The Effect of Poverty on Psychological Well-being of Children

Completed

Brief Summary: The aim of this study is to explore the impacts of poverty and income disparity on the psychological well-being of Hong Kong Chinese children.

Detailed Description: It is well documented that poverty has a negative impact on the physiological well-being of children in the West. There is an imperative need for health care professionals to develop and evaluate interventions to promote the psychological wellbeing of children living in poverty. First, however, it is crucial to assess and understand how the impact of poverty, in particular the impact of income disparity, affects the psychological wellbeing of Hong Kong children before any intervention to promote it can be planned, developed, or evaluated. Unfortunately, while much public concern about poverty has concentrated on children's physical development, the impact of poverty and income disparity on their psychological well-being remains relatively underexplored. Because the cultural context in which they live is drastically different from that of Western children, the way that Chinese children view the nature and meaning of poverty, as well as their responses to it and to any psychosocial interventions, will in all likelihood differ considerably from those of Western children. Hence, the aim of this study is to explore the impacts of poverty and income disparity on the psychological well-being of Hong Kong Chinese children.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Hong Kong Chinese pupils from Grades 5 and 6 of the elementary schools in Hong Kong
be able to read Chinese and speak Cantonese
had to live and go to school in the same district

Exclusion Criteria

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Children from low-income families	Questionnaires	Children from low-income families were invited to fill in a set of questionnaires.
Children from high income families	Questionnaires	Children from high-income families were invited to fill in a set of questionnaires.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Levels of quality of life at baseline	baseline	The quality of life of the participants will be measured by the Chinese version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL). It has 23 items which are grouped into 4 subscales. They are physical functioning (8 items), emotional functioning (5 items), social functioning (5 items) and school functioning (5 items). Participants were asked to rate how often they had experienced problems over the past month on a scale from 0 to 4. Higher scores indicate better quality of life. Participants will be asked to respond to the Chinese version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) at baseline.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Levels of self-esteem at baseline	baseline	The self-esteem of the participants will be measured by the Chinese version of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES). It contains 10 items which are measured on a 4-point Likert scale. Each item is rated from 1 to 4. The higher scores represent the higher levels of global self-esteem of children. Participants will be asked to respond to the Chinese version of the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSES) at baseline.
Number of depressive symptoms at baseline	baseline	The number of depressive symptoms of the participants will be measured by the Chinese version of The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC). It consists of 20 items that are measured on a 4-point Likert scale in relation to the experience of last week. Each item is rated from 0 to 3. The higher scores of CES-DC indicate the high numbers of depressive symptoms. The cutoff of this scale is 16, which indicates the children currently experiencing a significant level of depressive symptoms Participants will be asked to respond to the Chinese version of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC) at baseline.