| Name | Title | Abstract |
| Mr. Tam Wai Yiu | Integrating the Ecological Model and Wellness Theory in Predicting College Students’ Depression |
This study intends to integrate the Ecological Model and Wellness Theory to link up and investigate the individual, family, and peer correlates of college students’ depression systemically with a sound theoretical framework in the Hong Kong context. It also aims to extend previous research on the association between the experience of childhood abuse and trauma and depressive symptoms by examining three mediation models linking the experience of childhood abuse and trauma with depressive symptoms through peer alienation and hopelessness. Further, we examine whether the wellness factors moderated the mediating effects of hopelessness in the association between the experience of childhood abuse and trauma and depressive symptoms. In this cross-sectional study, 786 participants completed eight measures. The results show that the association between childhood abuse and trauma was significantly mediated by peer alienation and hopelessness. The findings suggest that the indirect effect of childhood abuse and trauma on depressive symptoms through hopelessness differed by problem solving and equanimity. The study also provides insight into interventions to prevent or manage depressive symptoms. Instead of targeting childhood abuse and trauma alone, earlier stages of intervention targeting peer alienation and hopelessness were found to be crucial in the occurrence of depressive symptoms. This could be implemented in the Chinese context to yield better results. It also showed that social problem solving and equanimity were protective factors for adolescents’ development of depressive symptoms under childhood abuse and trauma. |
| TONG Katrina | Integrated Social Cognitive Resilience Model of Delinquent Behaviours |
The action and intention of committing a crime determine the guilt or innocence traditionally. This is especially important for investigating youth offenders’ criminal act and culpability for their behaviours by examining their mental state and intention. Few empirical studies can draw a significant analysis on the formation of criminal thinking and its direct effect on criminal behaviours. This study is aimed at examining the cognitive processes of committing crime especially in delinquency. By understanding the formation of criminal thinking from abused youth, their delinquent acts will be investigated. Although some studies explored the relationships between the child abuse and youth violence, few investigated the transfer of cognitive attributes between the generations. A new proposed psychological profile on cognitive behavioural social resilient mechanism will sketch out the criminal information processing features closely related to the delinquent behaviours from youth. |
| Mr. Cheung Po Sze Andy | A Modified Interpersonal Theory of Suicide – Integration with “PERMA Theory” |
Suicide is the fifteenth leading cause of death among different age group worldwide in 2012. Hence, it is essential to identify and re-examine the risk and protective factors for suicide. However, most scholars agree that no single theory can fully explain suicide as it is a convergent component with complex sociological and psychological factors. Thus, having critically analysed different perspectives (e.g., sociological, ecological, psychoanalytical, and psychological) in understanding suicide, we propose a new modified theory, the Suicidal-Self Theory, to explain suicide. In our model, we propose that the interaction among three constructs—Destructive Connectedness (thwarted belongingness and malfunctioning relationship), Distorted Self-meaning (perceived burdensomeness and attitude toward suicidal self), and Availability (acquired capability and perceived behaviour control)—are important predictors of suicidal ideation. Hopelessness is hypothesized to act as a mediator. However, exploring protective and resilience factors of suicide are also essential in dealing with suicide. Positive psychologists proposed that Positive Psychology is highly relevant to the understanding and treatment of suicidal behaviour. Unlike traditional models that focus on a remedial approach, the application of positive psychology fosters human resilience to overcome despair. Meanwhile, the five pathways of the PERMA model—positive emotions, positive engagement, positive relationships, positive meaning, and positive accomplishment—are considered as resilience factors for suicide. They correspond to the constructs in our new model of suicide: hopelessness (negative emotion), rumination (negative engagement), destructive connectedness (negative relationship), attitude toward suicidal self (negative meaning), and perceived burdensomeness (negative accomplishment). Thus, the extension of our model is to link up the proposed modified theory of suicide focusing on risk factors with the PERMA model emphasizing the corresponding protective factors. |
| Kiconco Milliam | Investigating the Experience of Victimization among Female Murderers in Uganda |
The literature on gender and crime begins with a critique of the history of criminology, which is portrayed as a history of male researchers studying male offenders, victims, prisoners, and professionals in the criminal justice system. Whereas many studies have been conducted to fill this gap in many countries outside Africa and in a few African countries, such studies are yet to be conducted in Uganda. The present study extends research on female prisoners to Uganda with a sample of female convicts of murder (N=30) from one female prison in Uganda. Guided by the vast literature on the experience of victimization among female murderers, this study was placed in the social structure of Uganda in order to investigate the different forms of victimization that female murderers experienced. The forms of victimization investigated in this study were: Childhood victimization (physical, sexual, and witnessing violence), intimate partner violence victimization (IPV; physical, sexual, psychological, economic violence, controlling behaviour), and those experienced in the criminal justice system of Uganda (physical, psychological, and controlling behaviour). Theoretically, the study is guided by a socialist feminist perspective and sociological imagination. Methodologically, it is a qualitative study placed within the qualitative tradition of phenomenology and feminist epistemology. The main question asked in this study was: What forms of victimization did female murderers experience? This was followed by sub-questions including: How do women describe their experience of victimization? How did women negotiate their experience of different forms of victimization? Preliminary findings show that all women experienced victimization at one point in their lifetime beginning with childhood (N=23) to intimate relations (N=27) and in the criminal justice system (N=30). Women described the experience with different forms of victimization as recurring and enduring. Women’s inability to escape victimization before killing was linked to difficulties in negotiating interpersonal, sociocultural, economic, and institutional factors in the social structure of Uganda. |
| Kwan Yuyi Katherine | Will Restorative Justice Conferences Facilitate Desistance in Youth Probationers in Singapore? |
Singapore envisioned using restorative justice (RJ) to deal with youth recidivism, and family conferencing (FC) was introduced to the youth justice system in 1998. Since the use of FC in the youth court, a few agencies have adopted various forms of restorative practices in the youth justice system and social service agencies (SSA). Studies have found that RJ could lower youth recidivism; however, recidivism studies cannot explain how nor why RJ contributes to desistance in youth offenders. This study examines if RJ could reduce reoffending behaviour and how desistance can happen. This thesis builds upon the use of social relations between RJ participants and thoughts of the youth to examine desistance within the context of FC or Circles with youth probationers in Singapore. This qualitative study will be conducted by interviewing youth probationers who have undergone FC in Singapore. Using a Life Story approach, emergent themes were coded using the Interpretive Phenomenological Analytic (IPA) method. This study seeks to close research gaps by understanding how FC facilitates desistance of youth probationers at both the individual and relational levels. Using the lens of CRRS, it will also examine whether emergent social good or social bad resulting from the youth probationer’s relations with FC participants contribute to their desistance. |
| Grace Wing-yan AU | Desistance from Crime: An Examination of Delinquent Youth in Hong Kong |
Desistance from crime has become a fashionable topic in criminological research around the globe in the last two decades. Many studies have explored the experience of desistance for adults, but few have focused on the process among delinquent youths. Most of the studies on desistance are undertaken in developed Western countries. Theory and research for explaining desistance in non-Western societies are rare. It is not known whether the knowledge generated from previous desistance studies applies to Chinese societies. The present study aims to understand the process of desistance from crime among delinquent youths in a Chinese local context. Using purposive sampling, 30 delinquent youths and 30 primary caregivers (parents) were recruited from non-government organizations and eventually participated in in-depth interviews. Consistent with the literature, family support played a significant role in youth desistance. It was found that the key social capitals associated with desistance are a revival of reciprocal family bonds (reciprocal filial piety), a pro-social model, and religious bonds (having faith in Christianity). Reciprocal filial piety seems to be more inferential than all other variables, as it could help to free young people from the vicious cycle of labelling and regain a positive status from their illicit past. |
| Ebenezer Cudjoe | Experiences and Perspectives on Kinship Care Support for Children Living with Parents with Mental Illness in Ghana |
Globally, research has indicated that children of parents with mental illness (COPMI) are often not included in the development of mental health services. Services usually focus on the parent who is presenting with a mental illness. Yet, COPMI are at risk of developing psychiatric disorders themselves and, compared to the general population, are also more likely to develop social and behavioural problems. In response to this problem, most Western countries are developing a range of services to address the psychosocial problems of COPMI. However, due to the limited financial spending on mental health issues in sub-Saharan Africa, especially Ghana, formal services for COPMI in the region are rarely implemented. Therefore, a cost-effective measure in the form of kinship care support for COPMI in Ghana is explored. The study will explore the lived experience of being a child in a family where parents have mental illness and COPMI’s experience of kinship care support. Mental health practitioners will also be involved to make sense of the use of kinship care support for COPMI. The study will explore the lived experience of being a child in a family where parents have mental illness and COPMI’s experience of kinship care support. Mental health practitioners will also be involved to make sense of the use of kinship care support for COPMI. |
| Ebenezer Cudjoe | Experiences and Perspectives on Kinship Care Support for Children Living with Parents with Mental Illness in Ghana |
Globally, research has indicated that children of parents with mental illness (COPMI) are often not included in the development of mental health services. Services usually focus on the parent who is presenting with a mental illness. Yet, COPMI are at risk of developing psychiatric disorders themselves and, compared to the general population, are also more likely to develop social and behavioural problems. In response to this problem, most Western countries are developing a range of services to address the psychosocial problems of COPMI. However, due to the limited financial spending on mental health issues in sub-Saharan Africa, especially Ghana, formal services for COPMI in the region are rarely implemented. Therefore, a cost-effective measure in the form of kinship care support for COPMI in Ghana is explored. The study will explore the lived experience of being a child in a family where parents have mental illness and COPMI’s experience of kinship care support. Mental health practitioners will also be involved to make sense of the use of kinship care support for COPMI. The study will explore the lived experience of being a child in a family where parents have mental illness and COPMI’s experience of kinship care support. Mental health practitioners will also be involved to make sense of the use of kinship care support for COPMI. Grounded in a postmodern philosophy, the study will be influenced by a phenomenological mode of inquiry involving the personal experiences and accounts of participants. Particularly, an interpretive phenomenological analysis will be used to emphasise the participants’ accounts and the researchers’ interpretations of those accounts. In-depth interviews will be conducted with COPMI and mental health practitioners in Ghana. Data analysis will be managed with NVivo. |
| LAU Ming-ho Victor | The Lived Experiences of People with Schizophrenia Taking Antipsychotics: A Phenomenological Study |
Schizophrenia has been a label of severe mental disorder for more than 100 years. Despite a century of efforts, the underlying pathology of schizophrenia remains uncertain. Since the unanticipated discovery of the first antipsychotic in the 1950s, the medical discipline was fascinated by its fortuitous therapeutic effects and alarmed that discontinuation of antipsychotics could increase the chance of relapse. However, the truth is that antipsychotics cannot guarantee a person to be safe from relapse, and people in relapse are often labelled as “drug non-compliant.” For clinicians, the risk of relapse hurtles their decision to stop antipsychotics, which makes the use of antipsychotics chronic. In addition, the literature has found that people taking antipsychotics are struggling with the unbearable and disturbing side effects. The purpose of this study is to use phenomenological inquiry to examine the real lives of people taking antipsychotics and to hear their voices regarding taking antipsychotics without any presuppositions or biases in drug compliance. Beyond what figures or numbers can tell us, the essence of the personal experiences and reflections will provide new evidence for prescribers and mental health professionals to facilitate empathetic dialogues with people with schizophrenia, and ultimately an effective therapeutic alliance can be securely formed. |
| Chigozie D. Ezulike | Caring for Older Adults and Its Impacts on Well-being: A Study of Caregivers in South-East Nigeria |
Caregiving involves caring for an individual or a loved one in the caregiver’s home, the care-recipient’s home, or an institutional setting. Existing empirical evidence on the effects on informal caregiving and well-being on carers is mixed. Some studies have found that the feelings of closeness, affection, and personal satisfaction are derived from caregiving. Other studies report that caregiving has negative impacts on caregivers, especially when the care-recipients are older people. In Nigeria, the institutionalization of older people in care homes is deemed culturally unacceptable as older adult care is assumed to be the responsibility of adult children and the extended family. However, few individuals are prepared for such caregiving responsibility due to the stress it entails and the high rates of unemployment, migration, and poverty. Few studies on caregiving in Nigeria with a quantitative research strategy have focused on the caregivers whose care-recipients are not older adults. This existing gap is what my study proposes to fill by investigating the impacts of caregiving on the well-being of older people’s caregivers in Nigeria. This research will adopt a mixed method approach. Data will be collected firstly through survey questionnaires and secondly through in-depth interviews. The study participants for both methods of data collection will be selected through purposive sampling and snowball sampling methods. The quantitative data obtained will be analysed using SPSS software while the qualitative data obtained will be transcribed, analysed, and coded in themes (thematic analysis) using NVivo software. |
| Student | Title | Abstract |
| LIU Chan | The Institutionalization of the Sharing Economy: A Case Study of Airbnb in China |
The sharing economy, typically represented by Uber and Airbnb, is experiencing a burst period since the global financial crisis in 2008, when Internet and mobile communication technology advanced progressively. In particular, since 2014, we have witnessed a dramatic growth of the sharing economy. In China, the sharing economy mainly focuses on financial services, life services, transportation, travelling, production capacity, knowledge and skills, and short-term housing. Its transaction size reached about RMB 2.942 trillion, and the number of participants has reached about 760 million in 2018. It can be observed that the sharing economy has become an important part of China’s economy and daily life. This research aims at offering a critical study of the institutionalization of the sharing economy in China. According to new institutionalism, we define the institution as an organic system composed of cognition, behaviour, and rule; and we consider institutionalization as a process including normalization, objectification, and diffusion. As an economic institution, the institutionalization of the sharing economy is the process of normalization, objectification, and diffusion of its cognition, behaviour, and rule. There is a lack of research on the sharing economy as an economic institution, the institutionalization process, and new perspectives from sociology. This study will be timely to fill the knowledge gap and to critically examine the development of the sharing economy in the unique political-economic context of China. This research takes Airbnb as a case study. We will conduct in-depth interviews with involved landlords and tenants with structured questionnaires to collect supplementary information, and we will review official and other published documents and data related to Airbnb and the sharing economy in the cities of Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Wuhan. Through this mixed method, this study aims to describe and examine the institutionalization process of Airbnb in China based on the regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive factors from new institutionalism in sociology. |
| QIN Tianli | The Identity Negotiation Process and the Well-Being of Gang Piao |
Gang piao refers to a newly emerging and growing group of migrants from mainland China to Hong Kong after the new immigration policy on mainland migrants in 1998. They arguably have a different identity from holders of one-way permits who arrive in the city of Hong Kong with the intention to settle permanently. Gang piao refers to a newly emerging and growing group of migrants from mainland China to Hong Kong after the new immigration policy on mainland migrants in 1998. They arguably have a different identity from holders of one-way permits who arrive in the city of Hong Kong with the intention to settle permanently. The purpose of the study is to critically analyse the process of identity negotiation among gang piao and to examine the relationship between identity negotiation (processes and strategies adopted) and their well-being. As informed by symbolic interactionism, the negotiation process upholds a framework describing acculturative strategy and identity. Quantitative methods, beginning with a survey, will be the primary research approach. This study plans to recruit approximately 600 participants, inviting them to complete self-administered questionnaires. Regression analysis and factor analysis will be applied to examine the operation of the identity negotiation process and its relationship with well-being. |
| LIANG Tao | Social Control and Crime in Contemporary China: An Examination of Filing of Criminal Cases |
Social control in China in the pre-reform era is characterized by a heavy reliance on informal control mechanisms and people’s justice. As society is decollectivized by economic reform, the law starts to play an increasingly important role, and the Chinese criminal justice system (e.g., filing of criminal cases) established in the past four decades is equipped with detailed legal provisions. This study aims to use “filing of criminal cases” as the vantage point to investigate how relevant legal codes are deployed in the decision-making process to define and respond to crime so as to exercise governmental social control. Donald Black regards the law as quantifiable, and the behaviour of law can be predicted by variables abstracted from social life. Based on this rationale, Black adopts five social dimensions (stratification, morphology, culture, organization, and social control) to explain and predict how the law acts. This study aims to empirically explore the applicability of Black’s theory of the behaviour of law in the Chinese context and the factors affecting the decision-making of filing criminal cases in Chinese criminal justice. A mixed method strategy is used in this study including a survey, participant observation, and in-depth interviews in an industrial city in northern China. This study will shed light on the social control apparatus in contemporary China through the prism of filing criminal cases, a critical stage in the criminal justice process. |
| HE Yunbing | Management Control and Labour Resistance of Service Industry in China: The Case of Walmart |
Since 2012, the service industries have surpassed the manufacturing industries as the largest contributors to China’s Gross Domestic Product. The labour protests in service industries have also gone on a rise in the past few years. A number of strikes in service industries (i.e., strikes of taxi drivers, teachers, and sanitation workers) have drawn growing attention to international media and labour practitioners. Labour studies in China in recent decades have always focused on manufacturing industries, and comparatively little has been done with service industries. Following the mainstream of the western literature on service labour, this study uses the framework of labour process theory synthesized with Neo-Marxist conflict theory to critically examine the future of labour movements in China. The case of Walmart can shed light on the study of dysfunction of management control and the causes and patterns of labour resistance in service industries. In-depth interviews, documentary research, and participatory observation were adopted as the main methods in this study. The initial findings revealed that class politics still has utility in analysing China’s labour issues. The workers in service industries demonstrate certain degrees of militancy under the massive economic system changes. Their subjectivity and class consciousness are still evolving, but they are not yet strong enough at present to form a robust labour movement in China. |
| HU Jieyi | Relating Academic Performance and Social Integration in Hong Kong Students Studying in Mainland Chinese Universities |
Cross-border studies from Hong Kong to mainland China have drawn people’s attention in recent years. People tend to migrate (including internal migration) at their early ages to attain a longer earnings period. This study aims to relate academic performance and social integration in university students coming from Hong Kong to mainland China. Although numerous studies have suggested ambiguous effects of social integration, the theoretical linkages of academic performance, social integration, and ethical sensitivity have been underexplored, especially among Hong Kong young adults attending universities in mainland China. Resource use theory derived from Sunzi’s The Art of War is useful to explain Hong Kong students’ social integration during cross-border studies in mainland China. Furthermore, a mixed method combining quantitative and qualitative research methods was applied to test the theoretical framework. |
| Sijia Guo | Flourishing in Rural Chinese Adolescents: How Social Capital and Self-Determination Contribute |
A growing body of studies has suggested the importance of adolescent flourishing. However, theoretical linkages among traditional Chinese culture, life span crisis, social capital, self-determination, and flourishing have been underexplored, especially in the Chinese rural context, which is greatly changing due to economic reform in China. Empirical studies have shown that adolescents in rural China, especially left-behind children, suffer more emotional issues and have lower personal functioning than other children in China. However, equivocal findings on rural adolescent flourishing have appeared for recent years. In addition, previous studies have typically ignored the effects of cultural context and life span crisis on adolescent flourishing. This study aims to examine the flourishing of both left-behind children and other adolescents in rural China, with the incorporation of the influence of ambient cultural values and lifespan crisis for adolescents. In addition, while some studies have found that social capital is essential for fostering personal flourishing, particularly in adolescents, some other studies have not shown that finding. Considering the ambiguous and controversial effects of social capital on flourishing, this study aims to dig into the relationship between social capital and flourishing and thereby strengthen social capital theory. Likewise, self-determination is another valuable contributor to the individual’s flourishing, albeit mostly in Western cultural contexts. Therefore, this study aims to examine how self-determination influences Chinese rural adolescents who grow up in Confucian culture to strengthen the application of self-determination theory. This study adopted a mixed approach that included three stages from late 2016 to late 2018. In the qualitative study in Stage 1 (September to November 2016), five participants who were left-behind children recruited via snowball sampling recalled their flourishing experience and its contributors. In the quantitative study conducted in Stage 2 (November to December 2017), 995 rural adolescents were recruited through convenience sampling to respond to a questionnaire to examine relationships between flourishing and other variables. For the qualitative study conducted in Stage 3 (September to October 2018), 14 participants who were caretakers, teachers, NGO organizers, and workers for government separately were invited to partake in semi-structured interviews via purposive sampling. These participants provided invaluable insights into how social capital and self-determination contribute to rural adolescent flourishing. |
| HU Jieyi | Relating Academic Performance and Social Integration in Hong Kong Students Studying in Mainland Chinese Universities |
Cross-border studies from Hong Kong to mainland China have drawn people’s attention in recent years. People tend to migrate (including internal migration) at their early ages to attain a longer earnings period. This study aims to relate academic performance and social integration in university students coming from Hong Kong to mainland China. Although numerous studies have suggested ambiguous effects of social integration, the theoretical linkages of academic performance, social integration, and ethical sensitivity have been underexplored, especially among Hong Kong young adults attending universities in mainland China. Resource use theory derived from Sunzi’s The Art of War is useful to explain Hong Kong students’ social integration during cross-border studies in mainland China. Furthermore, a mixed method combining quantitative and qualitative research methods was applied to test the theoretical framework. |
| Alex S. K. Chan | The Production of Estranged Urban Space: Tourism-driven Change and Radicalised Identity Politics in Hong Kong since the Late 2000s |
This project examines the rise of local identity in Hong Kong where, since the late 2000s, an increasing number of people have self-identified as ‘Hongkonger’ rather than ‘Chinese’; thus, by association, the project also examines the nature of the Hong Kong–China conflict. Its emphasis is on everyday life at the community level. Specifically, young residents from three districts in Hong Kong with reportedly persistent tourists/parallel trading problems and high-profile local protests were studied in depth. |
| Student | Title | Abstract |
| LO Siu Chung | Development of Speech-Specific Reinvestment Scale |
This study was conducted to develop and validate a speech-specific reinvestment scale (SSRS), a psychometric measure of the propensity to consciously control and monitor speech production. The moderating effects of trait social anxieties (social interaction anxiety, public speaking anxiety, and social phobia) on the relationship between SSRS sub-dimensions and speech performance were examined. Also, the scale predictive validity tests were conducted with three experimental studies. Scale development involved the following four stages: (1) initial item generation based on the relevant literature, (2) item evaluation through cognitive interviews with 24 healthy respondents, (3) scale reliability and validity tests using cross-sectional survey data from 498 healthy respondents, and (4) test–retest reliability assessment using longitudinal survey data from 185 healthy respondents. Respondents’ conversational speech performance was quantified using speech public examination scores. Hierarchical moderated regression analyses were conducted to examine the moderating effects of trait social anxieties. The validated SSRS comprises 35 items, which can be categorized into four sub-dimensions: speech movement self-consciousness, public consciousness of speech content, manner, and movement. The data initially suggest respondents with low trait social anxieties generally indicated a positive relationship between public consciousness of speech movement and conversational speech performance, whereas a negative relationship between speech movement self-consciousness and conversational speech performance was observed for respondents with high social anxiety. The validated SSRS comprises 35 items, which can be categorized into four sub-dimensions: speech movement self-consciousness, public consciousness of speech content, manner, and movement. The data initially suggest respondents with low trait social anxieties generally indicated a positive relationship between public consciousness of speech movement and conversational speech performance, whereas a negative relationship between speech movement self-consciousness and conversational speech performance was observed for respondents with high social anxiety. SSRS offers a reliable and valid method to assess the predisposition to control and monitor consciously. Predisposition to exert conscious control and monitoring over speaking plays a role in speech performance and appears to be moderated by one’s level of trait social anxiety. SSRS is a potential assessment tool for speech-language pathologists to evaluate post-therapy outcomes and facilitate clients’ speech skill acquisition. |
| TAN Yaqian | Contributions to the Working Alliance and Psychotherapy Outcome Include: Exploration of Therapist Responsiveness, Therapist-client Similarity, and Complementarity |
Psychotherapy primarily refers to interpersonal treatment based on psychological principles involving a trained therapist and a client with a mental disorder, problem, or complaint. Therapist responsiveness is supposed to be crucial in developing the therapeutic relationship and fostering positive therapeutic outcomes. Apart from the therapist factor, the client-therapist match is also a focus of psychotherapy research. The complementarity hypothesis from interpersonal theory predicts that reciprocity in the control dimension and correspondence in the affiliation dimension contribute to the quality of the working alliance and outcome. The present study proposes a theoretical framework based on interpersonal theory and attachment theory to understand the process and outcome in psychotherapy. In Study 1, a qualitative approach was adapted to interview nine therapists about their experience of conducting psychotherapy with the aim to consolidate a theoretical framework and to conceptualize responsiveness. The analysis followed the grounded theory method. In Study 2, a survey of 239 therapists obtained data on their responsiveness, psychotherapeutic outcome, working alliance, and others. This study affords the test of hypothesized contributions in the theoretical framework. |
| CHUNG Ka Hung Edwin | Successful Aging: Improving Conceptualization and Measurement |
Aging by itself implies not only physical and cognitive declines, but it also conveys development and maturation. Over the past half-century, gerontologists and lifespan psychologists have endorsed and widely used the expression “successful aging” to differentiate above-average older adults (i.e., successful agers) from normal agers. Yet, a limited consensus has been achieved regarding the definition and measurement of successful aging. These issues therefore hinder the advancement of successful aging research and limit the generalizability of findings. Aging by itself implies not only physical and cognitive declines, but it also conveys development and maturation. Over the past half-century, gerontologists and lifespan psychologists have endorsed and widely used the expression “successful aging” to differentiate above-average older adults (i.e., successful agers) from normal agers. Yet, a limited consensus has been achieved regarding the definition and measurement of successful aging. These issues therefore hinder the advancement of successful aging research and limit the generalizability of findings. |
| Lam Chong Hang Alvin | Promoting Retirement Preparation among Middle-Aged Working Adults: Development of a Retirement Planning Psychoeducation Program |
Hong Kong is among the places with the highest life expectancy. Thus, retirement planning is a key concern for many middle-aged and older working adults. People are often concerned about whether they have sufficient financial and physical resources to deal with the challenges after retirement. However, according to the Resources-based Dynamic Model (Wang et al. 2011), post-retirement well-being can be affected not only by these two resources but also emotional, cognitive, motivational, and social resources. When these resources increase, better post-retirement well-being is shown. Having more resources helps individuals to smoothly adjust to the retirement transition, their stress can be reduced (Rini et al., 1999), and possession of resources can lead to possession of other resources (Hobfoll, 2002). Past research has demonstrated that pre-retirement planning activities are associated with positive attitudes toward retirement and a greater amount of total resources possessed by the retirees before retirement. Therefore, to prepare for retirement life, working adults should plan ahead to accumulate more resources during their working life. The proposed research will develop a retirement planning psychoeducation program to cultivate positive attitudes toward retirement and increase planning behaviours among middle-aged working adults. A series of workshops will be designed to facilitate participants’ preparation for their retirement aiming to improve their psychological, financial, physical, and social resources. Pre- and post-tests will be performed to examine whether the psychoeducation program successfully improves middle-aged adults’ retirement attitudes and planning behaviours and whether it reduces their anxiety. |
| MA Zewei Mac | The Roles of Human Values in Predicting Facial Masculinity Preferences of Females: A Life History Strategy Model |
Abstract: Facial sexual dimorphism of homo sapiens is the result of sexual selection, such that males’ masculine facial features tended to be preferred by females. However, different studies have shown that facial preferences of females are condition-dependent. Built upon the Life History Strategy Model and the Circular Model of Human Values, this research hypothesized that females’ facial preference is one of the life history strategies that women adopt to cope with different morbidity-mortality related conditions, and human values are the important mediating mechanisms that could contribute to the understanding of previously found condition-dependent effects on masculine preferences of women. Three studies were conducted to test these hypotheses. Study 1 was a cross-national research design that employed country-level samples to investigate how women’s facial preferences would be related to life history strategy traits and extrinsic morbidity-mortality-related cues as well as human values. Study 2 employed a cross-sectional design to examine how the results of Study 1 could be generalized to the Chinese population. Study 3 experimentally tested the results yielded from Study 2 so as to robustly test the research hypotheses. The theoretical and practical implications of the research findings are discussed. |
| WU Yihan | Identity Issues of Adolescents with Severe Mental Illnesses |
Long-term disability in young individuals is primarily determined by Serious Mental Illnesses (SMIs), the onset of which frequently occurs in adolescence. Although the implications of such conditions on the identity developmental stages have been extensively examined, but SMIs and identity issues in adolescents have not been explored. To generate knowledge of relevance for preventing or treating SMIs, the comprehension of potential challenges is necessary. Hence, this study tries to solve how SMIs influence the task and goals of identity formation during the developmental period. How do adolescents with SMIs face and cope with the identity issues in the process of accomplishing identity tasks and goals? Taking Chinese adolescents aged between 10 to 19 suffering from SMIs as samples, this study is intended to explore their identity issues caused by three major goals during their identity development, namely achievement goals of educational accomplishment, social goals related to interaction with relatives, peers, and romantic interests, and future goals related to the initial establishment of plans for future beyond adolescents. A qualitative narrative research design is employed to capture the voices of adolescents with SMIs. The findings will highlight the importance of gaining comprehension about the influence of SMIs on identity development among those to ultimately promote recovery. |