Jerf W. K. Yeung

Youth Religiosity and Substance Use: A Meta-Analysis from 1995 to 2007

In this meta-analysis, the magnitude of the protective effects of religiosity on youth involvement in substance use was investigated. Based on 22 studies in peer-reviewed journals published between 1995 and 2007, the average weighted mean correlation was Zr = .16, significant regardless of the definitions of religiosity. The homogeneity test of variance showed consistent protective effects of religiosity on four types of substance use, namely, alcohol, cigarette, marijuana, and other illicit drugs.

Family functioning of Chinese families in an impoverished neighborhood in Hong Kong

Consonant with the family stress model, in this study family economic disadvantage, concomitant with cumulative family stressors, concurrently contributed to poor family functioning of 504 Chinese families in an impoverished neighborhood in Hong Kong, in which the later factor appeared to be more pronounced. Implications were briefly discussed.

The Effects of Family-Based Mindfulness Intervention on ADHD Symptomology in Young Children and Their Parents: A Randomized Control Trial:

Objective: The aim of the study is to investigate the feasibility of a family-based mindfulness intervention in improving children with inattention and hyperactivity symptoms. Method: A total of 100 children aged 5 to 7 years with ADHD symptoms and their parents were randomly assigned to a family-based mindfulness intervention (n = 50) or a wait-list control group (n = 50). Results: Families from intervention group had greater improvements in children’s ADHD symptoms, with medium effect sizes of −0.60 for inattention and −0.59 for hyperactivity; overall behaviors; and parenting stress and well-being than those in wait-list control group. Conclusion: The positive results on the child primary outcome measures have provided initial evidence of the family-based mindfulness intervention as a treatment option to ADHD. The reduction of parental stress and increase in psychological well-being has demonstrated the value of mindfulness in enhancing parent’s self-management.

Self-reflected causes of substance abuse among Hong Kong young addicts

Abstract Hong Kong is a place with an exceptionally low prevalence rate of youth substance abuse. Whether the low rate is attributable to the zero-tolerance policy promulgated by the government there is worth investigation. The manner of the investigation involves a contest of theoretical explanations of substance abuse among young people. For the zero-tolerance policy to claim success, formal regulation of substance availability and substance abuse would be a prominent inhibitor of substance abuse. This expectation receives support from a study of young substance addicts in Hong Kong. The Q methodology used in the study reveals that the lack of regulation would leave an opportunity for young people to attempt substance abuse. The availability of opportunity was more influential on substance abuse than were the calculation of costs and benefits and other factors. Hence, the zero-tolerance policy is justifiable for its higher effectiveness for deterring youth substance abuse.

Are Religious People Really More Helpful? Public and Private Religiosity and Volunteering Participation

Little research has investigated different religious dimensions, for example, public and private religiosity, in contribution to participation in different voluntary services and specific secular volunteering domains, and whether these dimensions have different effects on voluntary services and volunteering domains. Furthermore, this research has tested whether public religiosity is a mediator and/or a suppressor of the effects of private religiosity on volunteering. Of a representative sample of general adults, the current study found that public and private dimensions of religiosity significantly predicted more participation in different voluntary services and specific secular volunteering domains and public religiosity had stronger effects than did private religiosity. Irrespective of the dimension, religiosity was more strongly related to some voluntary services and volunteering domains than to others. Importantly, the effects of private religiosity on secular volunteering are significantly mediated and suppressed by public religiosity, but the reverse is not true. Implications for volunteerism for nonprofit organizations are briefly discussed.

Family Socialization and Chinese Youth Children’s Development: Does psychosocial Maturity Matter?

Abstract The present study examined the effects of family socialization in the form of family processes and parenting practices on youth children’s internalizing and externalizing problems concomitantly in a sample of Chinese parent–child dyads. The results generally support that (1) family socialization is crucially influential on the youth outcomes, in which parenting is a function of family processes; (2) youth’s psychosocial maturity significantly mediates the effects of family socialization on their outcomes; (3) effects of family processes are observed more pronounced as compared with parenting practices; and (4) more complicatedly varying effects of family processes and parenting practices on the youth outcomes appear when setting free the mediations of psychosocial maturity across different structural models. Service implications of the findings and future research directions are briefly discussed.

Parenting Discrepancy and Child Development in Chinese Context

Abstract Although parent–child discrepant perception of the family has been increasingly noted in the west, pertinent research is limited in Chinese societies. In addition, prior pertinent studies predominantly treated parent–child discrepant effects as independent of the general and aggregate family context, which are in fact inseparable. Furthermore, these studies tended to either look at the positive side of child outcomes or those negative ones. The present study, based on a community sample of 223 Chinese parent–child dyads, attempted to examine effects of parent–child discrepancy in effective parenting practices on both children’s positive, i.e. self-control and other perspective taking behavior, and negative outcomes, i.e. internalizing and externalizing problems, directly or indirectly through the mediator of children’s self-concept at the aggregate effective parenting context. Results largely support harmful effects of parent–child discrepancy in effective parenting on the child outcomes directly or indirectly through children’s self-concept. Besides, aggregate effective parenting practices are found to robustly contribute to the child outcomes directly and indirectly through children’s self-concept, even taking parent–child discrepant effects into account. What’s more important, the former is significantly moderated by the latter for its effects on the child outcomes, explicating the conditional nature of parent–child discrepant effects on child development. Contributions and implications of the current study applied in Chinese culture as well as future study directions are also discussed.

Rural to urban migration and distributive justice in contemporary China

This paper examines perceptions of micro justice and macro justice in contemporary China, focusing on comparisons among rural–urban migrants, urban locals and rural villagers. It puts forward three possibilities concerning distributive justice among rural–urban migrants relative to other groups, based on the social position hypothesis, reference group hypothesis, and subjective mobility hypothesis. Data from the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey largely support the reference group hypothesis. Rural–urban migrants are significantly more likely than urban locals to view their income level and society as fair, and the difference in perceived fairness of own income between the two groups varies by income level. Rural villagers and rural–urban migrants hold similar views on micro justice and macro justice. This paper contributes to the existing literature by suggesting that: (1) socio-economic status is not necessarily positively associated with favorable views of the current distributive system; and (2) social comparisons may play a more important role.

Enhancing Job Performance and Mental Health Through Organizational Nurturing Culture

Nurturing culture in an organization is represented by the common practices of attention, recognition, and appreciation about employees’ skill, performance, and work and life quality in the workplace. To clarify the contributions of culture and their variations among employees, 765 employees were surveyed for the study in all 14 work units of a social service organization in Hong Kong, China. Results showed the expected contributions of organizational nurturing culture of the work unit to the employee’s job performance and mental health. Furthermore, results revealed that such contributions are weaker with regard to an employee with a higher education or income.

Ambivalences and Dilemmas in Handling Family Violence Cases among Youth Workers in Hong Kong

This qualitative study investigates practice problems experienced by youth workers as they handled family violence cases. The findings show that practice problems experienced by youth workers in handling family violence cases might include: (at the individual level) role confusion, lack of sufficient knowledge and skills, and ethical tensions; (at the messo level) problems of multi-agency coordination; and (at the structural level) high risks associated with the impoverished community where they worked. It is recommended that the competence of youth workers in dealing with family violence cases could be enhanced through better training and multi-agency collaboration.