It has been reported that poor psychological health of students is linked to the experience of being bullied by peers. In Hong Kong, there is a paucity of research on this form of social aggression and it is difficult to tackle the problem effectively. This study uses stratified random sampling techniques and a variety of research strategies (e.g. self-report, psychological assessment, questionnaire, interview) to collect data from students, teachers, school heads, and parents. The results will help throw light upon the antecedents, contextual factors, short- and long-term consequences of the problem so that appropriate intervention can be initiated.

This study aims to explore the relationships between the extent and perceived quality of teachers' experience of training in behaviour management (BM), and their awareness of the nature and extent of behavioural problems among school students, and their confidence in their own competence to deal with such problems. Teachers (n=183) from Hong Kong primary schools were surveyed. The results showed that gender, age and whether teachers have received training had no significant influence on teachers' awareness, conception and confidence regarding BM. A negative correlation was found between teachers' levels of satisfaction in relation to their training experiences and their perceptions of the level of problematic behaviours among students, and the impact of students' problematic behaviour on their teaching. A positive correlation was found between teachers' levels of satisfaction in relation to their training experiences and their confidence in their own competence to deal with students' problematic behaviour.

The contribution of social context to school bullying was examined from the self-determination theory perspective in this longitudinal study of 536 adolescents from 3 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Latent class growth analysis of the student-reported data at 5 time points from grade 7 to grade 9 identified 4 groups of students: bullies (9.8%), victims (3.0%), bully-victims (9.4%), and typical students (77.8%). There was a significant association between academic tracking and group membership. Students from the school with the lowest academic performance had a greater chance of being victims and bully-victims. Longitudinal data showed that all 4 groups tended to report less victimization over the years. The victims and the typical students also had a tendency to report less bullying over the years, but this tendency was reversed for bullies and bully-victims. Perceived support from teachers for relatedness significantly predicted membership of the groups of bullies and victims. Students with higher perceived support for relatedness from their teachers had a significantly lower likelihood of being bullies or victims. The findings have implications for the theory and practice of preventive interventions in school bullying.
[Copyright © 2014 American Psychological Association.]

Perception involves the discovery, detection, impression, interpretation and comprehension of a particular event and is a kind of human mental activities. Lots of research investigate this psychological phenomenon by exploring the teachers' thinking processes and ways of construing their perception (Eibaz, 1981; Morine- Dershimer, 1009; Schon, 1983. As reflective practitioners, teachers develop schemata on how to teach or make decision effectively in their classroom teaching. They form judgments about their students' academic performance and classroom behaviors, and evaluate them to see if they are acceptable or unacceptable, typical or atypical, normal or deviant. These judgments become the basis of their decisions which lead to the subsequent responses or behavioral patterns. The ability of perceiving the nature and severity of classroom problems and making judgments is unique and crucial in the process of early identification. The schemata they use help them to identify the learning, emotional or conduct cause of a particular behavioral problem. However, teachers from different backgrounds (primary, secondary, special education, remedial teaching, pre-service or inservice teachers) will have a perceptual difference on behavioral problems. A survey investigating the teachers' perception of children with behavioral problems was conducted on 568 school teachers in Hong Kong. Teachers of different backgrounds were presented with the descriptions of some typical behavioral problems and they had to judge the learning, emotion or conduct cause of the cases. This study attempted to explore how well the teachers with distinct school backgrounds perceived the presented cases. The result revealed that most teachers perceived more learning problems but fewer conduct problems in the cases. The teachers found to be sensible to the learning and emotion causes of their children . Different groups of teachers held divergent views on perceiving the cases. More secondary and student