Studies have shown that the School Kindness Scale (SKS) has adequate psychometric properties in different societies such as Canada, Turkey, and the Philippines. However, there is scarce evidence on the psychometric validity of this scale across multiple societies and educational contexts. This study explores the cross-national invariance of the SKS among high school students in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Results showed that the modified unidimensional model of school kindness with correlated error terms on item number 2 and 3 had the most optimal fit. There was evidence supporting partial invariance of the modified unidimensional model of school kindness across setting and year level, and full invariance across gender. Whereas school kindness also demonstrated positive correlations with perceived academic performance in Hong Kong and mainland China, this construct was linked to higher emotional and social engagement in math in all contexts. Copyright © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

The Active Healthy Kids 2019 Hong Kong Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth with Special Educational Needs (SEN) provides evidence-based assessments for nine indicators of physical activity behaviors and related sources of influence for 6- to 17-year-olds with SEN in Hong Kong. This is the first Report Card for this population group in Hong Kong. The best available data between 2008 and 2019 were reviewed by a panel of experts. Following the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance (AHKGA) development process, letter grades were assigned to nine indicators (Overall Physical Activity, Organized Sport Participation, Active Play, Active Transportation, Sedentary Behaviors, Family & Peers, School, Community & Environment, and Government Strategies & Investments). Two behavior indicators (Overall Physical Activity: F; Sedentary Behaviors: D+) and two contextual indicators (School: B; Government Strategies & Investments: C-) were assigned a letter grade. The remaining indicators including Organized Sport Participation, Active Play, Active Transportation, Family & Peers, and Community & Environment were not graded due to insufficient data. A majority of children and youth with SEN in Hong Kong are physically inactive and have a high level of sedentary behaviors. Schools are ideal settings to promote physical activity for this population. There is a need to develop a comprehensive surveillance system to monitor this population, assess efforts to improve the grades, and promote physical activity opportunities for children and youth with SEN. Copyright ©Elsevier (Singapore) Pte Ltd.

The present study investigated the co-occurrence of word reading and spelling difficulties for Chinese first language (L1) and English second language (L2) and the role of morphological awareness in word reading and spelling ability across two languages. A total of 110 Hong Kong Chinese-speaking students in Grade 7, including 55 adolescents with dyslexia (28 males, mean age = 152.11 months) and 55 typically developing adolescents (27 males, mean age = 151.85 months) participated. They were assessed on the cognitive-linguistic measures of morphological awareness, phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, rapid naming, word reading, and word spelling in L1 and L2. Multivariate analysis of variance showed that compared with the typical students, adolescents with dyslexia had poorer performance in all L1 and L2 measures except the phonological awareness in Chinese. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that for both groups of students, morphological awareness contributed uniquely to word reading and spelling in L1 and L2; rapid letter naming contributed uniquely to English word spelling. Findings highlight the importance of co-occurring difficulties in L1 and L2 reading and spelling and that morphological awareness may play a critical role in predicting word reading and spelling across languages for Chinese adolescents with dyslexia and those without difficulty. Copyright © Sage Publications Ltd.

1965至1985年間，香港高等教育的發展相當緩慢，只有不足5%的適齡青年可升讀由大學教育資助委員會資助的大學學位課程，及至20世紀80年代中起，大學學位開始大量增加，進入大學的適齡人口百分比提升至18%。2000年，香港特別行政區行政長官更進一步提出要在十年內令香港高等教育的普及率達到60%。由2000–2001至2005–2006學年，高等教育參與率已增加至超過60%。本文探討在香港高等教育擴張後期，中學生對升讀高等教育期望的變化。本文研究數據來自2009年和2012年的學生能力國際評估計劃（以下簡稱PISA）。2009年香港的PISA調查在該年5至6月間進行，而2012年的調查則在該年4至5月間進行。本研究嘗試探索以下四個範疇：（1）學生的教育期望在兩次調查期間（2009至2012年）的變化；（2）學生的家庭社經背景與教育期望間的關係；（3）學生能力與教育期望間的關係；（4）家庭社經背景與學生能力等因素對學生期望升讀大學的相對影響程度。From 1965 to 1985, the development of higher education was very slow in Hong Kong. Less than 5% of age-eligible adolescents were admitted to UGC-funded university degree program. However, since the mid-1980s, there has been an expansion of university places and the university admission rate has increased to 18% of the age-eligible population. In 2000, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region proposed that the admission rate of higher education be increased to 60% within ten years. As a consequence, the participation rate of higher education was increased to over 60% from the school year 2000–2001 to 2005–2006. This article focuses on the change in expectation for pursuing higher education of Hong Kong secondary school students during the post-massification of Hong Kong higher education.The data of this article originates from two cycles of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) — PISA 2009 and PISA 2012. PISA 2009 in Hong Kong was conducted from May to June 2009, while PISA 2012 was conducted from April to May 2012. This article attempts to investigate the following four areas: (1) the changes in students’ educational expectation during 2009 to 2012; (2) the relationship between students’ family socioeconomic background and their educational expectation; (3) the relationship between students’ ability and their educational expectation; (4) the relative impact of family socioeconomic background and students’ ability on their educational expectation toward the pursuit of university education. Copyright © 2009

Aim: Although the reasons behind the stigmatization of psychosis are manifold, poor mental health literacy among the general public is likely to be a major factor. In Hong Kong, the Early Psychosis Foundation (EPISO) was established in 2007 to tackle this issue by providing educational and mental health promotional activities, among other aims and services. The current study evaluated the effectiveness of a school-based interventional programme, the School Tour, developed by EPISO.; Methods: The School Tour differentiates itself from other interventional programmes by supplementing a traditional psychoeducational talk with 2 additional elements: an engaging drama performance and exercise demonstrations. Twelve secondary schools, with a total of 4520 students, participated in the study. Knowledge and attitudes towards psychosis were evaluated before and after the school programme.; Results: The School Tour was found to improve both students' knowledge of psychosis (P < .001) and their attitude (P < .001) towards the illness.; Conclusions: Its effectiveness in reducing the stigma towards psychosis validates the use of novel strategies like drama performances to engage adolescent students, and urges the government to support increased student participation in the programme by providing funding to the relevant organizations.
[Copyright of Early Intervention In Psychiatry is the property of Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia.]

Financial literacy is a multicomponent construct comprising financial knowledge, attitude, behaviors, and well-being. Financial literacy in young people helps them to achieve financial independence and escape from intergenerational poverty. Recent assessments, however, reveal that youth financial literacy is unsatisfactory. Financial education should be provided for students during secondary school as a natural context in which to establish young people's financial literacy. Empirical evidence from randomized experiments studying the impact of financial education on secondary school students, however, is limited. To address this research gap, we performed a randomized experiment with 270 Form-3 (U.S. equivalent Grade 9) secondary school students in Hong Kong. Structural equation modeling (SEM) results demonstrated that objective financial knowledge, financial attitudinal variables, and financial well-being variables could converge into the latent construct of financial literacy, while all financial behavioral variables converged into another latent construct of financial behavior; of note, the two latent constructs were not significantly correlated. SEM results also revealed that our financial education program significantly improved financial literacy, but did not have a significant effect on financial behavior in the short term. These findings contribute to existing financial literacy research by facilitating more accurate measurement and detailing the near-term effects of financial interventions at the adolescent stage in young people. Copyright © 2019 The Author(s).

A 35-item instrument, the School-Related Worries Questionnaire (SRWQ), was developed to assess school-related issues of concern among Chinese adolescents. The questionnaire was completed by 562 Chinese secondary-school students in Hong Kong. The SRWQ was found to have good internal consistency (alpha =.89). A principal components factor analysis with varimax solutions yielded seven meaningful factors, namely: 1. Examinations; 2. Studies; 3. English as a second language; 4. Friends; 5. Teacher-Student Relationships; 6. Learning Environment; 7. Homework. Potential uses of the SRWQ are briefly discussed. 剛制訂了一項調查名為「與學校相關的憂慮問卷」(SRWQ)，當中列有 35 條專案，目的在於評估中國青少年所關注與學校相關的事情。共 562 名香港的中學生完成了這項問卷調查。調查結果顯示有很好的內部一致性(系數 = .89)。主要成分因數分析產生了七項有意義的因數，即︰1. 考試；2. 學習；3. 以英語作為第二語言；4. 朋友； 5. 老師與學生的相互關係； 6. 學習環境； 7. 家課。現概述問卷的可能用法。
[Copyright of Hong Kong Special Education Forum is the property of Special Education Society of Hong Kong Ltd.. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
https://sites.google.com/a/seshk.org.hk/seshk-org-hk/c_publication]

The multidimensional PERMA-H positive education model provided evaluation and education framework for the theoretical and practice development of positive psychology in schools. Character strengths use mediates the association of strength knowledge and well-being. Using the Assessment Program for Affective and Social Outcomes (2nd Version) (APASO-II), the Subjective Happiness Scale, and the Physical Health Subscale of the PERMA-profiler, a multidimensional measure of PERMA-H was validated using confirmatory factor analysis in the context of a positive education program evaluation in senior primary school students. The association of PERMA-H measurements with school well-being as measured by general satisfaction of school life, and levels of depression and anxiety, and the mediation mechanism of character strengths use in such association were studied using path analysis. A cross-sectional sample of 726 senior primary school students (i.e., grade 4-6) aged 8-13 from the two primary schools completed a baseline evaluation questionnaire of a positive education program. Satisfactory internal reliability of the scales was obtained with Cronbach's alpha coefficients <0.70. The scales were generally positively and moderately inter-correlated, except for level of anxiety and depression symptoms which was negative. Good psychometric properties of APASO-II were evidenced from the factor structure of sub-scale scores conforming to six factors of the PERMA-H model by confirmatory factor analysis. Path analyses showed that the APASO-II factors together with measures of subject happiness and positive health as the multidimensional PERMA-H model of positive education differentially predicted general satisfaction of school life, level of anxiety and depression, and character strengths use. Character strengths use mediated the relationship of Positive Engagement with general satisfaction of school life. Positive education utilizes knowledge and research findings from positive psychology

This study examined the treatment efficacy of PEERS®; (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) among Chinese adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Hong Kong. The original PEERS®; manual was translated into Chinese, and cultural adjustments were made according to a survey among 209 local adolescents in the general population. 72 high-functioning adolescents with ASD were randomly assigned to a treatment or waitlist control group. The 14-week parent-assisted training significantly improved social skills knowledge and social functioning, and also reduced autistic mannerisms. Treatment outcomes were maintained for 3 months after training and replicated in the control group after delayed treatment. The present study represents one of the few randomized controlled trials on PEERS® conducted outside North America.
[Copyright of Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders is the property of Springer Science & Business Media. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3728-1]

This study explored two under-researched areas on students' attitudes towards science, that is, the structural models representing these attitudes and the role played by school bands in moderating the gender differences in such attitudes. The participants were 360 ninth graders in Hong Kong from 3 school bands. The structural equation modelling method was adopted to compare four hypothetical models for students' attitudes towards science. Results reflect that (i) the data supported the three-factor structure of the behavioural domain of students' attitudes towards science; (ii) the four lower level dimensions of the attitudes towards science (i.e. value of science to society, self-concept in science, anxiety towards science and enjoyment of science) could be further integrated into broader categories; (iii) male students demonstrated significantly more positive attitudes towards science in five dimensions (i.e. self-concept in science, enjoyment in science, learning science in and outside the classroom and future participation) and (iv) school bands played a prominent moderating role in gender differences in students' attitudes towards science. Implications for studying and developing students' attitudes towards science are discussed in the paper.