Sense of meaningfulness,sources of meaning,and self-evaluation of economically disadvantaged youth in Hong Kong: implications for youth development programs |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong;2. Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong;1. Residency School in Occupational Medicine, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy;2. Interdisciplinary Department of Medicine, Section of Occupational Medicine “E.C. Vigliani”, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy;1. Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Department of Urology, Chicago, IL;2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Cambridge, MA;3. Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Department of Urology, Indianapolis, IN;4. Loyola Medicine Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, Chicago, IL;1. Mannheim Institute of Public Health, Social and Preventive Medicine, University Medicine Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany;2. Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil;3. Department of General Pediatrics, University Medicine Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany;1. Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Faculty of Education, Cyprus International University, North Cyprus, Turkey;2. Department of Guidance and Psychological Counseling, Graduate School of Educational Sciences, Ankara University, Turkey;3. Licensed Counseling Psychologist, Konya, Turkey |
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| Abstract: | This study aimed to explore the direction of youth development programs for economically disadvantaged youth by examining how their sense of meaningfulness and sources of meaning were associated with self-evaluation. Based on a survey design of 373 low-income Chinese adolescents recruited from five schools located in districts with the highest percentages of low-income households in Hong Kong, the results indicate a positive association between their sense of meaningfulness and self-evaluation. The findings also show that the intrinsic sources of meaning (individualism, collectivism, and self-transcendence) were positively associated with self-esteem. The results suggest that extrinsic aspirations were not a major source of positive self-evaluation of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents living in low-income families. On the contrary, they derived life meaning from various intrinsic sources. Their perception of the intrinsic sources of meaning and sense of meaningfulness worked jointly to affect their self-evaluation. Given the value of existential meaning in youth development under economic hardship, practitioners and educators should work with low-income adolescents’ life process of awareness in order to bring them to the possibilities for richer and deeper experiences for personal development, relationship enhancement, community participation, and spirituality enrichment. They should also initiate comprehensive life skills training in all formal, nonformal and informal learning contexts. |
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