OBJECTIVE: To compare parental perception of child behaviour problems, parenting stress, and marital satisfaction in new arrival and local parents. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey; semi-structured interview. SETTING: Maternal and Child Health Centres, social service centres, preschools. PARTICIPANTS: Parents of preschool children, including new arrival parents and local parents. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Child behaviour problems, parenting stress, and marital satisfaction. RESULTS: After controlling for socio-economic factors, new arrival parents were more troubled by their children's behaviour problems and their parent-child interactions were more dysfunctional than those of local parents. There were no differences in parent-reported severity of child behaviour problems, parental distress, and marital satisfaction. New arrival parents reported difficulties in adapting to the new living environment and lack of social support. CONCLUSIONS: New arrival parents were more troubled by their children's behaviour, and their parent-child interactions were more dysfunctional than those of local parents. These might in part be related to their settlement difficulties. Parenting programmes should address their specific settlement needs.
[Copyright of Hong Kong Medical Journal is the property of Hong Kong Academy of Medicine & Hong Kong Medical Association.]

This article reported the outcome of an adapted British parenting programme in Hong Kong which aimed at reducing parent-adolescents conflicts. Adolescents' outcome was measured by Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and parent's parenting stress was measured by parenting stress Index short form (PSI-SF). The level of conflict between parents and their adolescents was measured by parent-adolescent conflict scale (PAC). The study showed that parents of the experimental groups showed significant decrease in parenting stress after the programme. SDQ showed significant decrease in adolescents' difficulties and significant decrease in conflict between parents and their adolescents. Significant between group differences was observed between experimental groups and comparison group in parent child dysfunction interaction and granting of autonomy to their children. Participant satisfaction survey indicated majority of parents perceived the programme as helpful to their parenting as well as reducing conflict with their adolescents. The presence study showed a promising design of a parenting programme that support parents of adolescents in facing their conflicts with their adolescents.
[Copyright of Revista de Cercetare si Interventie Sociala is the property of Lumen Publishing House.]

Objective: To examine the effect of depressive symptoms and satisfaction with family support (FS) on physical and mental Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL). Methods: Data were obtained from the Hong Kong FAMILY Project baseline survey in 2009-2011, which included 16,039 community residents (age >= 20). The FS was measured using the Family Adaptation, Partnership, Growth, Affection, Resolve (APGAR, range 0-10) Questionnaire. HRQoL were assessed using the SF-12 version 2. Depressive symptoms were recorded using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Demographic and lifestyle variables, stressful life events, perceived neighborhood cohesion were also assessed. Results: In a multilevel regression model, socio-demographic and behavioral variables explained 21% and 19% of the variance in physical and mental HRQoL. The presence of depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 score >= 10, standardized coefficients, beta of -1.73) and high FS (APGAR score 7-10, 1.15) were associated with mental HRQoL, after adjustment for age, education, household monthly income, drinking status, physical activity, chronic conditions, life stress and neighborhood cohesion. Not FS but the presence of depressive symptoms (beta of -0.88) was associated with physical HRQoL. The presence of depressive symptoms in women than men were more associated with a poorer physical HRQoL (p<0.01) while depressive symptoms in men were associated with a decrease in mental HRQoL (p<0.001). The interaction between FS and depressive symptoms was nonsignificant in relation to HRQoL. Among those with depressive symptoms, high FS was associated with a better mental HRQoL (41.1 vs. 37.9, p<0.001) in women but not contribute to variance in men. Conclusions: Higher FS and presence of depressive symptoms were significantly associated with HRQoL in general population in Hong Kong. Among those with depressive symptoms, high FS was associated with a favorable mental HRQoL in women but not men.
[Copyright of PL o S One is the property

This paper examines teachers' stories of children's coping with changing family situations such as divorce or family separation which can induce discontinuities in their lives. Using the case of Hong Kong, a place where 'East meets West' in cultures and family relationships, this paper argues for the use of the concept of hybridities in understanding the experiences of children in changing family situations. Teachers' stories show that children in changing family situations are facing new kinds of difficulties from the mixing of modern family forms and traditional family values. Implications to teacher education, policy and practice are suggested.
[Copyright of Education 3-13 is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004271003776843]

The present study examined the relationships between construal of self and emotion socialisation goals. The Parental Goals for Children's Emotional Competence Scale was constructed to measure the relative importance of individualistic emotional competence (IEC) and relational emotional competence (REC) of children to parents. Data were collected from 189 Chinese mothers living in Hong Kong. It was found that the Chinese mothers in Hong Kong have a dominant interdependent construal of self and valued REC more. Structural equation modelling results show that the independent construal of self predicted the endorsement of IEC only, whereas the interdependent construal of self predicted the endorsement of both IEC and REC. The Parental Goals for Children's Emotional Competence Scale was shown to have strong construct validity.
[Copyright of Early Child Development and Care is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03004431003671820]

Evidence from Australia lends support to the "Asian high achieving syndrome" in Chinese-Australian students and "self-deprivation syndrome" in Anglo-Australian students. Applying ethnographic case studies approach for doctoral thesis the author collected data on a longitudinal basis from homes and school of these students. All of these students attended the same school located in a predominantly middle class suburb of Perth Metropolitan area in Western Australia. Chinese-Australian families had settled in Perth from Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong, whereas Anglo-Australian families had been residing in Perth for three generations. Impetus to revisit these students (now young adults with their own families) 10 years later came from an urge to test the validity of the prediction the author had made in the concluding chapter of his doctoral thesis. The author had claimed that "if Anglo-Australian parents keep on dwelling in the era of 1950s and 1960s and do not change their laid-back attitude about education, their children could eventually be under-privileged in their own country". Ten years later, the author undertook a follow-up study on these young adults from six of the eight original families in order to find out their occupational destinations and future aspirations. Data for the follow-up study were collected from these young adults and their parents. These research cases were interviewed twice, each time approximately for two hours and their parents were interviewed once for two to three hours. The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of the follow-up study which reveals a remarkable relationship between the attitude towards schooling and academic performance with their subsequent occupational destination.
[Copyright of Asia Pacific Journal of Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2013.860010]