Graduate Institute of Social Work, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
Department of Social Work, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Sep 7;18(18):9426. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18189426.
Precarious political circumstances can take a mental toll on young people. Adopting a socio-ecological perspective, this study investigated the influence of stress arising from political life events, intrapersonal factors (i.e., meaning in life, resilience), interpersonal factors (i.e., social support, associational social capital), and community factors (i.e., perceived empowerment in the community, perceived opportunities for civic engagement) on the mental health of youth in Hong Kong. Furthermore, it examined the moderating effects of these factors on the relationship between stress arising from political life events and mental health. A cross-sectional quantitative survey with a stratified purposive sampling data collection method was conducted. A total of 1330 secondary school students were recruited for this study. Multiple regression analysis was performed to examine both direct and moderation effects. The results indicate that high stress arising from political life events, low meaningfulness in life, low resilience, low social support, low youth empowerment in the community, and high civic engagement in the community were related to high mental distress. None of the presumed moderators moderated the relationship between stress due to political life events and mental distress. Assessing and addressing stress due to political life events would be potentially important in mental health programs for Hong Kong adolescents in precarious political situations.
不稳定的政治环境可能会对年轻人的心理造成影响。本研究采用社会生态学的观点，探讨了政治生活事件引起的压力、个体因素（即生活意义、韧性）、人际因素（即社会支持、社团社会资本）和社区因素（即社区赋权感、参与公民事务的机会）对香港青年心理健康的影响。此外，本研究还考察了这些因素对政治生活事件引起的压力与心理健康之间关系的调节作用。采用分层目的抽样方法进行了横断面定量调查。共招募了 1330 名中学生参与本研究。采用多元回归分析检验了直接效应和调节效应。结果表明，政治生活事件引起的高压力、生活意义感低、韧性低、社会支持低、社区青年赋权感低、社区公民事务参与度高与高心理困扰有关。假设的调节变量均未调节政治生活事件引起的压力与心理困扰之间的关系。评估和应对政治生活事件引起的压力，可能对不稳定政治环境下香港青少年的心理健康计划具有重要意义。
