Resilience as a Positive Youth Development Construct: A Conceptual Review

The concept of resilience is reviewed from a range of disciplinary perspectives in this paper. Both broad and narrow definitions of resilience are highlighted and a working definition of resilience is proposed to inform research, policy and practice. Different psychological, social and ecological protective factors, particularly competence, optimism, and bonding to family and cultural beliefs are highlighted. Theoretical relationships between resilience and positive youth development are examined with an attempt to erase misunderstandings. Finally, how schools can promote resilience among students is discussed

Availability, Use, and Cultivation of Support Networks as Predictors of the Well-Being of Middle-Aged and Older Chinese: A Panel Study

Objectives. To examine the impact of the availability, use, and cultivation of a support network on the well-being of community-dwelling, middle-aged, and older Chinese. Methods. A total of 2,970 Hong Kong Chinese aged 40–74 years were interviewed using a structured questionnaire in 2004. Out of the original group of interviewees, 2,120 (71.4%) were interviewed again in 2005. Results. Structural equation modeling revealed a good fit of the model employing Wave 1 support network data and demographic characteristics to predict Wave 2 well-being. As hypothesized, the availability of important social ties and the cultivation of one's support networks were found to predict well-being one year later, but not the use of support networks to meet emotional, financial, or companion needs after controlling for demographic variables and baseline well-being. Discussion. Cultivating support networks can be interpreted as positive and active coping. Such cultivation is in line with what socioemotional selectivity theory predicts; specifically, when people age, they become more selective and concentrate on strengthening their relationship with those they are emotionally close to. We argue that network cultivation deserves more attention in theory, practice, and research to strengthen the resilience and adaptability of individuals approaching and experiencing old age

Service-learning and community partnerships : a study of Hong Kong secondary school teachers

Service-learning is becoming an increasingly popular approach to achieving both the personal and academic goals of students and the broader goals of civic responsibility and social justice in communities. Hence, it is essential to consider the important role played by community partners in supporting this kind of experiential education. Reciprocity between schools and communities has been espoused as a core principle of good practice in service-learning. However, the paucity of studies of community partnerships indicates that they are only beginning to be understood and thus require further in-depth investigation. Drawing upon five focus group interviews with 22 secondary school teachers and their community partners in Hong Kong, this study seeks to advance the existing body of knowledge on school-community partnerships in service-learning. Conceiving partnership as a reciprocal process that evolves over time, it gives examples of the diversity of service-learning partnerships, and provides strategies for developing and maintaining effective partnerships. The research and practice implications of the findings of this study for promoting reciprocal school-community partnerships are discussed

Career and life development intervention for non-engaged youth: Evaluating the Hong Kong Benchmarks (Community) Pilot Program

In our study, aimed at examining the effectiveness and impact of the Hong Kong Benchmarks (Community) Pilot Program, a career and life development (CLD) intervention program targeting non-engaged youth (NEY) in Hong Kong, we employed a pretest–posttest quasi-experimental design to compare changes in career-related competencies between a pilot group (N = 289) and a comparison group (N = 160). We also conducted five focus group interviews with the leaders of nongovernmental organizations, social workers, NEY, parents, and employers to explore the program’s impacts on the CLD service provisions. Our quantitative results indicate that the piloting group showed greater improvement in two career-related competencies—youth career development competency and career and life development hope—than the comparison group. Meanwhile, our qualitative results suggest both the benefits and difficulties experienced by stakeholders in the program. The findings thus provide preliminary evidence of the Hong Kong Benchmarks (Community) Pilot Program’s positive impacts on NEY and other important stakeholders. The implications of expanding the existing program and theorizing the community-based benchmark approach are also discussed

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Evaluating the benefit from the help of the parent-teacher association to child performance

The contribution of parental involvement in the parent-teacher association (PTA) to schoolchildren's performance is an issue for evaluation research. To resolve the issue, it is reasonable to differentiate people who benefit and others who do not benefit from the involvement. Such differentiation relied on survey data from 289 pairs of Hong Kong Chinese parents and their children between Grade 4 and Grade 9. It revealed that only 28.8% of the parent-child pairs had their child performance benefiting from the help of parent-teacher associations (in terms of a standardized effect of .2). Factors predictive of this minority subgroup were the child's grade and having a single parent. These factors tend to identify the need for help from parent-teacher associations, which can be a consideration for planning effective help from the associations.Parent-child association Parental involvement School performance

Social Media and Adolescents’ Well-Being

The call for articles for the Special Issue of Healthcare, entitled “Social Media and Adolescents’ Well-Being”, was proposed at the beginning of 2021 as part of multidisciplinary efforts to understand the complex interactions between social media usage and adolescents’ well-being [...