An Asian Perspective on the Portrayal of Men and Women in Television Advertisements: Studies From Hong Kong and Indonesian Television

This paper reports on 2 studies with almost identical methodologies. Both were content analysis studies of the way that men and women are portrayed on television (TV) in South East Asia. One study was conducted in Hong Kong, where 175 TV advertisements were content analyzed. The other was conducted in Indonesia, where 119 TV advertisements were content analyzed. In Hong Kong, 9 of the 10 content categories yielded a significant gender-role effect, particularly mode of presentation, credibility, and role. In Indonesia, 9 of the 11 gender-role effects were significant, particularly reward type and product type. The fact that Asian TV commercials seem to have greater gender-role stereotypes than do Western commercials is discussed. Difficulties associated with cross-cultural comparisons of this type of data are discussed.     

Coming Out Among Lesbians, Gays, and Bisexual Individuals in Hong Kong: Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Moderating Role of Attitudinal Ambivalence

The present study applied the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to identify factors associated with disclosure intention among lesbians (n?=?236), gay men (n?=?183), bisexual women (n?=?156), and bisexual men (n?=?46) (LGBs) in Hong Kong. Past disclosure behavior and the moderating role of attitudinal ambivalence were also examined. Findings showed that perceived behavioral control predicted intention significantly in all four groups. Attitude predicted intention significantly in lesbians, gay men, and bisexual women. Subjective norm predicted intention significantly in lesbians and gay men. The moderating effect of attitudinal ambivalence was supported in lesbians. Past disclosure behavior was not significant in predicting disclosure intention. The present study showed differential utility of the TPB on LGBs’ disclosure intention in Hong Kong.     

Sociolinguistic awareness and false belief in young Cantonese learners of English

In this study, we examined whether sociolinguistic awareness and false belief were uniquely related in 3- and 4-year-old Cantonese-speaking children learning English as a second language. The English-use background of these children varied so that they possessed sociolinguistic awareness to different degrees. Results indicated that sociolinguistic awareness predicted false belief uniquely after controlling for age, nonverbal intelligence, English vocabulary, and family income for both the second language learners and the more balanced bilinguals. The group difference in false belief was adequately explained by the corresponding difference in sociolinguistic awareness over and above the other variables. Such findings provide evidence for the claim that false belief understanding is critically related to sociolinguistic awareness, which in turn is influenced by how a second language is learned.     

A Strengths-Based Longitudinal Career Intervention for Junior Secondary School Students with Special Educational Needs: a Mixed-method Evaluation

The mixed-method study reported here was designed to evaluate a strengths-based career intervention program for secondary school students with mild special educational needs (SEN). A sample of 32 SEN students (19 boys: 13 girls) from 5 inclusive schools in Hong Kong were recruited to a treatment group. An additional 32 SEN students (19 boys: 13 girls) were selected to form the control group matched for age, gender and parents’ education level. The special needs exhibited by both groups were in areas of literacy and numeracy, attention deficits, and social-emotional problems, but did not include severe or complex disabilities. Participants in both groups responded to pre- and post-intervention questionnaires covering career development self-efficacy, personal and social development self-efficacy, and meaning in life. As a follow-up, two teachers and three social workers providing support to SEN students, and the 32 participants were interviewed several months after the intervention. Interviews also took place with teachers, social workers and students to evaluate the perceived effects of the intervention. Findings indicated significant interactions between Time 1 and Time 2, and between groups (control vs. treatment) in personal goal-setting, career goal-setting, and the presence of meaning in life. Additionally, several themes were identified from the interviews suggesting that the intervention did have positive effects on SEN students’ career, personal and social development self-efficacy, and acquisition of meaning in life.

     

Migrant Distress: The Role of Perceived Racial Discrimination and Coping Resources1

This paper examines the relationships among perceived racial discrimination, coping resources, and psychological distress experienced by 372 ethnic Chinese migrants in 3 Australian cities, within the social context of ongoing debates on Asian immigration. Based on the stress‐coping‐strain framework, it was expected that migrants’ recent increases in psychological distress would be associated with greater perceived racial discrimination, and lower levels of coping resources. Possible moderating effects of coping resources were examined. Hierarchical regression analyses provided broad support for the stress‐coping‐strain framework, and indicated direct effects of low personal and ethnic self‐esteem and having a small number of Anglo‐Australian friends on increased psychological distress. The findings are discussed with regard to implications for migrants’ wellbeing in the context of sociopolitical debates.     

Psychometric Properties of the Revised Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS-R) in Chinese Adolescents

The Revised Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS-R) was developed to assess Internet addiction in Chinese populations, but its psychometric properties in adolescents have not been examined. This study aimed to evaluate the factor structure and psychometric properties of CIAS-R in Hong Kong Chinese adolescents. 860 Grade 7 to 13 students (38 % boys) completed the CIAS-R, the Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) in a survey. The prevalence of Internet addiction as assessed by CIAS-R was 18 %. High internal consistency and inter-item correlations were reported for the CIAS-R. Results from the confirmatory factor analysis suggested a four-factor structure of Compulsive Use and Withdrawal, Tolerance, Interpersonal and Health-related Problems, and Time Management Problems. Moreover, results of hierarchical multiple regression supported the incremental validity of the CIAS-R to predict mental health outcomes beyond the effects of demographic differences and self-reported time spent online. The CIAS is a reliable and valid measure of internet addiction problems in Hong Kong adolescents. Future study is warranted to validate the cutoffs of the CIAS-R for identification of adolescents with Internet use problems who may have mental health needs.     

Analogical effects in reading Dutch verb forms

Previous research has shown that the production of morphologically complex words in isolation is affected by the properties of morphologically, phonologically, or semantically similar words stored in the mental lexicon. We report five experiments with Dutch speakers that show that reading an inflectional word form in its linguistic context is also affected by analogical sets of formally similar words. Using the self-paced reading technique, we show in Experiments 1-3 that an incorrectly spelled suffix delays readers less if the incorrect spelling is in line with the spelling of verbal suffixes in other inflectional forms of the same verb. In Experiments 4 and 5, our use of the self-paced reading technique shows that formally similar words with different stems affect the reading of incorrect suffixal allomorphs on a given stem. These intra- and interparadigmatic effects in reading may be due to online processes or to the storage of incorrect forms resulting from analogical effects in production.     

Demographic Influences on Psychiatric Diagnoses Among Youth Served in California Systems of Care

We examined the influences of demographic factors on diagnostic assignment among youth served in California public mental health systems after adjusting for the effects of county characteristics and standardized symptom and functioning indices. The sample consisted of 12,106 youth with severe emotional disturbance being served in integrated and coordinated service systems in 13 counties of California. African Americans were overrepresented in the sample relative to the ethnic characteristics of the counties and Asian Americans were under-represented. Results from logistic regression analyses showed that gender, age, and ethnicity affected the assignment of eight categories of clinical diagnosis at admission. However, standardized measurement of clinical status and functioning had little relationship to clinicians' assignment of diagnosis. Whereas no significant gender and age differences were found on broadband CBCL syndromes, ethnically diverse youth differed on CBCL internalizing and externalizing scores. Youth's role functioning as assessed by the CAFAS also significantly differed by gender, age, and ethnicity.     

Sense of Community in Hong Kong: Relations with Community-Level Characteristics and Residents’ Well-Being

Sense of community (SOC) has been one of the most studied topics in community psychology. However, no empirical study to date has investigated SOC in Hong Kong and its relations with community characteristics and residents’ psychological well-being. A representative sample of 941 Hong Kong Chinese based on a randomized household survey was conducted in all 18 districts in Hong Kong. Results of hierarchical linear modeling indicated that SOC was not associated with sociodemographic indicators on both the individual-level (i.e., gender, age, family income, education level, type of residence, and area-to-capita ratio of residence) and the community-level (i.e., proportion of individuals with tertiary education, median family income, ownership of residence, population density, and resident stability). SOC was negatively related to daily hassles and positively with social support and quality of life. Conceptualization of SOC in Hong Kong was discussed.