The purpose of this study was to investigate whether participating in a uniformed group such as Boy Scouts, which can be seen as a meso-ecosystem, is likely to be beneficial for adolescents' psychosocial competence. The psychosocial competence of a representative sample of Hong Kong Chinese adolescents who were members of uniformed groups (N = 559) was compared with that of a corresponding sample of adolescents who were not members of uniformed groups (N = 834). Measures of psychosocial competence included social skills, helping attitudes, and leadership. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine how well participation in uniformed groups predicted the 3 measures of psychosocial competence concurrently. Results indicated that participation in uniformed groups was associated with higher levels of social skills, helping attitudes, and leadership. Results are discussed in relation to benefits of uniformed group participation.
[Copyright of Journal of Genetic Psychology is the property of Psychology Press . Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/ ]

This study examined relationships between the economic, human, social, and cultural capital of families and adolescents' academic achievement. Data were collected from 387 14-yr.-old Hong Kong students (187 girls, 200 boys), who completed questionnaires to assess their perceptions of the various dimensions of family capital. Academic achievement was measured by performance in Chinese language, English language, and mathematics. The findings indicated that different combinations of the dimensions of family capital combined to contribute to moderate amounts of variance in adolescent girls' academic performance, whereas social capital was the only family measure to have a meaningful and significant modest association with adolescent boys' academic achievement.
[Reproduced with permission of author(s) and publisher from: Majoribanks, Kevin, & Kwok, Yanny. Family capital and Hong Kong adolescents' academic achievement. Psychological Reports, 1998, 83, 99-105. © Psychological Reports 1998 Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://ammonsscientific.com/link.php?N=10332]

One of the alleged reasons that males report lower intimacy in same-sex friendships than females is that males tend to be more competitive than females, but this assumption has not been empirically tested. In the current study, 121 Wong Kong adolescents filled out Chinese versions of the Intimate Friendship Scale and the Competitiveness Index. As predicted, females reported having more intimate same-sex relationships than males, and they scored lower on competitiveness than males. However, the correlations between scores on the Competitiveness Index and the Intimate Friendship subscales were small and nonsignificant, suggesting that the sex difference in intimacy was not a function of competitiveness.
[Reproduced with permission of author(s) and publisher from: Cheng, S. T., & Chan, A. C. M. Sex, competitiveness, and intimacy in same-sex friendship in Hong Kong adolescents. Psychological Reports, 1999, 84, 45-48. © Psychological Reports 1999 Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://ammonsscientific.com/link.php?N=9489]

The relationships between physical fitness, activity, and self-perceived fitness in adolescents in Hong Kong were investigated. Regular physical activity patterns, self-perceptions of fitness, and health-related physical fitness were measured in 201 secondary school students (M age = 13.8 yr.). The battery of fitness tests measured cardiovascular capacity, flexibility, muscular strength, muscular endurance, and body at composition. The boys had a higher self-perception of their own fitness and exercised more outside school than the girls. Participation in physical activity was related cardiovascular capacity, muscular strength, and body composition. Linear regression analysis indicated that exercise activity and body composition explained a portion variance in the subjects' self-perceived fitness. These findings highlight the connections between physical activity, fitness, and self-perception of fitness and consequently need for understanding the concept for better health-promotion strategies.
[Reproduced with permission of author(s) and publisher from: Chan, E. W. C., Au, E. Y. M., Chan, B. H. T., Kwan, M. K. M., Yiu, P. Y. P., & Yeung, E. Y. Relations among physical activity, physical fitness, and self-perceived fitness in Hong Kong adolescents. Perceptual & Motor Skills, 2003, 96, 787-797. © Perceptual & Motor Skills 2003 Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://ammonsscientific.com/link.php?N=4861]