Linkages between Interparental Conflicts and Adjustment of Adolescents in Hong Kong: The Mediating Role of Locus of Control

Journal of Child and Family Studies - Interparental conflicts have long been recognized as a risk factor for maladjustment in adolescents. Many studies have been conducted to examine mediators that...     

Inclusive Leadership and Employee Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Person-Job Fit

This study explored the effects of inclusive leadership on employee well-being and innovative behavior. We also investigated the mediating role of person-job fit in these relationships. We tested these effects on a sample of 207 employees in five telecommunication companies in Vietnam, using a questionnaire survey. The results showed that inclusive leadership is positively related to employee well-being and innovative behavior, and that person-job fit mediates these relationships. The study makes theoretical contributions to the literature of leadership and organizational psychology, and suggests useful managerial implications for organizations to boost employee well-being and innovative behavior. Taking a cultural approach, this study provides empirical cross-cultural validity of the effect of inclusive leadership on employee well-being.     

Forgiveness, Gratitude, and Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Affect and Beliefs

Forgiveness and gratitude are positive psychological characteristics that are connected to well-being. This study examined these connections in an understudied population of psychotherapy outpatients and examined the extent to which affect and beliefs mediated these relationships. Participants were 72 outpatients who completed a battery of assessments as part of a standard intake protocol. Results showed that forgiveness and gratitude were both positively and strongly associated with well-being and largely, though not completely, mediated by affect and belief. Forgiveness and gratitude may have an important place in the positive psychologist’s repertoire of well-being enhancing techniques and exercises in general, and may be particularly powerful with a clinical psychotherapy population.     

Regulatory Focus and Subjective Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Coping Styles and the Moderating Role of Gender

Abstract

Although previous research has suggested that regulatory focus may exert considerable impacts on individuals’ subjective well-being (SWB), little research has explored the mechanism for this relation and the potential gender difference. The current study investigated the potential mediating effects of coping styles on the relationship between regulatory focus and three aspects of SWB (indicated by life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect) among Chinese adolescents. Total of 2943 Chinese adolescents participated in this cross-sectional survey and completed self-reported questionnaires (M_age = 14.47, SD?=?1.59, 44.50% boys). Hypothesized pathways were tested by structural equation models. Results showed that regulatory foci were significantly associated with SWB. Promotion focus predicted SWB mainly through problem-focused coping, and the mediating effects of emotion-focused coping were also observed; Prevention focus predicted SWB mainly through emotion-focused coping, and the mediating effects of problem-focused coping were observed. Furthermore, relative to boys, the prediction of problem-focused coping on life satisfaction was stronger and the prediction of promotion focus on life satisfaction was weaker for girls. These findings provide a new approach to understand the mechanism for the relationship between regulatory foci and SWB, and indicate the gender differences of this process.     

香港社区礼俗与信仰共生——道教太平清醮中所见的信仰复合

本文以香港新界地区的太平清醮庆典仪式的田野调查为基础,从道教教义、仪式理论以及太平清醮仪式的宗教意义等角度分析宗教信仰在中国人生活世界中的地位和功能,进而尝试说明不同的宗教信仰为什么可以在中国人的宗教生活中共存共生。作者试图说明,由于道教已经通过其仪法结构将教义和宗教思想传递出来,以道教仪式为基本形式的社区礼俗自然就可以包容其他异质的信仰。     

大学生社会支持与幸福感:社交自尊的中介作用

采用领悟社会支持量表、德克萨斯社会行为问卷和综合幸福感问卷对330位大学生进行调查,建立社会支持、社交自尊和幸福感的结构方程,考察社交自尊在社会支持与幸福感之间的中介作用。结果发现:(1)大学生社会支持对社交自尊和主观幸福感、心理幸福感都有显著的正向预测作用;(2)大学生社交自尊对主观幸福感和心理幸福感均具有显著的正向预测作用;(3)社交自尊在社会支持和主观幸福感、心理幸福感之间起到部分中介的作用,即社会支持直接对主观幸福感、心理幸福感产生影响,也可通过社交自尊间接影响主观幸福感、心理幸福感。     

Linking Adult Attachment Styles to Relationship Satisfaction in Hong Kong and the United States: The Mediating Role of Personal and Structural Commitment

Maintaining a satisfying heterosexual relationship is important to many individuals?? happiness and physical health. Evolutionary theories on the formation of relationships suggest that adult attachment and relationship commitment are universal mechanisms for securing and maintaining such mating relationships. This study sought to understand how these two mechanisms may link to each other and how they in turn contribute to relationship satisfaction with one??s current partner in Hong Kong Chinese and American cultures. Similarities in the model for relationship satisfaction were found among young dating couples in the United States and Hong Kong. Specifically, attachment anxiety was positively linked to structural commitment, whereas attachment avoidance was negatively related to personal commitment. Both dimensions of attachment (anxiety and avoidance) and both components of commitment (personal and structural) were found to predict current relationship satisfaction significantly and equivalently across cultures, with the pathway from attachment avoidance to current relationship satisfaction similarly mediated by personal commitment in both cultural groups. These results were interpreted in terms of a probable universal logic informing the interpersonal dynamics involving attachment and relationship commitment.     

Widowhood and the Subjective Well-Being of Older People in China: the Mediating Effects of Lifestyle

Applied Research in Quality of Life - Previous research has illustrated that lifestyle is correlated with widowhood and subjective well-being amongst older people; however, few studies have...     

Religiosity and Healthy Lifestyle Behaviours in Malaysian Muslims: The Mediating Role of Subjective Well-Being and Self-Regulation

Past research on healthy lifestyle behaviours has been primarily conducted within Western or Judeo–Christian contexts, while non-Western or Muslim contexts remain under-represented. This study examined predictors of healthy lifestyle behaviours (religiosity, goal-setting, impulse control, and subjective well-being) in Malaysian Muslims and explored the mechanisms underlying the relationship between religiosity and healthy lifestyle behaviours. Self-report survey responses from 183 healthy adults (M _age = 28.63 years, 18–50 years) were analysed using regression and multiple mediation analyses. The results indicated that subjective well-being emerged as the strongest predictor, followed by goal-setting. Furthermore, subjective well-being and goal-setting mediated the religiosity–healthy lifestyle behaviour relationship. The findings provide guidance for future health-promoting interventions.     

Analyzing the Relationship Between Social Capital and Subjective Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Social Affiliation

While previous studies have established social capital as an important determinant of subjective well-being (SWB), the broader social context people are living in has not received much attention in terms of SWB. To address this issue, we propose the concept of social affiliation, measuring the feeling of belonging to the social whole, of being a respected and valued member of society. In contrast to standard concepts of social capital, social affiliation is not related to an individual’s direct environment (‘Gemeinschaft’), but concerns one’s relation to society (‘Gesellschaft’). Such a subjective evaluation of how an individual feels within a broader societal context is neither covered by traditional concepts of social capital nor by the concept of social cohesion which focuses on the macro level. A perception of oneself as living on the margins of society, of not being a respected member of society, is very likely to diminish subjective well-being. At the same time, it can be expected to not be completely unrelated to individual resources of social capital. Drawing on unique survey data from Japan, we analyze the triangle relationship between social capital, social affiliation and subjective well-being applying a structural equation model. Our results have two main implications. First, we show that social affiliation has an effect on subjective well-being that is independent from the effect of standard measures of social capital. Second, we find that social capital influences social affiliation, and thereby also has an indirect effect on subjective well-being. In terms of theory building our results suggest that social embeddedness has two elements which should be measured separately: a community dimension usually measured as social capital in terms of trust, personal networks and norms, and a societal dimension of being and feeling part of a ‘Gesellschaft’, measured as social affiliation.     

Domain-Specific Growth Mindsets and Dimensions of Psychological Well-Being Among Adolescents in Hong Kong

With a view initiated by the positive psychology movement that research emphases should be directed to examining human positives and well-being rather than psychopathology and dysfunctioning, this study explored the growth mindset as a character strength affecting the well-being of adolescents. Specifically, this study investigated the domain-specificity of growth mindsets, with a focus on exploring the beneficial effects of different growth mindsets on adolescents’ positive psychological well-being, taking into consideration gender and age group differences. A sample of Hong Kong adolescents (N = 856) completed the Growth Mindset Rating Form that assesses respondents’ growth mindsets in the domains of intelligence, ability, personality and relationship, and the Chinese version of Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being Scale. Results from model-comparison using Confirmatory Factor Analysis indicated that a four-factor model provided the best fit to the mindset data, supporting the domain-specificity of growth mindsets. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses results suggested that the four growth mindsets had differentiated effects on six dimensions of psychological well-being over and above the effects of gender and age group. Such domain-specific effects of growth mindsets on psychological well-being dimensions could be interpreted as largely applicable to boys and girls, and to younger and older age groups, based on regressions conducted with separate groups. These separate group analyses also identified some notable group differences for growth mindsets of ability and relationships. Implications for promoting the cultivation of different growth mindsets as character strengths for adolescent positive functioning are discussed.

     

Promoting Service Leadership Qualities and Well-Being among University Students: Evaluation Findings in Hong Kong

Service leadership education initiatives have been launched in Hong Kong to meet the emerging demand for service leaders and enhance university students’ well-being through nurturing not only competence but also good character and caring disposition. However, rigorous evaluation work based on validated assessment tools has not been adequately carried out to examine whether student well-being and service leadership qualities would increase after the learning process. Using a one-group pretest-posttest design, this study investigated the effectiveness of a credit-bearing subject entitled “Service Leadership” implemented in one university in Hong Kong. Based on the responses of 114 participants (49.1% boys, Age = 20.21 ± 2.96 years), it was found that students showed improvement in service leadership knowledge, attitude, and behavior after taking the subject. In addition, their life satisfaction and positive youth development attributes as indicators of well-being also significantly increased. Furthermore, the increase in well-being among students was closely associated with their attitudinal and behavioral changes but not knowledge acquisition. The present findings imply that a formal curriculum-based leadership course can be a promising way to promote student service leadership qualities and well-being.

     

The Importance of Spirituality in Well-Being for Jews and Christians

There is a well-known association between religion and happiness, although it is not known which particular aspects of religiosity correlate with life satisfaction, or if the correlates are different for people of different religions. In three studies, the correlations of different facets of religiosity with happiness or life satisfaction were explored. In different samples and with different measures, congregational support and public practice of religion appear to correlate similarly with measures of life satisfaction for members of different religions. However, spirituality, religious coping, and religious belief were better predictors of happiness and quality of life for Protestants and Catholics than for Jews. It is therefore contended that religion should be an important consideration, along with religiosity, in study of satisfaction with life, and that the link between spirituality and life satisfaction be followed up, particularly among Christians.     

Community psychology in Hong Kong: Past,present, and future

The expansion of mental health services during the 1960s from a single remote mental hospital to centers and clinics in mainstream communities fostered the development of community psychology in Hong Kong. Few psychologists were initially involved in the local community mental health movement, but its momentum resulted in increasing numbers of practitioner psychologists working in community-based service settings. Community psychology in Hong Kong today consists primarily of service delivery, but also includes applied research, community organization/consultation, and community education. Despite having many parallels with the American situation, key concepts underpinning the practice of community psychology in the Territory possess their own character as a reflection of nuances in the local scene. Prospects for the continued development of community psychology in Hong Kong appear favorable. Of special relevance is the field's potential contribution to a better understanding of the psychological phenomena associated with the Territory's sociopolitical transformation in 1997.     

Effects of a Strengths Intervention on General and Work-Related Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Positive Affect

In this article, we explore the use of strengths interventions, defined as activities and processes that target the identification, development, and use of individual strengths, as an organizational tool to increase employee well-being. Engaging with one’s strengths is assumed to be a pleasant activity that elicits positive emotions like joy, pride, and gratitude, which, in turn, contribute to feelings of overall well-being and satisfaction. Building on this assumption, we hypothesized that participating in a strengths intervention leads to increases in general (i.e., psychological capital and satisfaction with life), and work-related well-being (i.e., increased work engagement and decreased burnout), and that positive affect mediates these effects. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a field experiment with a sample of N = 116 Dutch working people who were assigned to either an experimental group (participating in a strengths intervention) or a waitlist control group. All participants filled in a pre-intervention, post-intervention, and 1 month follow-up questionnaire. Results indicate that participating in a strengths intervention creates short-term increases in employee positive affect and short- and long-term increases in psychological capital. We did not find evidence for a positive, direct effect of the strengths intervention on satisfaction with life, work engagement, and burnout respectively, but we did find support for indirect effects via the mediator positive affect.     

Acceptability of Sexist Language among Young People in Hong Kong

The purpose of the present study was to provide information on the acceptability of some selected gender-exclusive and inclusive usages and lexis in Hong Kong English. They include the selection of generic he or gender-neutral pronouns anaphoric to indefinite pronouns (e.g., everybody, someone) and occupational terms (e.g., doctor, lawyer, cleaner). A number of generic nouns and sex-unspecified nouns with or without morphologically marked gender were also examined (e.g., chairman vs chairperson, fireman vs fire fighter). The findings reveal that linguistic sexism is still prevalent in Hong Kong. However, the strong feminist movement in Western countries and in the education field has had an impact among young people, some of whom have shown concern to avoid gender-biased language. Although consistent gender differences were not found in the present study, some significant differences between men and women were revealed; a relatively higher proportion of women opted for the coordinate pronoun he/she and gender-neutral occupational terms, whereas more men opted for generic they.     

Religious Involvement and Depression: The Mediating Effect of Relational Spirituality

Journal of Religion and Health - Multiple studies have examined the relationship between religious involvement and depression. Many of these investigations reveal a negative correlation between...     

Psychosocial Factors Influencing Individual Well-Being in Chinese Adolescents in Hong Kong: a Six-Year Longitudinal Study

This pioneer study investigated the longitudinal development of adolescent subjective well-being (SWB) in terms of life satisfaction and hopelessness. The concurrent and longitudinal influence of different socio-demographic characteristics (i.e., age, gender, economic disadvantage, and family intactness), individual qualities (i.e., resilience, social competence, positive identity, and spirituality), and familial characteristics (i.e., family functioning, and parent-child relationship) on these two aspects of SWB were examined. A total of 3328 Hong Kong students from 28 secondary schools participated in a 6-year longitudinal study. While adolescent life satisfaction showed a declining trend, hopelessness gradually increased across the six years. Resilience, social competence, family functioning, and father-child relational qualities were significant predictors of life satisfaction at the initial status, whereas gender, mother-child relational qualities, positive identity and spirituality predicted changes in life satisfaction over time. Regarding hopelessness, gender, family intactness, resilience, social competence, father-child relational qualities, and mother-child relational qualities were significant correlates at the initial slope, but spirituality and family functioning were the longitudinal predictors of hopelessness over the adolescence period. While the present study showed that some existing Western findings can be replicated in the Chinese context, there are some novel and puzzling observations deserving further scrutiny.     

Spirituality and Subjective Well-Being: Evidences for a New Domain in the Personal Well-Being Index

Subjective well-being explores the evaluations, both positive and negative, of how people experience their lives. Research in the field inquires how people perceive their well-being in different settings, including different cultures, regions and cities. A large number of different measures have been designed to capture subjective well-being. One of the most used SWB measure is the Personal Well-being Index (PWI), an evaluation of life developed by Cummins et al [(2003). Social Indicators Research, 64, 159–190] which proposes that satisfaction with life consists of seven different life-domains. Theoretical considerations of the contribution of spirituality and religiosity to life satisfaction, from a eudaimonic (from the Greek, it consists of the word "eu" (good or well-being) and the word “daemon” (spirit)) point of view, led to test the contribution of this new domain in the prediction of the Personal Well-being Index (PWI) in Bogotá, Colombia. Empirical results confirm the construct validity and reliability of the scale. The contribution of the new domain—satisfaction with spirituality and religiosity—to PWI was found significant. Based on these results the paper explores conceptually the role of spirituality contributing to satisfaction with life. The finding stresses the importance of interpreting satisfaction with life as a whole from the Aristotelian concept of eudaimonia. New questions for research in this important area are proposed