published_or_final_version / abstract / SPACE / Master / Master of Arts

Adolescent gambling has raised concern among the public as it entails an array of significant adverse consequences. With the dramatic expansion of gambling opportunity and the wide acceptance of gambling as a harmless and entertaining activity, the number of adolescents involved with gambling activities has increased. As such, there is growing interest among researchers in studying factors that are associated with adolescents’ gambling behavior. Nevertheless, this important research area has been surprisingly under-studied in Chinese populations, particularly, with adolescent samples. Adolescent gambling has raised concern among the public as it entails an array of significant adverse consequences. With the dramatic expansion of gambling opportunity and the wide acceptance of gambling as a harmless and entertaining activity, the number of adolescents involved with gambling activities has increased. As such, there is growing interest among researchers in studying factors that are associated with adolescents‟ gambling behavior. Nevertheless, this important research area has been surprisingly under-studied in Chinese populations, particularly, with adolescent samples. Three sequential studies with mixed methods were designed to achieve the above objectives. Study I aimed to explore what Chinese adolescents think would happen if they were to gamble. Using focus group discussion, 14 adolescents were interviewed. The results identified multiple themes including material gain, social benefit, enjoyment/arousal, tension/boredom, self-enhancement, relational cost, out of control, monetary loss and behavioral problems. In addition, the item pool of the Chinese Adolescents Gambling Expectancy Scale (CAGES) was also generated from Study I. In Study II three measures were constructed and validated using 258 Chinese adolescents: the Chinese Adolescent Gambling Expectancy Scale (CAGES), the Gambling Subjective Norms Scale (GSNS) and the Chinese version of the Gamblers’ Belief Questionnaire (GBQ-C). The findings of this study indicated sound psychometric properties for all these measures in general, thus justifying their use in Study III. Study III examined the relationships among gambling outcome expectancy, subjective norms about gambling and perceived behavioral control, as proposed by the theory of planned behavior, and gambling behavior among 1218 Chinese adolescents. The findings of this study showed that gambling outcome expectancy had incremental validity to predict both gambling behavior and intention to gamble among Chinese adolescents. Two other well-known constructs, i.e. subjective norms about gambling and perceived behavioral control were also important predictors of gambling behavior as well as intention to gamble among Chinese adolescents. Compared to positive outcome expectancy, subjective norms about gambling and illusion of control, it is noteworthy that negative outcome expectancy and belief in luck/perseverance played a more pivotal role in problem gambling among Chinese adolescents. The theoretical and research contributions and practical implications of this study are discussed along with the limitations and recommendations for future studies. / published_or_final_version / Social Work and Social Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This research seeks to examine the definition and the phenomenon of the “post 80s generation” in Hong Kong and the extent to which the post 80s generation constituted a moral panic. It also seeks to explore the role of media in the construction of the same moral panic. Cohen (1972) developed the concept of moral panic in order to examine some social phenomena, which created a threat to society. Goode and Ben-Yehuda (1994) identified five elements to examine moral panic including (1) concern, (2) hostility, (3) consensus, (4) disproportionality and (5) volatility. Based on the textual analysis on 3,854 news reports on two local newspapers within the period 2009--2012 as well as 12 in-depth interviews with the youth and journalists, this research attempted to identify the meaning of the term “the post 80s generation” from the perspectives of the mass media and the interviewees. Our findings indicated that the post 80s generation seemed not to constitute a moral panic in terms of the elements mentioned above. The post 80s generation in fact had both positive and negative sides. Rather than serving as agent in producing moral panic, mass media, including social media, projected multiple images of the post 80s generation. Our study also identified a “sense of local consciousness” among the post 80s generation which merits further study. / published_or_final_version / Criminology / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Medical Sciences / Master / Master of Medical Sciences

published_or_final_version / Psychology / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Education / Master / Master of Science in Information Technology in Education

This study has three objectives: 1) to explore the social background of current youth films, 2) to identify the characteristics of youth films, and 3) to indicate the relationships between the five-attribute concept of diffusion of innovation (DOI) and promotion strategies for youth films. A total of 20 individuals, including seven film scholars, eight film promotion practitioners and five filmmakers were interviewed. This paper concludes that eleven characteristics are prominent in youth films. Specifically, these characteristics are IP film, fan film, consistency, emotional resonance, nostalgia, campus life, youthfulness, networkedness, new media, topicality and timeliness. These characteristics were categorized into the five attributes of DOI theory. Eight promotion strategies corresponding to five attributes of DOI theory were summarized from interviews with film industry practitioners. This study found that the attributes of relative advantages and compatibility are enhanced with strategies such as promotion materials, trailers and clips and topic setting and theme songs, whereas complexity, trialability and observability are often influenced by campus preview, new media promotion, O2O ticketing applications, collaborative marketing and word-of-mouth management. Furthermore, emotional resonance is perceived to be essential in both youth films and the corresponding promotion.

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

published_or_final_version / Social Work / Master / Master of Social Work

Analyses showed that adolescents who were older, had non-intact families, had fathers who were homemakers, had parents of a lower educational level, or had economically disadvantaged families, had a significantly higher level of suicidal ideation. Pearson correlation analyses showed that emotional competence, social problem solving, father-adolescent communication, mother-adolescent communication and family functioning were negatively related to adolescent suicidal ideation, while hopelessness was positively related to it. Regression analyses also showed that the above factors were significant predictors of adolescent suicidal ideation. / Based on a family ecological model, this study investigated personal factors (hopelessness, social problem solving, emotional competence) and family factors (parent-adolescent communication, family functioning) related to suicidal ideation among secondary school students in Hong Kong utilizing a cross-sectional survey design. A total of 5,928 self-administered questionnaires based on convenience sampling (male = 53.1%, female = 46.9%) were collected from 42 secondary schools on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and the New Territories. The participants were Form 1 to Form 4 students, with a mean age of 13.87. / The theoretical implications of the findings are that emotional competence, social problem solving, hopelessness, parent-adolescent communication and family functioning can be considered as key building blocks in the models of adolescent suicidal ideation. Practically speaking, enhancing emotional competence, social problem solving skills, sense of hope, quality of parent-adolescent communication and healthy family functioning with reference to the family ecological framework is important for preventing and treating adolescent suicidal ideation. Implications for policy development and social service delivery are further elaborated. In addition, limitations of the study are discussed and recommendations for further study are made. / Three types of causal models were tested in the study. In the direct effects model, hopelessness was the most important predictor among different correlates, followed by mother-adolescent communication, family functioning, social problem solving and father-adolescent communication, while emotional competence was the least important. In the mediating model, path analyses showed that hopelessness mediated the relationship between both personal and family correlates and adolescent suicidal ideation. In the moderating models, hierarchical regression analyses showed that mother-adolescent communication moderated the relationship between hopelessness and adolescent suicidal ideation. / "December 2007." / Adviser: Tan Lei Daniel Shek. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-08, Section: A, page: 3320. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-297). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract in English and Chionese. / School code: 1307.