Background: Little is known about the progression of obesity from childhood to adolescence. This study aimed to longitudinally examine the obesity status in a cohort of children across their childhood and adolescence, and to identify the factors associated with persistent obesity. Methods: The study used data from School Physical Fitness Award Scheme (SPFAS), a population-based programme in Hong Kong primary and secondary schools. Students were included if they participated in the SPFAS in both 2014 (Primary 1 and 2) and 2018 (Primary 5 and 6). Their anthropometric and physical fitness parameters were analyzed. Results: A total of 18,863 students were included. The baseline prevalence of obesity was 5.7 %. After 4 years, the prevalence increased to 6.7 %. Among those with obesity at baseline, 35.3 % remained obese after 4 years. The addition of baseline physical fitness level did not improve the prediction for persistent obesity. Conclusions: One-third of obese students in junior primary school remained to be obese into adolescence. Their baseline physical fitness level did not improve the predictive value for future obesity. Further studies should investigate the prognostic factors that may influence the natural course of childhood obesity.

The Hong Kong Early Child Development Scale (HKECDS) is a tool for assessing holistic early child development in preschoolers aged from three to six years. The original version of the scale, HKECDS, was updated in 2019 (HKECDS-2) to reflect the contemporary context and local curricular expectations. Children (n = 144) from three kindergartens in Hong Kong completed the HKECDS-2 in individual sessions. Rasch model analysis and expert discussions resulted in a short version of the scale (HKECDS-3) with 50 items in nine domains. The domains are Personal and self-care (4 items), Language development (7 items), Pre-academic learning (10 items), Cognitive development (6 items), Gross motor (4 items), Fine motor (2 items), Health and safety (5 items), Moral development (6 items), and Society and environment (6 items). There were significant correlations between findings from the updated version of the tool, HKECDS-3 and the HKECDS-2 (long form), and older children had significantly higher scores than younger children. Copyright © 2022 by THE PACIFIC EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION RESEARCH ASSOCIATION.

Background: The study aimed to examine the impact of household composition and satisfaction with family life on sexual behaviours among high school male and female students (aged 11-22 years) in Hong Kong.; Method: High schools were randomly selected, and the final sample comprised 25 schools. Students were divided into two groups ('living with both biological parents' vs 'not living with both biological parents'). Students were asked to rate their satisfaction with family life on a five-point Likert scale in a self-administered questionnaire. Dependent variables were sexual experience, sexual harassment, sexting and nude chats. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse the results.; Results: 3907 students were included in the analysis. 202 students (5.2%) were sexually active. 505 students had ever (13.0%) sexually harassed others and 303 students (7.8%) had ever been sexually harassed by others. 58 students (1.5%) had ever had nude chats. 1005 students (25.8%) had sexted in the last 12 months. Students who lived with both biological parents were less like to be sexually active, to sext and to have nude chats than those who did not. Students who had higher family life satisfaction were less likely to be sexually active, to sexually harass others, to be sexually harassed by others, to sext and to have nude chats than students who had lower satisfaction with their family life.; Conclusions: Sexual health programmes and interventions should consider family functioning. Students who have low family satisfaction and those who do not live with both their biological parents should be targeted for sexual health interventions.
[Copyright of BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health is the property of BMJ Group.]

The benefits of parental involvement in children’s education have been well established but increasing evidence suggests that overparenting may have adverse effects on children. The question of whether excessive parental involvement hinders children’s academic and psychosocial development warrants further investigations. This study examined the associations of parental educational involvement at home and in school with academic performance and psychological health of 507 Chinese Grade 3 schoolchildren in Hong Kong. Parents reported on their level of involvement in children’s schooling and their children’s psychosocial issues. Children were surveyed to determine their school engagement, and their Chinese language and mathematics attainment was assessed. We also explored the underlying mechanism by testing children’s engagement with school as a mediator of the relationships. Our results showed that home-based parental educational involvement was positively associated with children’s language competence and psychosocial wellbeing, and the associations were linked through engaging children with school. However, the benefits reached a plateau at higher level of parental involvement in children’s learning at home. School-based parental involvement had an indirect effect on children’s prosocial behavior through school engagement. These findings highlight the significance of optimal level of parental involvement in children’s education at home for children’s development.
[Copyright of Journal of Child and Family Studies is the property of Springer Science & Business Media. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-1011-2]