PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN HONG KONG

With the rapid development of cross-cultural psychology, there is a need to provide international centres for research, which can become main focal points for cross-cultural research in specific geographic regions. The development of the Department of Psychology at the University of Hong Kong is being carried out with this broader context in view. In addition to offering excellent university facilities for psychological research, Hong Kong is also centrally located in relation to other Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Philippines Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Cambodia, none of which is more than 1500 miles from Hong Kong. The purpose of this paper is therefore to describe the departmental facilities for cross-cultural research in Hong Kong, departmental teaching, psychological research in Hong Kong, and finally the potential of Hong Kong as a natural laboratory for research in a multi-cultural, multilingual, traditional-modern context.     

Human Capital and the Economic Assimilation of Recent Immigrants in Hong Kong

Using data from the 1996, 2001, and 2006 years of the Hong Kong Population Census, this paper reported the nativity earnings gap among a synthetic cohort of immigrant and native male Chinese employees in Hong Kong. Consistent with previous research, we found earnings divergence for all workers. However, this earnings divergence masked a reverse trend for low-skilled workers. Over time, low-skilled immigrant workers gained earnings assimilation with low-skilled native workers, but high-skilled immigrant workers did not gain assimilation with high-skilled native workers. A decomposition analysis suggested that the relative skill prices cannot explain the overtime change in the relative mean-earnings gaps by nativity. Further separating pre- and postmigration education of immigrants did not improve the explanatory power of the relative skill prices. Our results for Hong Kong are consistent with the findings from recent research on the economic assimilation of low-skilled immigrants in other countries.     

Bicultural identity, bilingualism, and psychological adjustment in multicultural societies: immigration-based and globalization-based acculturation

ABSTRACT The present investigation examined the impact of bicultural identity, bilingualism, and social context on the psychological adjustment of multicultural individuals. Our studies targeted three distinct types of biculturals: Mainland Chinese immigrants in Hong Kong, Filipino domestic workers (i.e., sojourners) in Hong Kong, and Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese college students. Individual differences in Bicultural Identity Integration (BII; Benet-Martínez, Leu, Lee, & Morris, 2002 ) positively predicted psychological adjustment for all the samples except sojourners even after controlling for the personality traits of neuroticism and self-efficacy. Cultural identification and language abilities also predicted adjustment, although these associations varied across the samples in meaningful ways. We concluded that, in the process of managing multiple cultural environments and group loyalties, bilingual competence, and perceiving one's two cultural identities as integrated are important antecedents of beneficial psychological outcomes.     

Suicide and occupation in Hong Kong

Suicide rates were highest among Service workers and the lowest in Agriculture workers and fisherfolk in Hong Kong.     

An epidemiological study on work and family stress among Chinese in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, with a population of over six million in a modern city, has been shown to be a very stressful place to live in. However, epidemiological data from a big-scale study in this regard are lacking. The present territory-wide survey, from a sample representative of the general population, was aimed to investigate the work and family stress of Chinese adults in the community with respect to the impact on their psychological well-being. The psychosocial context was considered as an important source of stress. The results showed that coping with work demands and rearing children were reported as the highest stress responses. Moreover, workers in Hong Kong took an instrumental attitude, i.e., one emphasizing material rewards, in order to reduce the job stress arising from interpersonal conflicts in the workplace.     

The relationship between external job mobility and salary attainment across career stages

The current study examines the relationship between external job mobility and salary for employees in different career stages. Based on career stage and career timetable theories, we predict that external job mobility would generate the greatest salary benefits for early-career employees whereas external job mobility would generate fewer salary benefits for employees in mid- and late career stages. Data collected from multiple industries in Hong Kong and the United States consistently show that, as expected, highly mobile early-career employees earn significantly greater salaries than their less mobile peers do. The positive effects of external job mobility on salary were stronger for early-career workers than for mid-and late-career workers.     

Environmental influences on risk taking among Hong Kong young dance partygoers

This study investigates risk-taking behavior and its associated factors among young Hong Kong partygoers at rave parties or discos. Based on a survey of 300 14 to 28-year-old dance partygoers recruited by outreaching social workers, the study provides data on risks in terms of the likelihood of drug abuse, coitus, unprotected coitus, fighting, and high-speed driving among the young people. Furthermore, it examines factors related to the dance party, together with a set of background factors on the partygoer's report of the chance of engaging in risky behavior as expected in the coming six months. Factors related to the dance party include the location (Hong Kong and Mainland China), fees, number of partners, dancers, police inspection, drug supply, drug sales, injuries, coitus, fighting, drug abuse, and environmental factors. The environmental factors are the availability of first aid, fire extinguishing, and drinking water facilities, light and audio effects, ventilation, drug circulation, underage admission, sex partners, fighting, and low-price beer. Implications of present findings for social policy and future research are discussed.     

Defining Islamic modernity through creative writing: a case study of Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong

Indonesian domestic workers (IDWs) have been frequently stereotyped as uneducated and submissive women with little or no bargaining power in transnational labour migration. This article examines why and how literacy practices help foster the activism of IDWs in Hong Kong. In particular, I seek to understand the significance of IDWs’ writing in relation to Islamic modernities. Using the framework of alternative modernities, I argue that the creative process of IDWs’ writing sheds light to their attempts to exercise individual and collective agency. Specifically, the article looks at the role of Forum Lingkar Pena (Pen Circle Forum, FLP) Hong Kong, an IDW writing community, to reveal how its collective literacy practices help affirm Islamic values as part of a modernisation process on IDWs’ own terms.     

PSYCHOLOGY IN HONG KONG*

Western psychology has had only a brief history in Hong Kong. However, it has grown considerably in the last two decades and is now firmly established academically and professionally. Currently, the Hong Kong Psychological Society has about 200 members and affiliates. Postgraduate training in research and in professional (clinical and educational) psychology is offered on a limited scale. Academic psychologists are active in research and in international bodies. Among practitioners, clinical psychologists number about 60 and educational psychologists about 20 - already among the largest in Asia. Two considerations are paramount in discussing future directions: to develop a psychology with indigenous roots, and to face the challenge of changing sociopolitical realities posed by the return of Hong Kong to China's sovereignty in 1997.     

Professional Counseling in Hong Kong

The authors provide an overview of recent developments in professional counseling as related to schools, career counseling, and community services in Hong Kong. The strategic position of counseling professionals, counseling associations, and counselor certification is discussed. The future development of counseling in Hong Kong is also considered.     

Bridging Borders in the Global City: Negotiating Sameness and Difference in Hong Kong’s Skilled Immigrants from Mainland China

Immigration labor in global cities is often framed in a dichotomy of skilled and nonskilled and explained from different perspective. Based on narratives of skilled immigrants from mainland China in postcolonial Hong Kong, this study shifts the focus of attention from generalized dissimilarities between migrant groups determined by the level of skills to commonalities of experience shaped by the broader social and cultural forces of their spatial, economic and political environments. It points to the importance of ??border?? in shaping the mode of incorporation of skilled migrants to localities in global city. It shows that skilled mainland immigrants in Hong Kong are deeply embedded in an overarching xin yimin (new immigrants) discourse according to which the Hong Kong?CChina border distinguishes all mainland immigrants from Hong Kong citizens regardless of the level of skills they possess. This discourse is associated with and defined by the cultural meaning of border between Hong Kong and China produced in the colonial past and reproduced in the postcolonial present. Despite being highly educated and skilled, mainland Chinese professionals experienced countless negotiation of sameness and difference in their everyday encountering localities and making place. The stories presented here ask us to rethink the assumptions informing the analytical distinctions between skilled and non-skilled and call for ??unifying?? skilled and non-skilled migration in global cities methodologically and theoretically.     

And all your problems are gone: religious coping strategies among Philippine migrant workers in Hong Kong

This paper provides an ethnographic account of both hardships and religious coping strategies of Philippine migrant workers in Hong Kong. It will argue that intensified coping needs that arise from the migration process may lead to a reorientation towards more charismatic religious groups, which in turn seem to promote coping strategies specifically tailored towards the (relatively homogenous) experiences of these migrants. It will also argue that, while the “disempowering” implications of religious coping rest ambiguous, it may assist the toleration of exploitative patterns in migration by reducing their emotional cost.     

Intelligence in Hong Kong measured for Spearman's g and the visuospatial and verbal primaries

Values for Spearman's g for Hong Kong are calculated from data derived from the administration of Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices to several thousand children. The results indicate that the mean IQ in Hong Kong for the mid 1980s is approximately 108 in relation to a Caucasian mean of 100 for the United States and the United Kingdom. Values for the spatial and perceptual speed primaries are also substantially higher in Hong Kong. On the other hand Hong Kong children are relatively weak on the word fluency primary. The pattern of abilities of Chinese Hong Kong children is broadly similar to that obtained on other Mongoloid populations.     

Responses to Injustice in Popular Chinese Sayings and among Hong Kong Chinese Students

Abstract

Three studies were conducted in an investigation of how people in Chinese societies react to injustice. In Study 1, 293 Chinese sayings concerning injustice coping were subject to content analysis. In Study 2, 10 male and 10 female Hong Kong Chinese high school students indicated whether they had heard of the sayings in Study 1 and whether they agreed with them. In Study 3, 342 Hong Kong Chinese college students reported how they felt and what they did to reduce the injustice feeling they recently came across concerning an injustice. In Study 1, responses to injustices suggested by the Chinese sayings were dominated by cognitive reappraisal and alignment with external, metaphysical forces to maintain the perception of a just world; confrontation was generally discouraged. In Study 2 and Study 3, even among the highly Westernized Hong Kong Chinese students, the pattern of justice coping revealed in the popular sayings still prevailed.     

Sex Talk: Discourses About Female Bodies in Hong Kong Media

Sex and Chinese culture appear to be at odds with one another. Sex talk, however, has been on constant supply in Hong Kong media in the past decade. Considering that Chinese culture prefers to conceal, rather than reveal, sexual matters, this study probes into the phenomenon which sees the proliferation of sex-related debates and controversies in news media in this predominantly Chinese society. Two cases about photobooks of female models were used to illuminate the dominant discourses regarding female bodies in Hong Kong media. Since 2009, photobooks featuring teenage models in sexy poses have become standard provisions in the annual Hong Kong Book Fair. In 2015, a 6-year old girl participated in the production of a photobook. It soon caught the attention of critics who questioned the sexual connotations of a few pictures. Despite the decision to recall all copies, the incident provoked debates on child pornography and a rare discussion about sexual agency. This study has identified various discourses in mainstream news media and social media. It was found that morality and money are two keywords that best summarize how Hong Kong responds to sex matters, while changing media technologies are opening up space for alternative views.     

Explaining the socioeconomic well-being of immigrants and returned migrants: An econometric analysis of the Hong Kong and Canadian censuses of 2001

This article focuses on an explanation of return migration to Hong Kong based not on the economic failure of Hong Kong immigrants, but on their strategic vision to accumulate human capital while abroad, which they then exploit on their return. We found that Hong Kong returnees with degrees earned abroad in 2001 constituted about 20% of the highly educated Hong-Kong resident group, with the largest flow emanating from Canada. An econometric investigation revealed that both the income and the odds of being a manager were significantly higher for returned migrants than for their counterparts who remained in Canada. Our findings suggests that this return migration is motivated by returnees’ ability to exploit their accumulated foreign transnational capital in the context of Hong Kong. Cet article repose sur une explication de la migration de retour vers Hong Kong, motivée non pas par la faillite économique des immigrants de Hong Kong, mais plutôt par leur vision stratégique consistant à accumuler le capital humain pendant leur séjour à l’étranger pour ensuite l’exploiter lors de leur retour. Nous avons constaté qu’à Hong Kong, le groupe de gens très éduqués était constitué, à environ 20%, de rapatriés détenant des diplômes obtenus à l’étranger, et que la plupart d’entre eux revenaient du Canada. Une analyse économiétrique a révélé que, par rapport aux migrants qui étaient restés au Canada, ceux qui étaient retournés à Hong Kong jouissaient d’un revenu plus ?evé et d’une meilleure chance de devenir cadres. Nos résultats permettent de conclure que cette migration de retour est motivée par la capacité des migrants de mettre á profit, dans le contexte de Hong Kong leur capital transnational accumulé à l’étranger.     

Brief report: Publications from mainland China,Hong Kong,and Taiwan in behavioral journals 1980–2021

Research involving international research communities has been advocated in the field of behavior analysis (Dymond et al., 2000; Martin et al., 2016). The purpose of the present study was to report the status of behavioral research in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, in terms of number of publications, types of research, and frequency of collaboration with international researchers. Fifteen behavioral journals were selected from the list by Cooper et al. (2020). These were searched by hand to find publications conducted in or authored by researchers from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan dating from each journal's inception to December 2021. The earliest publication we found appeared in 1980 in The Psychological Record. Over the following four decades (1980–1989; 1990–1999; 2000–2009; 2010–2021), the number of publications per decade increased dramatically and continues in recent years to rise. Publications include research reports, review papers, and conceptual articles, with the majority being basic research reports published in Behavioral Processes. Approximately half the publications involve collaboration with international researchers, mostly in North America. Implications for behavioral research, practice, and policy in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are discussed.     

From great commission to inclusive education: a tangible illustration of missionaries’ legacy

This article analysed missionaries’ roles in the development of general and special education by examining the relationship between the Great Commission and education and the biblical perspective on disabilities as the foundational links between their work and inclusive education. While missionaries have not been directly involved in the practices of inclusive education today, their work in initiating and formalising special education services has facilitated a more welcoming attitude toward individuals with disabilities, and propelled governments around the globe to make special and inclusive education a public responsibility when socio-political environments demand it. To provide a concrete illustration, this article used Hong Kong as an example by examining missionaries’ key involvements and impact in its development of public education from the early colonial era to today’s inclusive education. The missionaries’ legacy in Hong Kong’s inclusive education development lay in their nurturing of Christian educators as supported by a high number of public Christian schools and Christian educators advocated for inclusive education, and in their efforts to formalise special education during the early colonial era (175).     

Kansas婚姻满意感量表的北京和香港常模

本研究的目的是建立Kansas(香港-中文版)婚姻满意感量表的北京和香港常模。其意义在于不但提供这两大城市人群的婚姻满意感测量指标,而且为今后进一步研究中国大城市人群的婚姻质量提供依据。被试取自北京和香港的已婚男女,共1218人。本研究包括两个分研究,研究一(599名北京被试)和研究二(619名香港被试)。研究结果表明,Kansas婚姻满意感量表的信度指标非常满意(北京被试:Cronbachα=93,香港被试:Cronbachα=96),同时具有良好效度。北京被试的婚姻满意感常模分数为:1518,香港被试为:1613。     

Formulation of Policy and Strategy in Developing Creativity Education in Four Asian Chinese Societies: A Policy Analysis

The present study sought to compare and contrast educational policies on creativity education in four Asian Chinese societies, namely mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan. It establishes five criteria on creativity education policy, including policies regarding legislation on creativity education, definitions of creativity, standard implementation, explicit identification of special populations of creative students, and creativity education in the community. Among the four societies, Taiwan has an official document — the White Paper on Creative Education published in 2003 — whereas in Hong Kong and Singapore, creativity has been identified as an ability to be nurtured in students of all levels in their national curriculum reform. In mainland China, innovation is regarded as a synonym for creativity. Definitions of creativity have at times not been clearly defined, although multiple levels of creativity development (individual, school, societal, industrial, and cultural) have been discussed in Taiwan. In Hong Kong, creativity has been defined as a generic skill in various key learning areas (e.g., language education, mathematics education, science education, etc.) in the school curriculum. In Singapore, creativity is a learning outcome to be developed in students. None of these societies use standard creativity assessment tests as evidence of creative competence in students. When creativity has entered the central stage in the curriculum reform and creativity education is made available to every student, efforts have been made to identify highly creative students and provide them enrichment opportunities, mainly using performance assessments and performance in creativity competitions in these societies. But mainland China, Hong Kong, and Singapore do not sufficiently emphasize creativity education in the larger community.