Resilience in high school students in Hong Kong

Based on six waves of longitudinal data collected from high school students, the study examined the developmental pattern and correlates of resilience in adolescents in Hong Kong. Over six years, the students were invited to complete a questionnaire containing measures of psychosocial functioning including family functioning, parent-child subsystem quality and resilience. There was a slight decrease of resilience throughout adolescence. Adolescents having better parent-child subsystem quality and family functioning reported higher levels of resilience initially. However, better mother-child subsystem quality and family functioning were significantly associated with a faster decrease in resilience, although adolescents with better parent-child subsystem quality and family functioning always reported higher resilience levels over six years. The findings suggest that strengthening family processes can help to promote resilience in adolescents in Hong Kong.