolescents with and without economic disadvantage as well as the related developmental trends were examined in a longitudinal study. Over three consecutive years, Chinese junior secondary school students responded to validated measures of positive youth development, risk behaviors and perceived family functioning. Consistent with our hypotheses, results showed that poor adolescents had poorer positive youth development and perceived family functioning than did non-poor adolescents. Although there was no difference between the poor and non-poor groups on substance abuse, significant interaction effect of poverty and time on substance abuse was observed. While there was a general drop in positive youth development and perceived family functioning over the years, adolescent risk behaviors gradually increased during the junior secondary school years in Hong Kong.     

Winding Road Toward the Chinese Dream: The U-shaped Relationship Between Income and Life Satisfaction Among Chinese Migrant Workers

This study examines the relationship between income and subjective well-being among rural-to-urban migrant workers in China. Our analysis of a recent survey uncovered a U-shaped relationship between income and overall life satisfaction for migrant workers in Shanghai. Furthermore, the positive correlation is curvilinear, showing that increasing income yields diminishing returns. Drawing upon ethnographic literature concerning migrant workers, we suggest several possible explanations. For the poorest migrant workers, small increases in income are correlated with longer working hours and increased social comparison with their urban neighbors. After migrant workers’ income reaches a certain level, however, they are able to save money, giving them hope for future social mobility. Furthermore, migrant workers with disposable income can purchase status symbols, helping them to partially overcome their stigmatized status. The positive effect of income on life satisfaction eventually reaches a plateau, however, as even the wealthiest migrant workers find that they cannot surpass the limitations presented by their outsider identity and lack of an urban residence permit. Other findings include a negative relationship between income and income satisfaction and a positive relationship between education and income satisfaction. We conclude that the unique context surrounding Chinese migrant workers alters the typical effects of certain factors upon well-being and satisfaction.     

Subjective Well-Being, Societal Condition and Social Policy – The Case Study of a Rich Chinese Society

The article looks at whether or not social policy and other societal-condition variables contribute to the subjective well-being of life satisfaction. It firstly argues that social policy needs to pay more attention to the study of subjective well-being. Then, it reviews the literature and finds that people in rich societies generally have higher levels of life satisfaction. But the findings of a social survey on the level of and variance in life satisfaction in a rich Chinese society reveal the contrary. The empirical data reflects a life satisfaction pattern along strong income and class lines. It also confirms that social policy and other societal-condition variables have different degrees of impact on life satisfaction. At last, implications of the findings for social policy are discussed.     

Assessing the “Good Life” in a Military Context: How Does Life and Work-Satisfaction Relate to Orientations to Happiness and Career-Success Among Swiss Professional Officers?

The study examines work- and life satisfaction along with orientation to happiness, and their relation to subjective but also objective career success, among Swiss military professional officers. They frequently report worsening of their working conditions due to two reforms that have recently been conducted. A total of N = 221 Swiss career officers (mainly Land Forces; from Colonel to First Lieutenant) completed several questionnaires in an online survey. As expected, pleasure, engagement and meaning were positively related to satisfaction with life and the meaningful life also correlated with the (overall) work satisfaction. Higher subjective career success was related to higher satisfaction with life, content-related aspects of work satisfaction, and higher endorsements to the engaged and the meaningful life. Belonging to the general staff was considered as an objective criterion of career success and those who were in the general staff, were higher in their overall work satisfaction, content-related aspects of their work and, again, higher inclination to the life of engagement and the life of meaning. The study suggests that variables of positive psychological functioning are useful additions in the field of military psychology and that they might hold a key for the development of strategies for improving both, work- and life satisfaction among military personnel.     

The Relationship Between Hope,Eustress, Self-Efficacy,and Life Satisfaction Among Undergraduates

The construct of eustress was studied alongside hope and self-efficacy, to explore how these constructs are related to life satisfaction among undergraduates. Questionnaires were administered to undergraduates to test the hypotheses that (1) as eustress levels increase, so will life satisfaction levels; (2) when eustress, hope, and self-efficacy are examined together, they will predict life satisfaction better than eustress alone; (3) eustress, hope, and self-efficacy will all be positively correlated with life satisfaction; and (4) self-efficacy will be the most positively correlated with life satisfaction. The results revealed a significant positive correlation between eustress and life satisfaction. A Hierarchical Linear Regression analysis revealed significant results supporting hypotheses 2 and 3, but not hypothesis 4. Results indicated that hope is the best predictor of life satisfaction. The work reported provides a reliable tool for measuring eustress, examines eustress in a new way at the academic level, and provides helpful information about student wellness to college administrators.     

Very Happy Youths: Benefits of Very High Life Satisfaction Among Adolescents

This study investigated the characteristics of adolescents reporting very high levels of life satisfaction. Participants (N = 410) were divided into three life satisfaction groups: very high (top 10%), average (middle 25%), and very low (lowest 10%). Results revealed that very happy youths had significantly higher mean scores on all included school, interpersonal, and intrapersonal variables, and significantly lower mean scores on depression, negative affect, and social stress than youths with average and very low levels of life satisfaction. Life meaning, gratitude, self-esteem, and positive affect were found to have a significantly more positive influence on global life satisfaction for the very unhappy than the very happy. Findings suggest that very unhappy youths would benefit most from focused interventions aimed at boosting those variables having the most influence on their level of life satisfaction. Results are discussed in light of previous findings and suggestions for future directions are briefly discussed.     

Predictors of satisfaction with life among second generation migrants

As a part of a comprehensive study of the psychological acculturation of Portuguese youth born in France, this paper examines the relationship between satisfaction with life and some psychosocial variables. The sample consisted of 519 Portuguese youth resident in Paris (47% were male and 53% female). The following instruments were administered to all subjects: the Satisfaction With Life Scale, the Acculturative Attitudes Scales, the Social Anxiety Scale, two brief measures of (a) loneliness and (b) locus of control as well as a background inventory. As expected no gender differences were found, but there were significant effects on satisfaction with life related to religion, participation in an association, number of Portuguese friends and ethnic identity. Expressed satisfaction with life showed significant negative correlations with perceived difficulties of adaptation, marginalization, social anxiety, and loneliness; and positive correlations with integration and locus of control. Multiple regression analysis used to determine the significant predictor variables of satisfaction with life indicated that the strongest predictors were loneliness and perceived state of health.     

Pangs of Loneliness Breed Material Lifestyle but Don’t Power Up Life Satisfaction of Young People: The Moderating Effect of Gender

Associations between loneliness, materialism, and life satisfaction were examined in a sample of 366 Malaysian undergraduate students. Also examined was the mediating role of materialism in the relation between loneliness and life satisfaction, and such a mediational link (i.e., loneliness–materialism–life satisfaction) is expected to be moderated by gender. Loneliness was significantly and positively associated with materialism but negatively associated with life satisfaction. Materialism was significantly and negatively associated with life satisfaction. In addition to these direct associations, materialism emerged as a significant partial mediator in the relation between loneliness and life satisfaction. As predicted, gender moderated the loneliness–materialism–life satisfaction relationship. In particular, materialism significantly mediated such a link for male undergraduate students but not for female undergraduate students. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for youth wellness are discussed.     

Reliability reporting practices in youth life satisfaction research

Due to the emergence of positive psychology in recent years, a growing line of research has focused on aspects of psychological wellness rather than psychopathology. Within the context of positive psychology, life satisfaction has emerged as a key variable of study in relation to adult and youth populations. Accurate measurement of life satisfaction and subsequent interpretation of results requires that the assessment devices yield strong psychometric properties. In terms of consistent measurement, reliability estimates must be calculated with each administration, as changes in sample characteristics may alter the scale’s ability to generate reliable scores. Therefore, the present study was designed to address reliability reporting practices for three youth life satisfaction measures. Seventy-three occasions of use were identified in the literature for the three scales examined in this study. Results suggest that greater than half of the life satisfaction studies calculated reliability coefficients from their own data. A discussion of reliability from classical test theory is provided, examples of correct reliability reporting practices are given, and implications for reporting reliability are discussed.     

The Latent Profiles of Life Domain Importance and Satisfaction in a Quality of Life Scale

The present study aimed to use a latent profile analysis to distinguish between populations in terms of life domain importance and satisfaction profiles. Then, a multinomial logistic regression was used to determine how background variables (e.g., gender, living areas, and school levels) and self-perceived health predict each latent quality of life (QoL) profile. We also investigated how the latent groups of adolescents predicted negative and positive well-being indicators (e.g., problem behaviors and overall life satisfaction). The sample consisted of 720 Taiwanese secondary school students. Three latent groups were established as follows: “unimportant-unsatisfied,” “important-unsatisfied,” and “important-satisfied.” The results indicate the following: (a) boys were more likely to fall into the “unimportant-unsatisfied” group than were girls; (b) better health increased the likelihood of being in the “important-satisfied” group; (c) high school students were more likely to be in the “unimportant-unsatisfed” group than were middle school students; and (d) no relationship was found between latent groups and living areas. The function of importance rating was not present when evaluating the importance-satisfaction profiles and their relationship with problem behaviors and overall life satisfaction. The problems of the “unimportant-unsatisfied” profile among youth are discussed.     

Human Capital Composition and Economic Growth

This paper examines the dimensionality and factorial invariance of the Chinese Positive Youth Development Scale (CPYDS) using multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (MCFA). Secondary 1 students (N = 5,649) responded to the CPYDS in the context of a positive youth development program. Results showed that there are 15 basic dimensions of the CPYDS which are subsumed under four higher-order factors (i.e., cognitive-behavioral competencies, prosocial attributes, positive identity and general positive youth development qualities). Evidence of factorial invariance in terms of configuration, first-order factor loadings, second-order factor loadings, intercepts of measured variable, and intercepts of first-order latent factor, was found. The findings suggest that the CPYDS has stable dimensions that can be used to assess positive youth development in Chinese adolescents.     

Moderating Effects of Gender and Loneliness on the Relationship Between Self-esteem and Life Satisfaction in Chinese University Students

This study examined both the moderator effects of loneliness and gender on the relationship between self-esteem and life satisfaction in Chinese university students. 615 college students completed the measures of loneliness, self-esteem and life satisfaction. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that loneliness moderated the association between self-esteem and life satisfaction. When students reported a low level of loneliness, those with high self-esteem reported higher scores in life satisfaction than those with low self-esteem. However, the high and low self-esteem group had low level of life satisfaction when loneliness was high. Moreover, gender also moderated the link between self-esteem and life satisfaction. Self-esteem tended to be a more significant determinant of life satisfaction in the females than the males. The significance and limitations of the results are discussed.