Hopelessness in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong : Demograpic and family correlates

Chinese secondary school students (N=3,017) responded to measures of adolescent hopelessness, perceived parental behavioral control (indexed by parental knowledge, expectation, monitoring, discipline, and demandingness, as well as Chinese parental control attributes), parental psychological control, and parent-child relational qualities (satisfaction with parental control, child's readiness to communicate with the parents and perceived mutual trust). Results showed that roughly one-fifth of Chinese adolescents displayed signs of hopelessness and adolescent hopelessness was related to adolescent age and gender as well as parental education and marital status. Although parental behavioral control was negatively related to adolescent hopelessness, parental psychological control was positively associated with adolescent hopelessness. Participants perceived parent-child relational qualities to be better showed lower levels of hopelessness. ©Freund Publishing House Ltd.