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

The purpose of this replication study was to examine the relationships among life satisfaction, positive youth development and problem behaviour. The respondents were 7,151 Chinese Secondary 2 (Grade 8) students (3,707 boys and 3,014 girls) recruited from 44 schools in Hong Kong. Validated assessment tools measuring positive youth development, life satisfaction and problem behaviour were used. As predicted, positive youth development was positively correlated with life satisfaction, and positive youth development and life satisfaction were negatively correlated with adolescent problem behaviour. Based on a series of structural equation models, the present findings replicated the previous findings that adolescents with a higher level of positive youth development were more satisfied with life and had lesser problem behaviour, with higher level of life satisfaction and lower level of problem behaviour mutually influencing each other. These replicated findings provide a further advance in the literature on positive youth development, particularly in the Chinese context. Implications for future research and intervention were discussed.     

Automated measurement of infant and mother Duchenne facial expressions in the Face-to-Face/Still-Face

Although still-face effects are well-studied, little is known about the degree to which the Face-to-Face/Still-Face (FFSF) is associated with the production of intense affective displays. Duchenne smiling expresses more intense positive affect than non-Duchenne smiling, while Duchenne cry-faces express more intense negative affect than non-Duchenne cry-faces. Forty 4-month-old infants and their mothers completed the FFSF, and key affect-indexing facial Action Units (AUs) were coded by expert Facial Action Coding System coders for the first 30 s of each FFSF episode. Computer vision software, automated facial affect recognition (AFAR), identified AUs for the entire 2-min episodes. Expert coding and AFAR produced similar infant and mother Duchenne and non-Duchenne FFSF effects, highlighting the convergent validity of automated measurement. Substantive AFAR analyses indicated that both infant Duchenne and non-Duchenne smiling declined from the FF to the SF, but only Duchenne smiling increased from the SF to the RE. In similar fashion, the magnitude of mother Duchenne smiling changes over the FFSF were 2–4 times greater than non-Duchenne smiling changes. Duchenne expressions appear to be a sensitive index of intense infant and mother affective valence that are accessible to automated measurement and may be a target for future FFSF research.     

Children's understanding of values as mental concepts: Longitudinal changes and association with theory of mind

We investigated the conceptualization of values as mental constructs at the beginning of middle childhood. Values describe aspirations guiding individuals in life. Although 6-year-olds report meaningful values, a past cross-sectional study suggested they may conceptualize them in non-mental terms. We interviewed children on their values at two time-points (N = 299, M age T1 = 7.25 years, Mage T2 = 7.94 years). Mental value conceptualization increased over time. Different value types were conceptualized in mental terms to a similar extent. At T2, self-important values were conceptualized in mental terms less than not-important ones. We also suggest that Theory of Mind (ToM) may be an underlying mechanism for the increased level of mental conceptualization over time. A cross-lagged panel model indicated that T1 ToM predicted advances in T2 mental conceptualization, and T1 mental conceptualization predicted advances in T2 ToM. As children develop in their understanding of the social world, their values may transform from observable to mental, possibly making them better motivators of behavior.     

Chinese Children Among the Poor: Comparing U.S. Natives with Immigrants from Taiwan, Mainland China, and Hong Kong

Research on Chinese Americans often centers on successful economic incorporation in American society (e.g., “model minority”). Unfortunately, previous research has overlooked the changing economic circumstances of native- and foreign-born Chinese children, despite the fact that Chinese children living in America are diverse in socioeconomic status and geographic origin. In this paper, we use data from the 1990 and 2000 censuses to compare levels and changes in child poverty rates among U.S.-born Chinese and immigrants from Taiwan, Mainland China, and Hong Kong, and to investigate how changes in maternal employment and family structure (including cohabitation) contributed to the decline in poverty rates in the 1990s. Compared to other Asian Americans and non-Asians, Chinese children in the U.S. are less likely to live in poverty, thanks in part to more married-couple families and higher levels of maternal employment. Yet, child poverty rates vary among Chinese American subpopulations—being lowest for children of U.S.-born Chinese and highest for children of mainland-born Chinese. In addition, we find that poverty among U.S.-born and Taiwan-born Chinese would have been even lower had their rates of divorce and cohabitation had been similar to those for mainland-born and Hong Kong-born Chinese.     

Race/Ethnicity/Nativity Differentials and Changes in Cause-Specific Infant Deaths in the Context of Declining Infant Mortality in the U.S.: 1989–2001

Using data from the national linked birth/infant death cohort files, we examined race/ethnicity/nativity disparities and changes in infant mortality due to the five leading causes of infant death between 1989 and 2001. Our results indicate substantial decreases in infant mortality from three causes (congenital anomalies, sudden infant death syndrome, and respiratory distress syndrome) for which specific perinatal health innovations emerged or were expanded. However, for these three causes, the relative disparities in infant mortality between infants born to U.S.-born black women as compared to infants of U.S.-born white women increased following the introduction (or expansion) of beneficial interventions. Among infants of U.S.-born Mexican American mothers, the findings differed. In the static comparisons, our results show the often-reported similarity in the risk of death of these babies compared to those born to non-Hispanic white mothers. However, when changes over time were modeled, there was an erosion of the relatively favorable survival chances of Mexican American infants. Our models show little change in the relative risk of death for infants of immigrant women. Regarding the other two causes (disorders relating to short gestation and unspecified low birth weight and maternal complications) for which no efficacious innovations occurred, either little change or actual increases in risks were observed. Future studies and health policy efforts should be geared toward further understanding and aggressively working to close infant mortality gaps, especially for infants of U.S.-born black mothers—an effort that will be facilitated by research focused on cause-specific infant mortality.     

Testing the Parent–Adolescent Acculturation Discrepancy Hypothesis: A Five‐Wave Longitudinal Study

This 2½‐year, 5‐wave longitudinal study tests the hypothesis that acculturation discrepancies between Hispanic immigrant parents and adolescents would lead to compromised family functioning, which would then lead to problematic adolescent outcomes. Recent‐immigrant Hispanic parent–adolescent dyads (N = 302) completed measures of acculturation and family functioning. Adolescents completed measures of positive youth development, depressive symptoms, problem behavior, and substance use. Results indicated that Time 1 discrepancies in Hispanic culture retention, and linear trajectories in some of these discrepancies, negatively predicted adolescent positive youth development, and positively predicted adolescent depressive symptoms and binge drinking, indirectly through adolescent‐reported family functioning. The vast majority of effects were mediated rather than direct, supporting the acculturation discrepancy hypothesis. Implications for further research and intervention are discussed.     

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Its Relevance for Adolescents

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC, United Nations General Assembly, 1989) is a transformative document which has already improved the lives of millions of young people worldwide. Ratified into law by the majority of the countries of the world, it is the first human rights treaty focusing specifically on the rights of individuals under 18 years of age. The rights described in the treaty, however, are often seen as more important for younger children than for adolescents. This policy statement reviews the germane research on the period of adolescence and affirms that the protections and entitlements in the CRC are as important for adolescents as for younger children. Recommendations for policy and research are included.     

Hybrid identities: juxtaposing multiple identities against the ‘authentic’ Moken

The Moken and Moklen are an indigenous population residing along the Andaman coast of Thailand. They have been represented, both in popular and academic discourse, as seafaring nomads living in traditional boats and small temporal coastal communities. The overwhelmingly precept of the existing literature about the Moken is one of vulnerability and of stemming the erosion of ‘authentic’ Moken cultural identities. Identification of Moken as being under threat transpired as a consequence of the 2004 Asian tsunami, in which many Moken were killed and the plight of others who had their houses and sources of livelihood destroyed was propelled onto an international stage. This paper critically discusses how Moken identities and associated discourses of vulnerability have been depicted in media and academic literature as fixed and traditional. We argue that such rigid identity narratives contrast sharply to the contemporary realities of the Moken identities as articulated by the Moken we interviewed.     

Challenges and transformations: childbearing and changes in teens’ educational aspirations and expectations

Although much of the focus on teen childbearing has been on its potential costs to teen parents and their children, emerging research suggests that teen childbearing while challenging can be a positively transformative experience for teens. One such transformation is enhanced educational aspirations and expectations. Much of the research on the positive consequences of teen childbearing for teens’ educational orientations, however, has come from in-depth interviews with teen mothers that have methodological limitations. Using panel data from the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and NLSY79 – Young Adult Survey 1994 (NLSY79-YA) this study finds that over time, teens’ educational expectations and aspirations increase, on average, regardless of parental status. Nevertheless, there is significant heterogeneity in how expectations and aspirations change. Teen parents have lower odds of increasing, and greater odds of decreasing, their aspirations and expectations over a 2-year period compared to their childless counterparts. These patterns, however, shift across cohorts. Unlike the NLSY79, there are no differences in the odds of lowering aspirations and expectations between teen parents and non-parents in the NLSY79-YA. Moreover, the lower odds of increasing aspirations/expectations among mothers and white teen parents compared to fathers and black teen parents in the NLSY79 cohort are not found in the NLSY79-YA.