published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Community Medicine / Master / Master of Philosophy

Adolescence is a stage full of possibility, in which adolescents start exploring what is possible for them. Possible selves represent people’s self-concept pointing to the future, what they hope to be, what they expect to be and what they fear to be. These future oriented selves are closely related with adolescents’ behaviors, channeling their effort toward positive behavioral outcomes. The possible selves in Chinese context are less examined and adolescents in Hong Kong are facing a lot of challenges and uncertainties in the fast changing society. What are the possible selves among Hong Kong adolescents? How are parental influences associated with possible selves in the Chinese context? How proximal psychological associates, such as planfulness and self-esteem, relate with possible selves among adolescents? The current study was designed to answer the above questions. There were two phases in the research. Phase one adapted Possible Selves Questionnaire into Chinese (PSQ_C) with a translation and back-translation procedure and two pilot tests. Phase two conducted a large sample survey with secondary school adolescents. 3,078 participants, aged 12-20, were from 99 classes in 11 middle schools. The findings were presented with three themed papers. Research findings were presented in three journal papers with different foci. Paper one investigated the profile of possible selves among Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong, including the content of possible selves, strategies of possible selves and perceived likelihood of possible selves. Gender and age differences were examined. Paper two examined the effect of parental support on possible selves. It was found that parental pragmatic support consistently predicted having at least one strategy and perceived likelihood of hoped-for and feared possible selves, while socio-emotional support was only associated with perceived likelihood of hoped-for possible selves. Paper three examined planfulness and self-esteem as proximal psychological antecedents of possible selves. It was found that both planfulness and self-esteem were positively associated with having at least one strategy and perceived likelihood of hoped-for and feared possible selves. Self-esteem was more related to perceived likelihood whereas planfulness was more related with having strategy. It was found that planfulness and self-esteem mediated the relationship between parental support and possible selves. The current doctoral study complemented the existing literature in terms of theory by exploring the external and proximal psychological antecedents of possible selves and establishing a mediation model to explain the interplay among parental support, planfulness, self-esteem and possible selves. It was the first possible selves study among Hong Kong adolescents. It not only contributed to the indigenous research on adolescents by providing a handy Chinese possible selves questionnaire, enriching the understanding about modern adolescents, but also by providing information for further setup of intervention using possible selves constructs. The limitations were discussed, along with directions for future studies, contributions and implications in terms of theory, research and intervention. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Clinical Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Nursing Studies / Master / Master of Nursing

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship between emotion regulation and school adjustment in Secondary One students, and the mediation effect of peer support on such relationship. A sample of 207 adolescents completed measures of school adjustment, peer support, and emotion regulation. Results revealed that the use of expressive suppression was negatively associated with all school adjustment variables (social, personal-emotional, and academic adjustment). Cognitive reappraisal was correlated with social and personal-emotional adjustment and the relations were mediated through peer support. Results suggested that the importance of adaptive emotion regulation strategy and peer support improves students’ adjustment during school transition. Implications for education provided to early adolescents in the Hong Kong context are discussed. / published_or_final_version / Educational Psychology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

Blogging has been one of the most popular means of computer-mediated communication in recent years. It is generally agreed that blogging has replaced traditional diary writing and functioned as a useful tool for individuals to present themselves and construct their self-images. Its popularity has also drawn the attention of many scholars and much research has been conducted to investigate the different issues related to the presentation of identities by bloggers particularly adolescents. Despite the significant impact of blogging on adolescent identity development, few attempts have been made to explore the role of contextual elements in identity construction. Moreover, most previous studies on blogs were conducted in separation from the bloggers and their offline world. The blogging world was not well-connected to the bloggers’ other aspects of lives. The current study has adopted a constructionist approach to explore the identity construction of a group of Hong Kong adolescents. The notion of communities of practice is used to conceptualize the nonymous context of the blogging world. More importantly, more attention is paid to various contextual elements which constitute the online community of practice so as to gain a more comprehensive understanding of online identity work. The analysis examines the textual and non-textual elements of blogs to investigate how the adolescents construct different forms of identity which manifest their engagement in the online communities of practice. It shows that the nonymous context has resulted in adolescents presenting a wide range of desirable qualities which include interpersonal-related qualities, academic related qualities, personal related qualities and family-related qualities throughout their blogs. The construction which enables the adolescents to fulfill numerous developmental tasks is not done in isolation but in response to their interaction with the members of the blogging community. The importance of audience as a contextual element is seen in their role as identity co-constructors who help reinforce or supplement the blog owners’ identity presentation from time to time. Furthermore, a strong connectedness between the adolescents’ online and offline identity is observed. The offline world serves as another community of practice which interacts with the online world – the community of practice under investigation. The study suggests that the diverse forms of identity constructed online are strong evidence showing the adolescents’ competence in performing sophisticated identity work. It is also expected that there will be more interaction between various communities and their contextual elements in the future development of identity construction with the rapid penetration of social-networking tools in our everyday lives, especially adolescents. An overlap between different online communities is seen in the current study. More thorough examination of adolescent identity work through social-networking tools can provide valuable insights into the emotional health and well-being of adolescents over time. / published_or_final_version / English / Master / Master of Philosophy