BackgroundHong Kong has one of the highest life expectancy rankings in the world. The number of centenarians and near-centenarians has been increasing locally and internationally. The relative growth of this population is a topic of immense importance for population and health policy makers. Living long and living well are two overlapping but distinct research topics. We previously conducted a quantitative study on 153 near-centenarians and centenarians to explore a wide range of biopsychosocial correlates of health and “living long”. This paper reports a follow-up qualitative study examining the potential correlates of “living well” among near-centenarians and centenarians in Hong Kong.MethodsSix cognitively, physically, and psychologically sound community-dwelling elders were purposively recruited from a previous quantitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted.ResultsFour major themes related to living long and well emerged from the responses of the participants: (a) Positive relations with others, (b) Positive events and happiness, (c) Hope for the future, and (d) Positive life attitude. Specifically, we found that having good interpersonal relationships, possessing a collection of positive life events, and maintaining salutary attitudes towards life are considered as important to psychological well-being by long-lived adults in Hong Kong. Most participants perceived their working life as most important to their life history and retired at very old ages.ConclusionsThese findings also shed light on the relationships between health, work, and old age.

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Background: Pandemics affect the physical and mental well-being of all potentially at-risk individuals. The secondary consequences of measures to prevent the outbreak (i.e., school closures) have extensive impact on young people globally. This longitudinal study examines changes of suicidal ideation status among adolescents during COVID-19.Method: A follow-up after nine-months of a school-based survey among 1,491 secondary students was conducted during COVID-19 in Hong Kong. Psychological well-being, psychological factors, family support, and COVID-19-related experiences were examined.Findings: The prevalence of suicidal ideation were 24% and 21% among the participants before and during COVID-19, respectively. In particular, 897 (65.0%) remained non-suicidal, 193 (14.0%) recovered from being suicidal, 148 (10.7%) newly reported being suicidal, and 143 (10.4%) remained suicidal. Respondents who remained suicidal were found to have significantly higher depression, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and social anxiety; fixed mindset; lower meaning of life and self-control; and lower parental support and supervision than the other groups. Participants with suicidal ideation reported more negative perceptions about the pandemic than non-suicidal participants. Logistic regression showed that participants with higher trait anxiety and higher stress from self-expectations in the baseline survey predicted higher likelihood of having suicidal ideation than the non-suicidal students at follow-up.Conclusion: Poor psychological well-being, lower level of family support, and negative impacts of the pandemic were consistently associated with students’ presence of suicidal ideation during the pandemic. Further intervention studies are needed to examine the effects of the mental health consequences of COVID-19 on youth mental health and to promote positive youth well-being.

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