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.

     

两种意义下的批判思维教学

批判性思维教学在国内方兴未艾,同事们就搜集教材、试验学生反应、测试教学成果及理解课程本质等纷纷交流意见。在国外包括港台等地,批判性思维教学已有一段时间的实践经验,亦不时有提出理念反思。美国哲学家理察·保罗(Richard Paul)在其1981/1995年的文章中,提出两种意义下的批判思维教学理念,引起广泛关注和讨论。"弱式"批判思维视批判思维教学为提供规则、锻炼技巧、学习把对手逐点击破的手段;"强式"批判思维则强调思维的整体性,把思考看作是人的生命形态,锻炼学生敏锐地察觉及指认自己与他人的世界观,分析不同观念、发掘相关问题、进行对话、以审视其价值,成为智性上开放、道德之个体。本文介绍保罗的理念,并尝试结合一些笔者在英国及香港的经验,对批判思维教学的理念作出反省,并讨论将包括英国牛津大学和伦敦大学国王学院的导修制度,以及香港中学生、大学生、乃至中学老师对批判思考的理解和态度等。     

Student Misbehavior in Hong Kong: The Predictive Role of Positive Youth Development and School Satisfaction

This study examined the predictive influences of positive youth development and school satisfaction on student misbehavior. The respondents were 1652 Grade 7 students (738 boys and 912 girls) recruited from 13 secondary schools in Hong Kong. Data was collected by a set of validated questionnaires. A predictive model was tested and developed by using structural equation modelling. The results showed that positive youth development (characterized by social competence, emotional competence, cognitive competence, behavioral competence, moral competence, recognition for positive behavior, beliefs in the future, and prosocial norms) positively influenced school satisfaction and reduced student misbehavior. School satisfaction significantly mediated the predictive effect of positive youth development on student misbehavior, particularly among girls. Girls reported having significantly higher levels of school satisfaction, moral competence, prosocial norms, and recognition for their positive behavior, while boys reported having significantly more frequent misbehavior. Off-task disruptive behavior was the most frequent misbehavior among students in Hong Kong. These findings contribute to research on positive youth development, quality of school life and student wellbeing, particularly in the Chinese context. Future research and practical implications for fostering students’ psychosocial competence and school satisfaction for preventing misbehavior were discussed.     

Do thinking styles contribute to academic achievement beyond self-rated abilities?

This research identifies individual differences in academic achievement attributable to thinking styles over and above what can be explained by self-rated abilities. Participants were 209 university students from Hong Kong and 215 university students from mainland China. Participants responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory (Chinese version) that is based on Sternberg's theory of mental self-government (R. J. Sternberg, 1988). They also rated their own analytical, creative, and practical abilities on a 10-point scale based on R. J. Sternberg's (1985) triarchic theory of human intelligence. Participants' academic achievement scores were also used. The prediction that thinking styles statistically predict academic achievement was supported by data from both Hong Kong and mainland China. Academic achievement and thinking styles are related differently in the two groups. Implications of these findings for both teaching and research are discussed.     

Humour styles,gelotophobia and self‐esteem among Chinese and Indian university students

This study examined the relationship between humour styles, gelotophobia and self‐esteem among 102 Indian and 101 Hong Kong university students. The Humour Styles Questionnaire, the GELOPH‐15 Scale and the Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale were used. Indian students rated the importance of humour significantly higher than Hong Kong Chinese students and considered themselves as being significantly more humorous as well. Both Indian and Hong Kong Chinese students engaged in significantly more affiliative and self‐enhancing humour. Indian students engaged in significantly more affiliative and self‐enhancing humour and reported less gelotophobia than Hong Kong students. Gelotophobia was negatively correlated with self‐esteem and affiliative humour in both samples and was positively correlated with self‐defeating humour in the Indian sample only. Affiliate humour mediated the relationship between self‐esteem and gelotophobia in both samples whereas self‐defeating humour mediated the relationship in the Indian sample only. Taken together, both Indian students and Hong Kong students valued adaptive humour, but Indian students valued humour more than Hong Kong students. This study is a pioneering study of its kind conducted in a Chinese‐Indian sample.     

Thinking styles and emotions

This study aimed to explore the relationship between thinking styles and emotions among university students in Hong Kong. Participants were 99 2nd-year students (23 men and 76 women) who responded to the Thinking Styles Inventory-Revised (TSI-R), based on R. J. Sternberg's (1988) theory of mental self-government, and to the Iowa Managing Emotions Inventory (IMEI), based on A. Chickering's (1969) theory of psychosocial development. Results indicated not only that thinking styles were associated with emotions but also that thinking styles had predictive power for emotions beyond age. The author discusses implications of these findings for faculty members and student-development educators.     

Pedagogical issues in the teaching of classroom guidance curriculum—a hybrid Hong Kong case

Unlike many other places in the world, guidance lessons in Hong Kong are taught mainly by class teachers rather than school counsellors. Given the unique educational context of Hong Kong as East meets West and given that guidance is essentially a concept from the West, it is important to investigate what kind of pedagogy is suitable for teaching guidance in Hong Kong. This paper examines what teaching guidance lessons are like in Hong Kong for the researcher and for some primary teachers. A qualitative case study methodology is used. Data are drawn from the author's own experience in a primary school teaching attachment and interviews with guidance professionals, primary school principals, teachers and students in three selected primary schools in Hong Kong. Pedagogical issues for the teaching guidance curriculum are explored and discussed. The researcher argues for a hybrid guidance pedagogy for the teaching of classroom guidance in Hong Kong. Findings are applicable to countries facing similar issues in parallel mixed cultural settings.     

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.     

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.     

Development of Role-Play Scenarios for Teaching Responsible Conduct of Research

We describe the development, testing, and formative evaluation of nine role-play scenarios for teaching central topics in the responsible conduct of research to graduate students in science and engineering. In response to formative evaluation surveys, students reported that the role-plays were more engaging and promoted deeper understanding than a lecture or case study covering the same topic. In the future, summative evaluations will test whether students display this deeper understanding and retain the lessons of the role-play experience.     

The Relationship of Promotion Focus,Need for Cognitive Closure,and Categorical Accessibility in American and Hong Kong Chinese University Students

Categorical accessibility is a cognitive factor that limits the extent of creative conceptual expansion. In the present study, we sought to establish the categorical accessibility norms in five conceptual domains among American and Hong Kong Chinese university students. In addition, we predicted that the tendency to access normatively inaccessible exemplars in a conceptual domain is positively related to the motivation to maximize the likelihood of attaining positive outcomes (promotion focus) and negatively related to the need for cognitive closure. We obtained the predicted relationships among both American and Hong Kong Chinese university students. These findings were discussed in terms of their implications for promoting creativity across cultures.     

Intimacy and Psychosocial Adjustment in Hong Kong Chinese Adolescents

This study examined the association between 8 aspects of friend intimacy and 3 measures of psychosocial adjustment (self-esteem, deviant behavior, and purpose in life) among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. The respondents were 289 students between 16 and 19 years of age from a cross-sectional study in Hong Kong. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed (a) friend intimacy was positively associated with self-esteem and purpose in life, and (b) friend intimacy was negatively correlated with deviant behavior. Results indicated that friend intimacy is an important variable that affects some aspects of psychosocial adjustment. Moreover, results of multiple regression analyses indicated that different measures of friend intimacy are related to deviant behavior and purpose in life. Therefore, it is crucial to study the relationship between different aspects of friend intimacy and different aspects of psychosocial adjustment among adolescents.     

Intimacy and psychosocial adjustment in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents

This study examined the association between 8 aspects of friend intimacy and 3 measures of psychosocial adjustment (self-esteem, deviant behavior, and purpose in life) among Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. The respondents were 289 students between 16 and 19 years of age from a cross-sectional study in Hong Kong. Bivariate correlation and multiple regression analyses revealed (a) friend intimacy was positively associated with self-esteem and purpose in life, and (b) friend intimacy was negatively correlated with deviant behavior. Results indicated that friend intimacy is an important variable that affects some aspects of psychosocial adjustment. Moreover, results of multiple regression analyses indicated that different measures of friend intimacy are related to deviant behavior and purpose in life. Therefore, it is crucial to study the relationship between different aspects of friend intimacy and different aspects of psychosocial adjustment among adolescents.     

Real Scenarios and Complementary Lectures: A Classroom Training Approach to Increase Counselor Awareness,Knowledge, and Skill

The purpose of this article is to describe a classroom approach for training counseling students in the area of cross‐cultural competence. The authors describe real scenarios that form the foundation for an intensive classroom discussion and lecture format regarding cultural awareness, knowledge, and skills.     

Interrelationships between anxiety,lifestyle self-reports and fitness in a sample of Hong Kong University students

Although anxiety in university students has been well documented, the influence of lifestyle and fitness status in relation to anxiety has not been investigated from a cultural perspective previously. To make recommendations regarding the avoidance or management of anxiety in this anxiety-prone cohort that are rationally based, this preliminary investigation examined the interrelationship between anxiety, lifestyle self-reports and aerobic fitness in Hong Kong Chinese University students. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y-2) and a lifestyle questionnaire were completed by 213 students. Female students were more anxious than male students. Subjects with high anxiety reported more deleterious lifestyle behaviours including higher salt consumption and lower levels of exercise; in addition to more frequent symptoms of anxiety such as headaches and daytime somnolence. The extremes of this sample were stratified into a low anxiety group (n = 17) and a high anxiety group (n = 14) to compare their fitness status. Although both groups had below normal aerobic capacity, the higher systolic blood pressure observed for the high anxiety group is consistent with signs of anxiety, or greater deconditioning in this group or both. The results of this study have highlighted anxiety as a concern in Hong Kong University students and identified some lifestyle and fitness correlates. Understanding lifestyle and pathophysiological correlates of anxiety in Hong Kong University students that may have a cultural basis, is a crucial step toward averting or managing anxiety when these students are studying either in Hong Kong or abroad.     

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.     

Help-seeking behaviour and attitudes towards counselling: a qualitative study among Hong Kong Chinese university students

This study examined Hong Kong university students’ perception of general help-seeking and seeking of professional help. Thirty-two students, aged from 25 to 46 years were interviewed. A grounded theory approach was adopted. The results indicated four domains to categorise culture-influenced factors: attitudes towards speaking, relational concern, nature of the problem and assumptions about counselling. Hong Kong students are not reluctant to receive help but are reluctant to seek help from outsiders. Help is expected to be received from those within their social network. Passive coping strategies are normally adopted for finding relief and solving problems. These issues may greatly hinder people from consulting professional counsellors, or may limit the counselling process to something superficial and short term. The implications for counsellors are discussed.     

Embracing transformational leadership: team values and the impact of leader behavior on team performance

The authors investigated the relationship between transformational leadership behavior and group performance in 218 financial services teams that were branches of a bank in Hong Kong and the United States. Transformational leadership influenced team performance through the mediating effect of team potency. The effect of transformational leadership on team potency was moderated by team power distance and team collectivism, such that higher power distance teams and more collectivistic teams exhibited stronger positive effects of transformational leadership on team potency. The model was supported by data in both Hong Kong and the United States, which suggests a convergence in how teams function in the East and West and highlights the importance of team values.