Socio-demographic and family predictors of moral competence in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong: a six-wave longitudinal study

Abstract

This six-wave longitudinal study in Project P.A.T.H.S. examined the growth trajectories and predictors of moral competence in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. Linear mixed models utilizing individual growth curves were used to analyze the initial status and rate of change of moral competence with reference to gender, economic disadvantage, family intactness, family functioning and parent-child subsystem quality. Results showed that adolescent moral competence increased across 6 years. Female adolescents had higher initial levels of moral competence than that of male adolescents. Adolescents from well-functioning families had higher initial levels of moral competence but slower growth of moral competence than did those from families with lower family functioning. Adolescents with higher mother-child subsystem quality had higher initial levels of moral competence but slower growth of moral competence than did those with relatively lower mother-child subsystem quality. Finally, adolescents with higher father-child subsystem quality had higher initial levels of moral competence than those with relatively lower father-child subsystem quality.

Trajectories of Personal Well-Being Attributes Among High School Students in Hong Kong

“…Although a U-shape pattern was still observed when some demographic variables were controlled in this study, previous studies of project P.A.T.H.S. has suggested that family intactness, economic status, and family dynamics at Grade 7 had effects on the subsequent developmental changes of the PYD attributes (e.g., Shek et al 2016a ; Shek and Liang 2016a , b ). The variances of the slopes in our study were statistically significant, which indicates there are factors at an individual level that can explain the variation in the developmental trajectories.…”

“…In the 6-year longitudinal study in the Project P.A.T.H.S., a few preliminary studies have shown that emotional competence increased with growth rate diminishing over time (Shek and Leung 2016 ); social competence declined at a decreasing rate over time (Shek et al 2016b ); cognitive competence (Shek and Pu 2016 ) and moral competence (Shek and Liang 2016a , b ) increased steadily while resilience decreased at a constant rate (Shek et al 2016a ); self-efficacy remained invariant (Shek and Liang 2016a , b ).…”