Psychosocial adjustment of Chinese adolescents with economic disadvantage: A pioneer longitudinal study in Hong Kong

Abstract

Although studies have been carried out to examine factors associated with the psychosocial adjustment of adolescents with economic disadvantage, there are several limitations of the existing literature. First, available studies have been mainly conducted in Western contexts and scientific studies based on Chinese people are almost non-existent. Second, a review of the literature shows that existing studies are mainly cross-sectional in nature and few longitudinal attempts have been carried out to understand the development of poor adolescents across time. Third, there are few existing studies in which a wide range of adolescent developmental outcomes is included. Finally, there have been to date few related studies in which both parents and adolescents are included in a single study. Against this background, this study attempts to examine the relationships between a number of factors at different ecological systems and psychosocial adjustment of poor Chinese adolescents over time.