Family quality of life, personal well-being, and risk behavior in early adolescents in Hong Kong: Related phenomena and research gaps

Family processes and positive youth development attributes are salient determinants of adolescent development. In this chapter, the influences of family factors (family functioning, parent-child relationship, parenting style, parent-child communication, parental marital problems, and economic disadvantage) and positive youth development attributes on the personal well-being of Chinese adolescents are reviewed. The review demonstrates that there are several limitations of the existing scientific literature in the Chinese context. First, in contrast to the abundance of Western studies, there is a lack of Chinese studies. Second, more emphasis should be put on understanding families from an ecological perspective. Third, few studies have examined both systemic and dyadic family processes in a single study. Fourth, positive youth development research is still in its infancy in different Chinese contexts. Fifth, there are few Chinese validated measures of personal well-being and family quality of life in the field. Sixth, there are few longitudinal studies in different Chinese societies. Finally, there are few studies in which multiple positive and negative measures of personal well-being are employed in one single study. Copyright © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.