Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Economic Development and Subjective Well-being: A Comparative Study of Adolescents in Hong Kong and Macau

  • Published:
Child Indicators Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With a comparative study on adolescents in Hong Kong (N = 1,830) and Macau (N = 2,761), this article examines how differences in the wider economic contexts would affect the development of subjective well-being in adolescents. In particular, despite having similar levels of economic development, Hong Kong resembles a mature economy while Macau is still enjoying healthy growth due to the difference in the timing of economic booms experienced by the two Chinese cities. Therefore, it is suggested that adolescents in Hong Kong grow up under a constant pressure to be competitive within an increasingly limited economy, while their counterparts in Macau could expect to have a more comfortable time in the future. This crucial difference is hypothesized to be responsible for the observation that older adolescents in Macau are associated with higher hope and purpose in life, while the same cannot be said for those in Hong Kong. Subsequent analysis of the factors underlying the measure of hope further reinforces our arguments. This study carries strong implications for understanding how child well-being is affected by the wider economic conditions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Of course, we acknowledge that in almost every rich economy, including Hong Kong and Macau, material and monetary deprivation is still a major problem underlying child well-being. Poverty is still a grave reality facing a lot of families. See, for example, Goodstadt (2014).

  2. In a survey, 40.5 % of youth expressed concerns over housing issues, followed by employment/career development (Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups 2011; their definition of youth include those above the age of 20).

  3. The researchers did not provide information (e.g., cross-tabulations) on the relationship between personal views and views towards the society. Raw data are also not available for our analysis.

  4. This can be reflected by the fact that those with secondary education and tertiary education respond very similarly to their expected time of finding a job (Macau Youth Research Association 2010).

  5. Only students in the final and penultimate years in primary school were surveyed. The Hong Kong sample aged from 10 to 19 and respondents were aged from 10 to 22 for Macau. In fact, most observations from both sample came from the middle of the spectrum, aged 13–18, and only a handful of respondents (about 1 %) from Macau were above 19 years old. Excluding them makes virtually no difference on the results reported.

  6. The figures for hopelessness, certainty, and expectation for Hong Kong (Macau) are .85 (.89), .71 (.73), and .42 (.60) respectively. The reliability for expectation is lower partly because it only consists of four items.

  7. Other demographic variables including ethnicity and religious background are not significant in explaining our variables of interest. Their descriptive statistics are presented in the Appendix.

  8. Parents’ marital status is also tested, but it does not affect the main results and it is not consistently significant. It is therefore excluded for model parsimony.

  9. The respondents are asked about their father’s and mother’s education level on a scale of 0 (no formal education) to 4 (university or above). We sum the two figures to measure parents’ education background (ranges from 0 to 8).

  10. As the respondents are not randomly chosen, the estimation of standard errors might not be accurate. Robustness tests with standard errors clustered by sample are shown in the Appendix. Although some variables become less significant, the key results persist and the main variables are still jointly significant (F-tests). As this method could not be applied on the Macau and Hong Kong models, the current set of tests is kept to allow for direct comparisons across all specifications.

  11. The average for the three groups are 98.2, 92.4, and 90.0 respectively.

  12. It is acknowledged the bulk of the explanatory power do not come from age or residence (Hong Kong/Macau) as they only explain about 3 % of the variation. However this should not be considered atypical for demographic factors. For example, gender and age explain about 5 % of the variation in our models, which is comparable to the 8 % reported by Klocke et al. (2014) in their cross-national study.

  13. The combination of the different effects for each factor within the wider measure of hope can also explain the seemingly less significant effects identified in Table 3.

References

  • Adamson, B., & Li, S. P. (2005). Primary and secondary schooling. In M. Bray & R. Koo (Eds.), Education and society in Hong Kong and Macao: Comparative perspectives on continuity and change (2nd ed., pp. 35–60). Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, University of Hong Kong and Springer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K., & Snyder, C. R. (Eds.). (2002). The pursuit of meaningfulness in life. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beck, A. T., Weissman, A., Lester, D., & Trexler, L. (1974). The measurement of pessimism: the hopelessness scale. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42(6), 861–865.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolland, J. M. (2003). Hopelessness and risk behavior among adolescents living in high-poverty inner-city neighbourhoods. Journal of Adolescence, 26(2), 145–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradshaw, J. (2015). Subjective well-being and social policy: can nations make their children happier? Child Indicators Research, 8, 227–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradshaw, J., Martorano, B., Natali, L., & de Neubourg, C. (2013). Children’s subjective well-being in rich countries. Child Indicators Research, 6, 619–635.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brambor, T., Clark, W. R., & Golder, M. (2006). Understanding interaction models: improving empirical analyses. Political Analysis, 14(1), 63–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bray, M. (1992). Colonialism, scale, and politics: divergence and convergence of educational development in Hong Kong and Macau. Comparative Education Review, 36(3), 322–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cantril, H. (1964). The human design. Journal of Individual Psychology, 20, 129–136.

    Google Scholar 

  • Census and Statistics Department. (2015). Unemployment and underemployment statistics. Hong Kong: Census and Statistics Department.

    Google Scholar 

  • Central Policy Unit. (2015). Social attitudes of the youth population in Hong Kong: A follow-up study. Hong Kong: Central Policy Unit.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cerin, E., & Leslie, E. (2008). How socio-economic status contributes to participation in leisure-time physical activity. Social Science and Medicine, 66, 2596–2609.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheung, C., & Cheng, J. Y. (2016). Resources and norms as conditions for well-being in Hong Kong. Social Indicators Research. OnlineFirst.

  • Chou, B. K. P. (2012). The paradox of educational quality and education policy in Hong Kong and Macau: a postcolonial perspective. Chinese Education and Society, 45(2), 96–110.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chui, W. H., & Wong, M. Y. H. (2016a). Association between Parents’ Marital Status and the Development of Purpose, Hope, and Self-Esteem in Adolescents in Hong Kong. Journal of Family Issues.

  • Chui, W. H., & Wong, M. Y. H. (2016b). Gender differences in happiness and life satisfaction among adolescents in Hong Kong: Relationships and self-concept. Social Indicators Research. OnlineFirst.

  • Cronbach, L. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crumbaugh, J. (1968). Cross-validation of a purpose-in-life test based on Frankl’s concepts. Journal of Individual Psychology, 24, 74–81.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummins, R. (2010). Subjective well-being, homeostatically protected mood and depression: a synthesis. Journal of Happiness Studies, 1(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DSEC (Statistics and Census Service) Macau. (2015). Statistics Database. Retrieved 15 May 2015.

  • Goldbeck, L., Schmitz, T. G., Besier, T., Herschbach, P., & Henrich, G. (2007). Life satisfaction decreases during adolescence. Quality of Life Research, 16, 969–979.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goodstadt, L. (2014). Poverty in the midst of affluence. Revised edition. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heaven, P., & Ciarrochi, J. (2008). Parental styles, gender, and the development of hope and self-esteem. European Journal of Personality, 22, 707–724.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups. (2011). Expectation of young people on the 2011/12 Budget. Youth Opinion Polls No. 205. Hong Kong: Federation of Youth Groups.

    Google Scholar 

  • Inglehart, R. F. (2010). Faith and freedom: Traditional and modern ways to happiness. In E. Diener, J. F. Helliwell, & D. Kahneman (Eds.), International differences in well-being (pp. 351–397). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kam, C. D., & Franzese, R. J. (2007). Modeling and interpreting interactive hypotheses in regression analysis. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kenny, C. (2005). Does development make you happy? Subjective wellbeing and economic growth in developing countries. Social Indicators Research, 73, 199–219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klocke, A., Clair, A., & Bradshaw, J. (2014). International variation in child subjective well-being. Child Indicators Research, 7, 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwan, Y. (2010). Life satisfaction and self-assessed health among adolescents in Hong Kong. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11(3), 383–393.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lai, J. C. L., & Yue, X. (2000). Measuring optimism in Hong Kong and mainland Chinese with the revised life orientation test. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, 781–796.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lai, J. C. L., Cheung, H., Lee, W. M., & Yu, H. (1998). The utility of the revised life orientation test to measure optimism among Hong Kong Chinese. International Journal of Psychology, 33, 45–56.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, K. W. (2012). Economic freedom: Lessons of Hong Kong. Singapore: World Scientific.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Li, H. C. W., Chan, S. L. P., Chung, O. K. J., & Chui, M. L. M. (2010). Relationships among mental health, self-esteem and physical health in Chinese adolescents: an exploratory study. Journal of Health Psychology, 15(1), 96–106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lo, S. (2009). Casino capitalism and its legitimacy impact on the politico-administrative state in Macau. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 38(1), 19–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macau Youth Research Association. (2010). Research report on Macau youth on future prospects. Macau: Macau Youth Research Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martorano, B., Natali, L., de Neubourg, C., & Bradshaw, J. (2014). Child well-being in advanced economies in the late 2000s. Social Indicators Research, 118, 247–283.

    Google Scholar 

  • McKnight, P. E., & Kashdan, T. B. (2009). Purpose in life as a system that creates and sustains health and well-being: an integrative, testable theory. Review of General Psychology, 13(3), 242–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLeod, J. D., & Shanahan, M. J. (1996). Trajectories of poverty and children’s mental health. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 37, 207–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, D. R. (2000). Hong Kong as a global metropolis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Michel, G., Bisegger, C., Fuhr, D. C., & Abel, T. (2009). Age and gender differences in health-related quality of life of children and adolescents in Europe: a multilevel analysis. Quality of Life Research, 18(9), 1147–1157.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mistry, R. S., Vandewater, E. A., Houston, A. C., & McLoyd, V. C. (2002). Economic well-being and children’s social adjustment: the role of family process in an ethnically diverse low income sample. Child Development, 73(3), 935–951.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moksnes, U. K., & Espnes, G. A. (2013). Self-esteem and life satisfaction in adolescents—gender and age as potential moderators. Quality of Life Research, 22, 2921–2928.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parks, S. D. (2000). Big questions, worthy dreams: Mentoring young adults in their search for meaning, purpose, and faith. New York: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shek, D. T. L. (1988). Reliability and factorial structure of the Chinese version of the purpose in life questionnaire. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 44(3), 384–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shek, D. T. L. (1993). Measurement of pessimism in Chinese adolescents: the Chinese hopelessness scale. Social Behavior and Personality, 21, 107–120.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shek, D. T. L. (1997). The relation of family functioning to adolescent psychological well-being, school adjustment, and problem behavior. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 158(4), 467–479.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shek, D. T. L. (2004). Beliefs about causes of poverty and psychological well-being of parents and adolescents experiencing economic disadvantage in Hong Kong. American Journal of Family Therapy, 32, 239–254.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shek, D. T. L. (2005). A longitudinal study of perceived family functioning and adolescent adjustment in Chinese adolescents with economic disadvantage. Journal of Family Issues, 26(4), 518–543.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shek, D. T. L. (2008). Economic disadvantage, perceived family life quality, and emotional well-being in Chinese adolescents: a longitudinal study. Social Indicators Research, 85, 169–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shek, D. T. L. (2010). Introduction: quality of life of Chinese people in a changing world. Social Indicators Research, 95(3), 357–361.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shek, D. T. L., & Chan, L. K. (1999). Hong Kong Chinese parents’ perceptions of the ideal child. The Journal of Psychology, 133(3), 291–302.

  • Shek, D. T. L., & Li, X. (2016). Perceived school performance, life satisfaction, and hopelessness: A 4-Year longitudinal study of adolescents in Hong Kong. Social Indicators Research. OnlineFirst.

  • Shek, D. T. L., & Lin, L. (2014). Personal well-being and family quality of life of early adolescents in Hong Kong: do economic disadvantage and time matter? Social Indicators Research, 117, 795–809.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder, C. R., Rand, K. L., & Sigmon, D. R. (2005). Hope theory: A member of the positive psychology family. In C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology (pp. 257–278). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNICEF. (2007). Child poverty in perspective: An overview of child well-being in rich countries. Florence: Innocenti Report Card 7, UNICEF Office of Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNICEF. (2013). Child well-being in rich countries: A comparative overview. Florence: Innocenti Report Card 11, UNICEF Office of Research.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Whitbeck, L. B., Simons, R. L., Conger, R. D., Wickrama, K. A. S., Ackley, K. A., & Elder, G. H. (1997). The effects of parents’ working conditions and family economic hardship on parenting behaviors and children’s self-efficacy. Social Psychology Quarterly, 60, 291–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2015). World development indicators. Washington: World Bank.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Yeo, L. S., Ang, R. P., Chong, W. H., & Huan, V. S. (2007). Gender differences in adolescent concerns and emotional well-being: perceptions of Singaporean adolescent students. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 168(1), 63–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

    Mathew Y. H. Wong

  2. Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong

    Wing Hong Chui

Authors
  1. Mathew Y. H. Wong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Wing Hong Chui
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mathew Y. H. Wong.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 Additional descriptive statistics of samples
Full size table
Table 6 Robustness tests
Full size table

Sample by age

figure a

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wong, M.Y.H., Chui, W.H. Economic Development and Subjective Well-being: A Comparative Study of Adolescents in Hong Kong and Macau. Child Ind Res 10, 247–265 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-016-9381-3

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12187-016-9381-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation