Chinese Virtues and Resilience among Students in Hong Kong

Xiaoxue Kuang; John Chi-Kin Lee; Junjun Chen

doi:10.3390/ijerph20043769

Chinese Virtues and Resilience among Students in Hong Kong

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 20;20(4):3769. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20043769.

Authors

Xiaoxue Kuang¹, John Chi-Kin Lee², Junjun Chen³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Education, School of Education (Normal School), Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China.
² Department of Curriculum and Instruction, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.
³ Department of Education Policy and Leadership, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China.

Abstract

Character strengths and training have a great impact on students' whole-person development. This study examined the applicability of the Chinese virtues questionnaire (CVQ) and the relationships between students' perceptions of virtues and resilience in Hong Kong, SAR, China. A total of 2468 pupils from primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong were recruited as the sample for this study. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) supported a measurement model of Chinese virtues, and the results of structural equation modeling (SEM) suggested that Chinese virtues were positively related to positive resilience and succumbing. Significant relationships were found between gender and students' positive resilience, and school grade level showed a significant impact on the Chinese virtues, which in turn affect resilience. Student resilience could be enhanced by nurturing virtues and related character strengths, keeping in mind the role of gender and grade level.

Keywords: Chinese virtues; gender; quantitative; resilience; school grade level.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China
East Asian People*
Hong Kong
Humans
Students
Surveys and Questionnaires
Virtues*

Grants and funding

This paper is supported by two projects, namely “Life Education for Chinese Culture and Virtues” under the Centre for Classical Chinese Education and “Academic emotions, social-emotional health, self-regulated learning and sense of school membership: Teacher and student perspectives (Ref. no. 2017-2018-0338)” under the Centre for Religious and Spirituality Education at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). The authors would like to thank Michelle Li and Coudy Yui of EdUHK for their assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.