Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
Department of Psychology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong.
Soc Sci Med. 2020 Jan;244:112703. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112703. Epub 2019 Nov 30.
Being an empowered and contributing citizen has been increasingly advocated in contemporary democratic societies. Despite its benefits on community flourishing, little is known about whether and how developing an active and engaged citizenship contributes to the well-being of the individuals, especially those in less democratic societies. Grounded on the empowerment theory, the present study aimed to examine (1) the empowering processes through which sociopolitical control motivates civic engagement, and (2) the empowerment outcomes on emotional, psychological, and social well-being among emerging adults in Hong Kong and mainland China. Study 1 consists of two emerging adult samples from Hong Kong (N = 268) and mainland China (N = 252). Results of multi-sample structural equation modeling found that sociopolitical control were positively related to civic engagement, which was in turn associated with better psychological and social well-being, but not emotional well-being. Differential mediating effects of civic engagement were observed between emerging adults in Hong Kong and mainland China. Study 2 used three-wave data from a sample of emerging adults in Hong Kong (N = 535) to determine the directionality of the associations found in Study 1. Results of cross-lagged path analysis corroborated the findings of Study 1 and showed that civic engagement mediated the effect of sociopolitical control on social well-being across time, after controlling for autoregressive effects and basic demographics. The findings suggest that empowering emerging adults to gain control over social and political system can foster their participation in civic affairs. Through positive involvement in the community, emerging adults can build a positive relationship with society and actualize their potential for social betterment.
在当代民主社会中，越来越提倡成为一个有能力和有贡献的公民。尽管它对社区的繁荣有好处，但人们知之甚少，即发展积极参与的公民身份是否以及如何有助于个人的幸福，尤其是那些在民主程度较低的社会中的个人的幸福。本研究基于赋权理论，旨在检验：(1) 社会政治控制激励公民参与的赋权过程；(2) 社会政治控制对香港和中国大陆的成年初期个体的情感、心理和社会幸福感的赋权结果。研究 1 包括来自香港（N=268）和中国大陆（N=252）的两个成年初期样本。多样本结构方程模型的结果表明，社会政治控制与公民参与呈正相关，而公民参与又与更好的心理和社会幸福感相关，但与情感幸福感无关。在香港和中国大陆的成年初期个体中，公民参与的中介作用存在差异。研究 2 使用来自香港成年初期样本的三波数据（N=535），以确定研究 1 中发现的关联的方向性。交叉滞后路径分析的结果证实了研究 1 的发现，并表明，在控制自回归效应和基本人口统计学因素后，公民参与中介了社会政治控制对社会幸福感的影响。研究结果表明，赋予成年初期个体对社会和政治系统的控制，可以促进他们参与公民事务。通过积极参与社区，成年初期个体可以与社会建立积极的关系，并实现他们对社会改善的潜力。
