Positive youth development: A pioneer longitudinal study [Reprint]

Adolescent developmental issues are growing globally with studies showing that adolescent mental health issues such as depression and suicide are growing problems. Adolescent addiction problems such as substance abuse, pathological gambling and Internet addiction are intensifying. Furthermore, interpersonal problems such as violence and bullying have grown in different forms, particularly in view of the growing development of social media such as Facebook. In many studies, it was estimated that around one-fifth of adolescents may require professional help because of their psychosocial problems. In this book we present the first known scientific study on the psychosocial development in Chinese adolescents in Hong Kong. A large sample was used and validated measures of positive youth development, family functioning, parentchild relational processes and adolescent risk behavior were included in the study. Family quality of life and personal quality of life were employed with a wide range of adolescent risk behaviors, including hopelessness, internet addiction, pornographic material consumption, self-harm, suicidal behavior, and delinquency used to understand the developmental outcomes in secondary schools. In this book, two categories of papers are involved. First, papers highlighting the importance of longitudinal study and related examples in the global, mainland Chinese and Hong Kong contexts are included. Second, several papers based on the longitudinal data set in the Project P.A.T.H.S. with particular reference to the role of positive youth development and family factors are presented. It is our modest wish that through these papers, the attributes of longitudinal studies are illustrated which will motivate colleagues to conduct more longitudinal study in Hong Kong.