The Chinese version of the State‐Trait Anxiety Inventory (C‐STAI) was administered to 2,150 Chinese secondary school students, along with other measures of psychological well‐being. The results showed that the correlation between A‐State and A‐Trait scores was significant, and both scales correlated significantly with all other measures of psychological well‐being. Analyses of the strengths of association among the measures revealed that while A‐Trait and A‐State scores were differentially sensitive to indices of chronic mental health attributes and acute symptoms, both scales were found to be more predictive of measures of anxiety. These findings generally provided support for the concurrent validity of the C‐STAI, and the significant correlation between A‐State and A‐Trait is consistent with data reported in the literature.

The Chinese version of the Beck Depression Inventory (C‐BDI) was administered to 2,150 Chinese secondary school students. The BDI was found to have high internal consistency as a scale and high item‐total correlations for most of the items. Factor analysis with a two‐factor solution showed that two factors were abstracted from the scale, namely, general depression and somatic disturbances. By randomly splitting the total sample into two subsamples, these two factors could be reproduced reliably, and high coefficients of congruence were found. These findings generally suggest that the Chinese version of the BDI possesses acceptable psychometric properties, and the factor analytic data tend to support Beck's multi‐dimensional view of depression as a construct.

This review outlines the current perspectives on positive youth development (PYD). Besides presenting the diverse theoretical roots contributing to PYD approaches, this review also introduces several PYD perspectives, including Benson’s 40 developmental assets, Lerner’s 5Cs and 6Cs conceptions, Catalano’s 15 PYD constructs, social-emotional learning (SEL) and the “being” perspective (character and spirituality). A comparison of the different PYD models in terms of theoretical orientation, the role of community, spirituality, character/morality, thriving, “being” versus “doing” and origin is also presented. The review suggests three future research directions, including the development of spirituality and character approaches to PYD, differentiating the role of “being” versus “doing” in PYD and construction of PYD models as well as conducting related research in non-Western contexts.

On two occasions separated by one year, Chinese adolescents with economic disadvantage in Hong Kong (N = 199) responded to instruments measuring perceived parental parenthood qualities (indexed by perceived parenting styles, support and help from parents, and conflict and relationship with the parents) and psychosocial adjustment (psychological well-being, substance abuse, and delinquency). Results showed that parental parenthood variables were concurrently associated with different measures of adolescent psychological well-being and problem behavior at Time 1 and Time 2. While paternal parenthood qualities at Time 1 predicted changes in existential well-being and delinquency in adolescent boys, but not in adolescent girls, at Time 2, maternal parenthood qualities at Time 1 predicted changes in the mental health and problem behavior in adolescent girls, but not in adolescent boys, at Time 2. There is no strong support for the thesis that adolescent adjustment influences perceived parental parenthood qualities over time. The present study suggests that the influences of fathers and mothers on the adjustment of Chinese adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage vary with the gender of adolescent children.

As reported by the World Health Organization in 2017, there are 2 million+ young people living with HIV worldwide. The World Health Organization also reported that a third of all new HIV infections around the world are estimated to occur among youths (aged 15–25). and teen pregnancy rates are on the rise in many places. These worrying trends suggest that existing sexuality education programs and interventions may be inadequate and/or ineffective. Although the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development’s (ICPD) Programme of Action highlighted the roles of Governments to offer sex education to young people to promote teenage reproductive health, yet inconsistency exists in the related initiatives in the global context. The present article aims to provide a comprehensive literature review of the existing sexuality programs in selected places in both English-speaking (i.e., the United States of America, the United Kingdom) and Chinese-speaking contexts (i.e., Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan). Based on the review, observations and implications for sexuality education policy and practice, as well as recommendations for future research for youths are outlined.

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Data from two Australian studies were combined so that the prevalence of anxiety and depression in a large, normative sample of Australian adolescents could be investigated. The combined sample comprised 1,299 adolescents randomly selected from metropolitan and country schools in Melbourne, a large Australian city. The data were examined in order to ascertain the percentages of adolescents who scored above the clinical cut-off on two self-report instruments--the Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (C. R. Reynolds & B. O. Richmond, 1985) and the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale (W. M. Reynolds, 1986). The results of these analyses were then compared with previously reported prevalence rates from studies worldwide. This comparison revealed striking differences in the prevalence of anxiety and depression across different countries and cultures. Limitations attributable to different self-report measures and imposed-etic approaches are discussed. Issues pertaining to social and political climate are also raised.

The association between family functioning and adolescent adjustment was examined in 429 Chinese adolescents via children's and parents' reports. The ratings obtained from the different sources indicated that family functioning was significantly related to measures of (a) adolescent psychological well-being (general psychiatric morbidity, life satisfaction, purpose in life, hopelessness, and self-esteem), (b) school adjustment (perceived academic performance and school conduct), and (c) problem behavior (smoking and abusing psychotropic drugs). The findings suggest that there is an intimate link between family functioning and the psychosocial adjustment, particularly the positive mental health, of Chinese adolescents.