Objectives: Research shows that compassion from others and from the self may enable university students to face, overcome, and bounce back from adversity and generate a greater sense of thriving and meaning in life. However, the underlying processes are largely unknown. The present study aimed to examine the associations of compassion with psychological distress, flourishing, and meaning in life among university students and explore the mechanisms underlying these associations. Methods: A total of 536 Hong Kong university students completed questionnaires measuring their experiences of compassion from others, self-compassion, resilience, psychological distress, flourishing, and meaning in life. Results: Serial mediation analyses showed that compassion from others was associated positively with self-compassion, which was, in turn, linked to greater resilience and consequently lower levels of psychological distress and higher levels of flourishing and meaning in life. Conclusions: Our findings reveal the associations of compassion from others and self-compassion with the well-being and life meaning of university students. The findings highlight the importance of being open and receptive to love and kindness from others. The findings also point to the importance of developing a caring attitude toward oneself. Copyright © 2022 The Author(s).

At present, there is a growing concern about cultivating virtue among youngsters in Hong Kong. Although moral and character education have been put on the education agenda, it is important to ensure that teachers have sufficient efficacy in moral and character education. Unfortunately, limited empirical evidence for this has been found within the Hong Kong context. Using a sample of 647 moral and character education teachers from 21 secondary schools in Hong Kong, this study examined teacher self-efficacy and its relations with teacher engagement and teacher emotional labour. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the construct validity of each scale. Structural equation modelling was used to test the theoretical model, indicating a good model fit. The strongest predictor of teacher efficacy for moral education was teachers’ personal teaching efficacy. The findings are discussed with implications for future practice and research. Copyright © 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

This chapter aims to introduce the development of and issues related to parent and community engagement in life education in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The development of life education in Taiwan has highly involved parent groups since the early stage. Parents, different community organisations, and school teachers have collaborated closely with each other, enabling a large number of children to have the opportunity to learn about life education. Compared with traditional teaching approaches, alternative ways of conducting life education through parent and community engagement have shown their effectiveness. Utilising various forms of school curriculum such as the Morning Light, Integrated Activity class, and other courses and services, parents join classes and accompany children through activities such as story-telling, drama acting, music, and dancing, bringing a lively atmosphere to life education as well as companionship to their children. Taking the experience of the Rainbow Family Life Education Association as an example, this chapter also discusses parent and community engagement with existing relevant research. Compared with life education in Taiwan, parental involvement in the promotion of life education in Hong Kong tends to be less systematic and there is much room for future enhancement. Copyright © 2021 selection and editorial matter, John Chi-Kin Lee, Stephen Yam-Wing Yip and Raymond Ho-Man Kong; individual chapters, the contributors.