A 6-year longitudinal study of social competence amongst Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong

In response to the severe lack of longitudinal data on adolescent development, we conducted a 6-year longitudinal study examining the change and psychosocial correlates of social competence in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. During the high school years (Secondary 1 to Secondary 6), participants responded to measures of social competence, socio-demographic characteristics (gender, family intactness and economic disadvantage) and family processes (father-child relational quality, mother-child relational quality and family functioning). Results showed that social competence dropped across the six waves. While gender, father-child subsystem quality, mother-child subsystem quality, and family functioning significantly predicted social competence at the initial level, rate of decrease in social competence was greater for adolescents who came from intact families, had better mother-child subsystem quality, and reported better family functioning. Economic disadvantage was the only factor that did not affect the development of social competence in adolescents.