The SARS crisis of 2003 in Hong Kong generated widespread public fear and escalated the efforts of government and medical institutions for infection control. As such, the role of the government and medical institution in preventing public fear and anxiety became prominent. As hypothesized, trust in the institutions is especially relevant to public fear and anxiety during the epidemic crisis. For testing hypotheses involving the role of institutional trust, a telephone survey during the crisis in April 2003 and another telephone survey after the crisis in June 2003 drew data from 9,402 Hong Kong adults for analysis. Results indicate the significant negative effects of trust in the government and trust in the medical institution on anxiety. Supporting the aforementioned hypothesis the effect of institutional trust in the government was significantly more negative on anxiety during the crisis than its aftermath. Hence, the government and medical institution are particularly responsible for anxiety reduction during the crisis.

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This study investigates how peer influence, school attachment, and substance abuse are related to sexual behavior, with particular interest in exploring the relationship between substance abuse and sexual misconduct, while using a stratified random sample of adolescents in Macau. Mediation analyses were employed. The results show that substance abuse, apart from susceptibility to peer influence and school attachment/commitment, was significantly related to sexual misconduct. Substance abuse was the best predictor of sexual misconduct, and it significantly mediated the relationship between susceptibility to peer influence, as well as school attachment and sexual misconduct. This reflects that the use of substances, including drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes, can be viewed as a catalyst for triggering engagement in sexual misconduct. The implications of this study involve taking measures to reduce the rate of substance abuse as a way of decreasing sexual misconduct in adolescents. Future research directions in exploring the relationship between adolescent substance abuse and risky sexual behavior are discussed.

This paper describes the community resistance to mental handicap facilities in Hong Kong. There is a lack of knowledge for social service agencies to deal with such opposition systematically and in a comprehensive manner. The long‐term and immediate intervention strategies for agencies to tackle community resistance are discussed.

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