Assessing the Impact of Social Factors on the Mental Health of Chinese at Risk Adolescents in Hong Kong

Correspondence to Dr Cindy Davis, University of Tennessee, College of Social Work, Nashville Campus, 193E Polk Avenue, Nashville, TN., 37210, USA. E-mail: cdavis3eutk.edu Summary The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship offamily, peer and school factors on the mental health of Chinesemale and female at risk adolescents and secondary school studentsin Hong Kong. Questionnaire surveys based on various standardizedassessment scales were conducted with 398 (183 female and 215male) Chinese at risk adolescents and 320 (160 female and 160male) Chinese secondary school students between 12 and 18 yearsof age in Hong Kong. Compared to secondary school students,at risk adolescents had poorer relations with parents, morenegative family and peer influence, a more negative school environment,and poorer social functioning. Findings also revealed that femaleparticipants had more somatic symptoms, anxiety, and depressioncompared to males. The importance of environmental factors onthe mental health of Chinese adolescents supports previous researchin Western countries. Implications for intervention and preventionwere discussed from a cross-cultural perspective.     

Correlates of wife assault in Hong Kong Chinese families

The objective of this study was the risk factors of wife assault in Hong Kong Chinese families. The sample included 107 battered women from a refuge for battered women. Factor analysis revealed risk factors like dominance, stress, poor anger management, aggressive personality, conflict, lack of empathy, masculine gender role stress, sense of insecurity, relationship distress, and violent socialization. Correlation analysis indicated that dominance, spousal conflict, and sense of insecurity increase the likelihood of carrying out minor physical assault and using psychological aggression, while aggressive personality predicts severe physical assault and injury. The risk factors were explained in terms of traditional Chinese concepts of gender role expectations of men and women and face orientations. The present study provides some evidence relating to the risk factors of wife assault in Chinese families.     

金圣叹对韩国通俗文学批评影响之初探

金圣叹评点的<西厢记>、<水浒传>18世纪传到朝鲜,到19世纪已非常流行.朝鲜文人以极大兴趣介绍金氏的生平行迹,评论他的著作和文学批评思想.尽管文人们对金圣叹其人褒贬不一,有的视金批之书为祸害,有人将金氏文学与周礼、汉赋、唐诗、宋文相比肩.但朝鲜文人一致认为金圣叹是奇人,金氏文章为奇文.因此,金批小说曾影响朝鲜文人的文体和文风.金圣叹的文学批评思想对朝鲜的文学批评也产生过潜移默化的影响.在朝鲜著名小说<广寒楼记>的批语中,从体例、内容到方法都参考了金批.     

Correlates of infant pointing frequency in the first year

This study examines the emergence of concurrent correlates of infant pointing frequency with the aim of contributing to its ontogenetic theories. We measured monthly from 8 to 12 months infants' (N = 56) index-finger pointing frequency along with several candidate correlates: (1) family socioeconomic status (SES), (2) mothers' pointing production, and (3) infants' point following to targets in front of and behind them. Results revealed that (1) infants increased their pointing frequency across age, but high-SES infants had a steeper increase, and a higher pointing frequency than low-SES infants from 10 months onward, (2) maternal pointing frequency was not associated with infant pointing frequency at any age, (3) infants' point following abilities to targets behind their visual fields was positively associated with their pointing frequency at 12 months, after pointing had already emerged around 10 months. Findings suggest that family SES impacts infants' pointing development more generally, not just through maternal pointing. The association between pointing and following points to targets behind, but not in front, suggests that a higher level of referential understanding emerges after, and perhaps through the production of pointing.     

Mothers' use of touch across infants' development and its implications for word learning: Evidence from Korean dyadic interactions

Caregivers' touches that occur alongside words and utterances could aid in the detection of word/utterance boundaries and the mapping of word forms to word meanings. We examined changes in caregivers' use of touches with their speech directed to infants using a multimodal cross-sectional corpus of 35 Korean mother-child dyads across three age groups of infants (8, 14, and 27 months). We tested the hypothesis that caregivers' frequency and use of touches with speech change with infants' development. Results revealed that the frequency of word/utterance-touch alignment as well as word + touch co-occurrence is highest in speech addressed to the youngest group of infants. Thus, this study provides support for the hypothesis that caregivers' use of touch during dyadic interactions is sensitive to infants' age in a way similar to caregivers' use of speech alone and could provide cues useful to infants' language learning at critical points in early development.