The present study investigated how students' attitudes toward bullying were influenced simultaneously by personal and contextual factors in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taipei. Participants included 25,338 students (15-year-olds, from grade 7 to 12) and 663 schools from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taipei drawn from the Program for International Student Assessment 2018. Multilevel structural equation modeling with Bayesian estimation was conducted for data analysis. The results showed that, for personal factors, girls had stronger anti-bullying attitudes than boys in each sample. Resilience and self-efficacy predicted students' anti-bullying attitudes positively and significantly in all three regions. For family contextual factors, parents' emotional support had positive effects on students' attitudes toward bullying in three regions. For school contextual factors, there was no consistent result among the three regions. School location and school belonging were positive predictors of students' anti-bullying attitudes in Mainland China. By contrast, class size and student behavior hindering learning negatively correlated with students' anti-bullying attitudes in Hong Kong. In Taipei, students in public schools were more likely to form anti-bullying attitudes, and a positive association was found between the student--teacher ratio and students' attitudes toward bullying. Distinguishing the commonalities and differences in the factors influencing students' attitudes toward bullying in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taipei provides empirical evidence to understand school bullying prevention and control mechanism. Copyright © 2023 Wiley.

Research has shown that the triarchic model of grit scale (TMGS)—a measure that assesses tendency to show perseverance, passion, and adaptability for long-term goals—has been valid in different contexts such as the Philippines, Japan, Poland, mainland China, and the United States. However, there is limited research on the validity of this scale in Hong Kong. Against this backdrop, this research examined the structural, convergent, and criterion-related of the TMGS among secondary school students in Hong Kong. A total of 298 secondary school students in Hong Kong participated in this study. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to evaluate the structural validity of the three-factor model of grit. Correlational analysis was conducted between grit's dimensions and school satisfaction to assess the criterion-related validity of this scale. CFA showed that the scores from the three-factor model of grit underpinned by perseverance of effort, consistency of interests, and adaptability to situations were valid and reliable. There was mixed evidence on the convergent validity of the scale based on the subscales’ composite reliability (CR) estimates. Whereas perseverance of effort and adaptability to situations were positively correlated to school satisfaction, consistency of interests was negatively linked to the said criterion variable. This research demonstrates the potential applicability of the TMGS in Hong Kong. Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Psychology in the Schools Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.

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.

Research on intrinsic and extrinsic future goals has mostly focused on their impact on wellbeing with relatively lesser attention being focused on key learning outcomes. This study investigates how the pursuit of different future goals (i.e., society-, family-, career-, wealth-, and fame-oriented goals) affects students' self-control, and whether self-control mediates the relationship between future goals and distal learning outcomes (i.e., students' affect to school and academic achievement 1 year later). The study adopted a longitudinal design involving 8,354 secondary students from 16 schools in Hong Kong. Students had to complete English and Mathematics achievement tests and answer questionnaires measuring the key variables. Structural equation modeling analysis indicated intrinsic future goals were more adaptive compared to extrinsic ones. In particular, results revealed the importance of society-oriented goal on self-control and distal learning outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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This study investigated the associations among reading strategy instruction, student motivational factors (i.e., attitudes toward reading, reading self-concept, and motivation to read), gender, and reading achievement. The analyses were conducted using the Hong Kong sample (students at Level 1, n=3,875 and teachers at Level 2, n=133) from the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study 2011 through multilevel structural equation modeling. The results showed that, first, the relation between the frequency of reading strategy instruction and student reading achievement was mediated by student attitudes toward reading. Second, the frequency of reading strategy instruction was significantly related to student attitudes toward reading and motivation to read and student attitudes toward reading was significantly associated with reading achievement. Finally, girls had more positive attitudes toward reading, more positive reading self-concept, higher motivation to read, and higher reading achievement than boys. These findings may shed light on how teachers should arrange their reading strategy instruction to interplay with student attitudes toward reading and motivation to read and to help improve reading achievement.
[Copyright of Psychology in the Schools is the property of John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.]