Chinese Migrants' Class Mobility in Hong Kong

Resources such as education and social networks are likely to contribute to migrants' upward mobility in the class hierarchy. Moreover, according to structural fit theory, the contribution tends to be contingent on age and social network size. The contingency is the major concern of the present study of mainland Chinese migrants in Hong Kong, which is somewhat different from the Chinese mainland economically, politically and even culturally. In this study, we show that the conditions for upward mobility are some human and social resources and their various combinations. Notably, schooling after arrival in Hong Kong contributed more to the upward mobility of the migrant who was younger or had a larger social network at the time of arrival in Hong Kong. Purportedly, promoting the migrant's integration with the school and local social network would prepare the migrant for upward mobility.     

On the use of surrogate end points in randomized trials

In a recent paper Day and Duffy proposed a strategy for designing a randomized trial of different breast cancer screening schedules. Their strategy was based on the use of predictors of mortality determined by patients' factors at diagnosis as surrogates for true mortality. On the basis of the Prentice criterion for validity of a surrogate end point, and data from earlier studies of breast cancer case survival, they showed that, not only would the trial require a much shorter follow-up, but also that the information (i.e. inverse variance) for evaluating a treatment effect on mortality would be greater by a factor of nearly 3 if the predictors of mortality were used, compared with a trial in which mortality was actually observed. Although these results are technically correct, we believe that the conceptual strategy on which they are based is flawed, and that the fundamental problem is the Prentice criterion itself. In this paper the technical issues are discussed in detail, and an alternative structure for evaluating the validity of surrogate end points is proposed.     

Social motivation predicts gaze following between 6 and 14 months

Infants vary in their ability to follow others’ gazes, but it is unclear how these individual differences emerge. We tested whether social motivation levels in early infancy predict later gaze following skills. We longitudinally tracked infants’ (N = 82) gazes and pupil dilation while they observed videos of a woman looking into the camera simulating eye contact (i.e., mutual gaze) and then gazing toward one of two objects, at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 14 months of age. To improve measurement validity, we used confirmatory factor analysis to combine multiple observed measures to index the underlying constructs of social motivation and gaze following. Infants’ social motivation—indexed by their speed of social orienting, duration of mutual gaze, and degree of pupil dilation during mutual gaze—was developmentally stable and positively predicted the development of gaze following—indexed by their proportion of time looking to the target object, first object look difference scores, and first face-to-object saccade difference scores—from 6 to 14 months of age. These findings suggest that infants’ social motivation likely plays a role in the development of gaze following and highlight the use of a multi-measure approach to improve measurement sensitivity and validity in infancy research.     

Developmental Trajectories of Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury in Adolescence and Intrapersonal/Interpersonal Risk Factors

This 3‐wave study investigated the developmental trajectories of nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) and intrapersonal/interpersonal risk factors among 3,381 Chinese adolescents (56.2% females) aged from 13 to 17 years during a 1‐year period. Using an accelerated longitudinal design and latent class growth analysis, we identified four subgroups of NSSI trajectories: negligible (74.6%), experimental (12.8%), moderate decreasing (10.8%), and high fluctuating (1.9%). Adolescents reporting both intrapersonal (i.e., impulsive behaviors and depression) and interpersonal (i.e., unstable relationships and parental criticism) risk factors were significantly more likely to follow the latter three trajectories. The findings of this study suggest there is heterogeneity in NSSI development among adolescents and highlight the contributions of both intrapersonal and interpersonal risk factors in the engagement in NSSI.     

City size matters: Vietnamese immigrants having depressive symptoms

This cross-national study identified predictive factors contributing to depression among 691 Vietnamese migrated to the United States who responded to a community survey in two American cities. Measured by HSCL-25, the overall depression prevalence was 30.5%, higher in a large (32.3%) than mid-size city (19.8%). Logistic regression showed that immigration issues, residing in a large city, being female, having health concerns, and experiencing family concerns are significantly related to Vietnamese immigrants having depressive symptoms. Over half (51.4%) of the respondents sought help, and 46.3% preferred seeing their physicians to address mental health issues. Pre-migration counseling is recommended to prevent depression.     

Efficient Augmented Inverse Probability Weighted Estimation in Missing Data Problems

When analyzing data with missing data, a commonly used method is the inverse probability weighting (IPW) method, which reweights estimating equations with propensity scores. The popularity of the IPW method is due to its simplicity. However, it is often being criticized for being inefficient because most of the information from the incomplete observations is not used. Alternatively, the regression method is known to be efficient but is nonrobust to the misspecification of the regression function. In this article, we propose a novel way of optimally combining the propensity score function and the regression model. The resulting estimating equation enjoys the properties of robustness against misspecification of either the propensity score or the regression function, as well as being locally semiparametric efficient. We demonstrate analytically situations where our method leads to a more efficient estimator than some of its competitors. In a simulation study, we show the new method compares favorably with its competitors in finite samples. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.     

Parent–Adolescent Discrepancies in Perceived Parental Sacrifice and Adolescent Developmental Outcomes in Poor Chinese Families

Parents and adolescents perceive family processes differently. This study examined how convergence and divergence of parent‐perceived and adolescent‐perceived parental sacrifice influenced adolescent developmental outcomes in a sample of 275 poor intact Chinese families in Hong Kong. The results of polynomial regression analyses indicated that the interaction of fathers’ and adolescents’ perceptions of paternal sacrifice negatively predicted adolescent resilience and cognitive competence. Similar findings were identified in maternal sacrifice. Cluster analysis further showed that adolescents exhibited greater resilience and cognitive competence in families with parent–adolescent convergent perceptions of high levels of parental sacrifice than did those in families with parent–adolescent divergent views. Theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Online radio listening as ‘affective publics’? (Closeted) participation in the post-Umbrella Movement everyday

The porosity of the online media space blurs the boundary between the political, the popular and the social. While most media scholarship concentrates on the ‘DIY participation’ that the internet enables, it overlooks the fact that most of the users are just consumers of the array of political platforms. Employing Ranciere’s notion of the aesthetics of the everyday and using the case of online radio listening, the paper re-examines the politics of participatory practices in the politicized everyday, as the audience traverses fan practices and quotidian virtual activism. This paper focuses on elderly and female listener communities, to discuss how the porous social mediascape may foster a ‘participation of the sensible’, where ‘the ordinary’ engages in online radio listening as subversive act against the government, but also calculated political AND social strategy against the harshening political reality and social division. The case of Hong Kong would also hope to articulate the nuanced interplay between media participation and the politically divided juncture.     

Relationships between urban green land cover and human health at different spatial resolutions

Relationships between landscape patterns and ecological processes can vary with changing resolution. Many studies in ecosystem services and human health rely on spatial-dependent data, yet the effects of changes in spatial resolution on the linkages between landscape and human health are underexplored. This study seeks to address the research gap by exploring the relationships of green land cover and pattern metrics at 1 m, 10 m, and 30 m with life expectancy in the City of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Spearman’s rho correlation and stepwise and hierarchical regression models were applied. Results showed that the effects of resolution change did not emerge for percent green land cover but were evident in other pattern metrics. Multivariate relationships showed that metrics at 1 m explained the most variability of the relationships between green land cover and life expectancy after controlling for potential confounding factors (adjusted R²?=?0.776, and 0.752 at 10 m and 0.747 at 30 m). Edge density of coarse vegetation was significantly associated with life expectancy at 1 m (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]?=?1.012, 95%CI?=?1.004–1.024, p?<?0.01) and 10 m (AOR?=?1.018, 95%CI?=?1.009–1.027, p?<?0.001) but not at 30 m. Euclidean distance of fine vegetation had a strong positive association with greater life expectancy at 1 m (AOR?=?2.067, 95%CI?=?1.185–4.072, p?<?0.05) but not at 10 m and 30 m. These findings underscore the importance of acknowledging the effects of resolution on the interpretation of landscape-human health relationships and the need for caution when results are used in planning and management decisions.

     

Brief Report: Child Sexual Abuse Inquiries in Hong Kong, 2000–2017

Community advocates in Hong Kong found no formal curriculum on child sexual abuse (CSA) prevention and started a newspaper column in 1999 to disseminate public education. This study analyzed the inquiries sent to this prevention column from 2000 to 2017. Content analysis found that, in 515 inquiries, 170 (33%) reported CSA incidents. Based on age information in 147 incidents, female abusers (n?=?28) targeted victims averaging 6.48 years of age, which is 3.08 years significantly younger than those abused by male abusers (n?=?119). In 82 inquiries with abusers’ age information, 42 minor “abusers” were reported. Early sex education is highly recommended.