The subjective well-being of academically gifted students in the Chinese cultural context

Abstract

This study examined the subjective well-being, as reflected as their satisfaction with life, of academically gifted secondary school students in China, under the framework of the broaden-and-build theory. A total number of 351 academically gifted secondary students participated in the study. Multiple scales were used to measure these academically gifted students’ satisfaction with life and other relevant constructs. The results indicated that girls had significantly higher satisfaction with life than boys. Consistent with the broaden-and-build theory, the study showed that positive emotions and some variables from the broadened mindset and four building resources aspects of the theory were significantly interrelated for these academically gifted students. Based on the hierarchical regression results, positive affect, agency hope, parents’ trust, general health, and social functioning were found to be contributing factors to the subjective well-being, while negative affect, peers alienation, depression, anxiety, were found to be negatively related to their life satisfaction.

Keywords

academically gifted adolescents broaden-and-build theory China satisfaction with life

There has been a growing research interest in academically gifted students around the world. Academically gifted students can be defined as those who have extremely high academic achievement (Baker, 1995; Basirion, Majid & Jelas, 2014; Chan, 2010; Colangelo & Kerr, 1990; Cross, Adams, Dixon, & Holland, 2004; Reis & Boeve, 2009). Internationally, although the selection of academically gifted students could vary across studies, but generally, such selection has been based on very high academic achievement performance (e.g., Chan, 2000, 2010; Phillipson & Cheung, 2007), such as those in the upper 5% of their class based on academic achievement, those with scores above the 95th percentile on SAT (Baker, 1995), and those who obtained all A’s in their public examinations (Basirion et al., 2014).

Academically gifted students in the Chinese cultural context

Despite their outstanding academic performance, academically gifted students could be vulnerable to psychological problems (Pfeiffer & Stocking, 2000). Besides the common issues that gifted students may encounter, such as emotionally highly sensitive, intellectual boredom and social isolation (e.g., Feldhusen & Kroll, 1991; Gallagher, Harradine, & Coleman, 1997; Silverman, 1994), some unique social and cultural factors in the Chinese social and cultural context may also lead academically gifted students in China to experience additional stress and pressure. First, Chinese society places an extraordinarily high value on education; as a result, students are expected to pursue high scores in all the examinations in order to be admitted into good secondary schools or top universities (Feng, 1995). For example, the exams for entering high school (zhongkao) and for entering universities or colleges (gaokao) are considered as the two most significant public examinations for students in China (Wu, 2015). In addition, the culture of collectivism suggests the tight connection within the community: Each group member is closely related to each other, and individuals should be in line with the expectations of the family and community (Wang, 2016). Deeply affected by this culture, a student’s academic performance is not simply a personal issue, but also represents the honor and ‘glory’ (namely mianzi or ‘face’) of his or her family (Bodycott & Lai, 2012). Furthermore, under the China’s one-child policy implemented since 1979 (this policy was only recently abandoned), a child is the center of concern and attention of a whole family, and the family provides all resources needed for his/her success (Chow & Zhao, 1996). In this cultural and social context, all the societal and family influences may result in a high level of stress in the social and academic lives of Chinese students, especially for academically gifted students, as their family and peers have very high expectations for their academic success.

Studies of academically gifted students covered issues concerning their cognitive abilities (e.g. Jones & Day, 1996), as well as psychological aspects. For example, as indicated by Pfeiffer and Stocking (2000), academically gifted students have a set of personality characteristics that could lead them to psychological vulnerability. They may endorse more perfectionistic tendencies (Baker, 1996). Roberts and Lovett (1994) showed that academically gifted students had higher self-oriented perfectionism and irrational beliefs. As a result, when compared to their non-gifted peers, they had more negative affective and physiological stress reactions to scholastic failure.

Some studies even examined suicide issues among academically gifted students. For example, Cross, Gust-Brey, and Ball (2002) discussed that certain types of aberrant behavior and belief systems should not be seen as a typical part of being gifted, and parents and educators should pay close attention to academically gifted students’ behaviors because these behaviors and belief systems could be indicators of suicidal behavior. Cassady and Cross (2006) also discussed that the structure of suicidal ideation for academically gifted students was different from that of an ordinary sample. These studies suggested the importance of understanding the behaviors, emotions, and beliefs of academically gifted students.

As the studies discussed above indicated, it should be relevant for educators and researchers to understand if academically gifted students, who are excellent in their academic achievement, are happy and satisfied with their lives. In other words, whether or not they have high levels of subjective well-being. Studies on the subjective well-being of academically gifted students have been scarce, especially in Asia. One, conducted by Jin and Moon (2006), was related to the subjective well-being of Korean gifted students, and suggested no significant difference between two groups (academically gifted students in an elite science high school and the high-ability students in a regular high school) in their subjective well-being. Chan (2012) studied the life satisfaction of gifted students in Hong Kong and showed that the gifted students with ‘healthy perfectionism’ were happier and more satisfied with life than those gifted students with ‘unhealthy perfectionism’, which corroborated his earlier study (Chan, 2007) showing that positive and negative perfectionism had direct impact on gifted students’ subjective well-being.

Subjective well-being

According to Diener, Oishi, and Lucas (2003), subjective well-being is defined as ‘people’s emotional and cognitive evaluations of their lives’ (p. 403), and is generally reflected as one’s satisfaction with life. There are many advantages in having a high level of subjective well-being. For example, it plays a role in positive youth development, and it can enhance the psychological well-being of an individual (Park, 2004).

Researchers have been searching for factors that may increase one’s subjective well-being. Diener et al. (2003) discussed that research showed that subjective well-being was related to multiple personal characteristics, such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, repressive defensiveness, trust, locus of control, desire for control, and hardiness, etc. Schimmack, Radhakrisknan, Oishi, Dzokoto, and Ahadi (2002) examined the interplay of personality and cultural factors in predicting hedonic balance and life satisfaction across individualistic culture (US and Germany) and collectivistic culture (Japan, Mexico, and Ghana), and showed that the influence of extraversion and neuroticism on life satisfaction was significantly mediated by hedonic balance, and that the influence of personality on life satisfaction was moderated by culture.

Diener, Diener, and Diener (1995) included 55 nations in their study to examine factors that could predict subjective well-being in different nations. They found that high scores in income, individualism, human rights, and societal equality correlated strongly with each other and with subjective well-being. Some further studies suggested that subjective well-being could be achieved by having supportive parenting, engagement in challenging activities, positive life events, and high-quality interactions with significant others (Park, 2004). Lent et al. (2005) indicated that domain-specific social cognitive variables, such as self-efficacy, perceived goal progress and environmental resources, were significant in predicting life satisfaction. Traditionally, subjective well-being was studied through personality theories, cultural aspects, and individual factors (Diener et al., 2003). Fredrickson (2001), however, developed the broaden-and-build theory as a broader framework for studying subjective well-being.

Broaden-and-build theory

The broaden-and-build theory was developed by Fredrickson (2001) and was originally applied in studying positive emotions in the area of positive psychology. The theory explains that positive experiences, such as joy, interest, contentment, pride, and love, can broaden individuals’ momentary thought-action repertoires, which in turn can build enduring personal resources, including physical, cognitive, social, and psychological. People who have high cognitive resources perform better in tasks that require creative problem solving, and they have higher creative and efficient cognitive processes (Schiffin & Falkenstern, 2012). When individuals have high social resources, they tend to develop better and more affiliations with others, have quality social interactions and participate in more activities. Those who are high in physical resources develop better motor coordination, strength, and physical skills that are important for survival. Finally, people with more psychological resources can better cope with negative events, and tend to have higher levels of optimism, resilience and life satisfaction.

The broaden-and-build theory has been applied in some studies. For example, Fredrickson and Joiner (2002) also applied the theory in their examination of college students’ emotional well-being. Their results showed that positive affect influenced broad-minded coping, and broad-minded coping in turn reciprocally influenced positive affect. Overall, positive emotions initiated upward spirals towards enhanced well-being. Fredrickson and Branigan (2005) showed that positive emotions broadened the scope of attention (global-local visual processing task) and thought-action repertories, while negative emotions narrowed the thought-action repertories. Moreover, Cohn, Frederickson, Brown, Mikels, and Conway (2009) investigated students’ happiness by measuring students’ emotions daily for one month, and their life satisfaction and trait resilience at the beginning and the end of the month. Their results showed that positive emotions enhanced resilience and life satisfaction. They concluded that ‘happy people become more satisfied not simply because they feel better but because they develop resources for living well’ (p. 361).

Aims of the study

This current study investigated the subjective well-being, reflected by the cognitive component––satisfaction of life, of academically gifted secondary school students in China by applying the framework of the broaden-and-build theory. First, positive affect and negative affect were included. The broaden aspect included variables of creativity, curiosity (exploration and absorption), and positive reframing. For the build aspect, the cognitive resources included academic performance perception, pathways-hope, agency-hope, and mindful attention. In terms of social resources, relationships with parents (trust, communication, and alienation) and relationships with peers (trust, communication, and alienation) were included. Psychological resources included resiliency, optimism, depression, anxiety, and stress. Finally, physical resources included sleep duration and health-perception variables (physical functioning, role physical, bodily pain, general health perception, vitality, social functioning, role emotional, and mental health).

Based on the above literature review and the aims of the study, the following research questions were developed:

Are there any differences in students’ subjective well-being and other related variables across gender groups and grade levels among academically gifted secondary school students in China?

How was satisfaction with life related to the variables (e.g., positive and negative affect, broaden aspect variables, and building resources variables) that were theoretically relevant under the broaden-and-build theory among academically gifted secondary school students in China?

Method

Participants

The sample consisted of 351 students from two ‘key’ (i.e., very selective) and prestigious provincial secondary schools in Guangzhou, China. Guangzhou is an economically advanced metropolitan urban area in southern China with a population of over fifteen million. According to the Guangzhou municipal government (2002), the key schools selected for this current study have been graded as National-level model high schools in Guangdong Province and First Level Schools of Guangdong Province. According to the annual report of the office of Guangzhou Examination Authority (2013, 2014, 2015), these two schools only admit students within the top 10% of the student population from all districts in Guangzhou, based on their high school entrance examinations.

The participants in this study were all studying in classes for those with the highest academic achievement in their grade levels. Moreover, they had been selected in their schools to attend pull-out enrichment programs. Based on the operational definitions (i.e., those with excellent examination scores on academic achievement examinations) of academically gifted students as used by Chan (2010), Mello and Worrell (2006), and Phillipson and Cheung (2007), the students selected for this study could be considered as academically gifted.

The participants in this study were between the ages of 15- and 17-years-old, and the average age was 16.15. There were, with 223 girls and 126 boys, 106 from Senior Secondary 1 (equivalent to Grade 10), 119 from Senior Secondary 2 (Grade 11), and 126 from Senior Secondary 3 (Grade 12). In the following sections of the paper, Grades 10, 11, and 12 will be used for the sake of simplicity.

Instruments

A questionnaire was created for this study, which consisted of basic demographic questions (e.g., gender, age, grade levels) and multiple scales that covered the constructs relevant for the broaden-and-build theory. First, the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) (Watson, Clark, & Tellegan, 1988) was included. To measure the broaden mindset, the Curiosity Exploration Inventory (including both exploration and absorption) (Kashdan, Rose, & Fincham, 2004), the Gough Personality Scale for measuring creativity (Gough, 1979), and the Positive Reframing Scale (Lambert, Graham, Fincham, & Stillman, 2009) were also included.

For the four resources related to the ‘build’ aspect, in terms of the cognitive resources, the Perceived Academic Performance (Richardson, Berge, Martin, Roeper, & Allison, 2005), the Trait Hope Scale (including both Pathways and Agency) (Snyder et al., 1991), and the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Brown & Ryan, 2003) were used. For social resources, the Inventory for Parents and Peers was used. This scale included Trust, Communication, and Alienation subscales for both parents and peers, respectively (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987). To measure psychological resources, the Ego-resiliency scale (Block & Kremen, 1996), the Life Orientation Test for Optimism (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994) and the Depression-Anxiety-Stress scale (Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995) were included. Finally, for the physical resources, sleep duration was measured by the Pittsburgh Sleeping Quality Index (Buysse, Reynolds, Monk, Berman, & Kupfer, 1989). The health perception was measured by the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Healthy Survey (SF-12v2) (Ware, Kosinski, Turner-Bowker, & Gandek, 2002).

The dependent variable for this study was students’ subjective well-being, which was measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). The whole questionnaire, including all the scales discussed above, was written in simplified Chinese, the mother tongue of all the participants in this study. Most of the scales have previously been used in the Chinese cultural context by other researchers, and the Chinese versions were available: PANAS (Liu, 2014), the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (Chen, Cui, Zhou, & Jia, 2012), the Trait Hope Scale (Ho, Ho, Pau, Hui, Wong, & Chu, 2012), the Gough Personality Scale (Gough, 1979), the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Healthy Survey – SF-12v2 (Li, Wang, & Shen, 2002), the Depression-Anxiety-Stress Scale (Taouk, Lovibond, & Laube, 2001; Wang et al., 2015), and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (Wang, Yuen, & Slaney, 2009).

Some scales (the Curiosity Exploration Inventory, the Positive Reframing Scale, the Perceived Academic Performance, the Inventory of Parents and Peers, the Pittsburgh Sleeping Quality Index, the Ego-resiliency Scale, and the Life Orientation Test) did not have existing Chinese versions. For these scales, we used a translation and back translation approach to translate these into Chinese. Specifically, two graduate students specializing in English language independently translated a scale into Chinese, and then back-translated the Chinese version into English. Any discrepancies between the two English versions would suggest that the Chinese version might need improvement. Differences were resolved through discussion between the two translators together with an educational psychology professor to arrive at the final Chinese version. Throughout the procedure, special care was taken to ensure that the original meanings were retained in the translation process and that the items were described in Chinese language simple enough for high school students.

Procedures

First, after this research was approved by the Research and Development Administration Office of the university, invitation letters were sent to the two key schools to participate in our research, and we received positive response from the school authorities of both. The nature of the study was explained to the students in these two schools, and each student took home a form explaining the purpose of the study to their parents, and the overwhelming majority of the students (approximate 92% participation rate) returned the form giving parental consent. The researchers informed that participants that they could choose to stop or to withdraw from the study at any time, and that their response data would be kept confidential, and only the key researchers of the project could access the anonymous data. The completion of the whole battery of instruments took about 30 minutes. To express appreciation for the students’ cooperation, after they completed their questionnaires, some stationary items (e.g., pens, document folders) were distributed to the students.

Results

Descriptive statistics and group comparisons

In testing for gender and grade level differences in the study variables,¹ several subgroup differences reached a conventional level of statistical significance (i.e. p < 0.05). Specifically, girls scored statistically higher (p < .05) than boys on Satisfaction with Life (22.45 vs. 20.66, p < 0.01, d = 0.28), Parent Trust (39.85 vs. 37.06, p < 0.001, d = 0.42), Parent Communication (33.50 vs. 31.17, p < 0.05, d = 0.31), Peers Trust (37.78 vs. 35.13, p < 0.001, d = 0.40), Peers Communication (28.77 vs. 26.92, p < 0.01, d = 0.32), and Optimism (15.03 vs. 14.15, p < 0.05, d = 0.23). In reverse, boys scored higher than girls on Positive Affect (27.56 vs. 25.65, p < 0.05, d = 0.26), Creativity (2.17 vs. 1.19, p < 0.05, d = 0.25), and Academic Performance (2.63 vs. 2.42, p < 0.05, d = 0.25).

Across the three grade levels (Grades 10–12), only five study variables (Exploration-Curiosity, Academic Performance, Mindful Attention, Parents Trust, and Parents Communication) showed statistical significance in ANOVA tests. Effect sizes of these differences were in a small-to-medium range (partial η² less than 0.05). There was a trend that younger students scored higher on Exploration-Curiosity, Parents Trust, and Parent Communication, whereas the trend was reversed on Academic Performance.

With regard to the correlations among the study variables,² Satisfaction with Life correlated significantly (i.e. p < 0.05) with all of the scales of the affectivity, broaden, and build variables, except one (Physical Functioning in the domain of physical resources). The magnitudes of these correlations ranged from small to moderate (|r| from 0.10–0.42). As expected, Satisfaction with Life correlated negatively with Negative Affect (r = −0.20, p < 0.01), Depression (r = −0.38, p < 0.01), Anxiety (r = −0.20, p < 0.01), and Stress (r = −0.24, p < 0.01), and it correlated positively with the rest of the variables. As expected, the four broaden variables (Creativity, Exploration-Curiosity, Absorption-Curiosity, and Positive Reframing) correlated positively and significantly with Positive Affect (rs from 0.27–0.35). In contrast, among the four correlations between Negative Affect and broaden variables, only one (the correlation between Negative Affect and Positive Reframing, r = −0.25, p < 0.01) reached a conventional level of statistical significance. The correlations among the four broaden variables and variables from the four resources domains (cognitive, social, psychological, and physical) were generally in line with the broaden-and-build theory, with magnitudes being in the range of small to moderate relationships (|r| from 0.02–0.53).

Regression analysis

To examine the unique contributions of each block of variables within the framework of the broaden-and-build model in predicting one’s satisfaction with life, a hierarchical regression analysis was peformed. With the Satisfaction with Life as the outcome variable, initially, the independent variables were entered into the regression analysis sequentially in multiple steps. In the first step, gender was entered as a control variable in the regression model. In the second step, two affectivity variables (after centering) were entered. In the third step, the interactions of gender with the two centered affectivity variables were entered. In the fourth step, the four broaden variables (after centering) were entered. In the fifth step, the interactions of gender with the four centered broaden variables were entered. In the sixth step, the 24 building domain variables under the four resources were entered. In the last step, the interactions of gender with the 24 centered building variables were all entered into the regression model. The results revealed that the impact of gender (all the interaction terms involving gender together) only minimally increased the predictive power on satisfaction with life (2% of the explained variance), and none of the interaction terms involving gender in steps 3, 5, and 7 were statistically significant (p > 0.05). Given that this research aimed to explore the impact of potential factors under the broaden-and-build theory, gender was not our main research interest. Therefore, all the interaction terms were dropped and only the main effects were examined in the new re-specified four-step models. Another round of data analysis was performed on this new regression model.

For the re-specified new hierarchical regression models,³ gender was used as a controlled variable in step 1. The two affectivity variables (Positive and Negative Affect) in step 2 explained 16% of the total variance in Satisfaction with Life (Model F_(2,336) = 33.38, p < 0.01). The addition of four broaden variables (Creativity, Exploratory-Curiosity, Absorption-Curiosity, and Positive Reframing) in step 3 explained 4% of additional variance of the dependent variable (Change F_(4,332) = 3.92, p < 0.01; $R_{Δ}^{2}$ = 0.04). Finally, inclusion of the 24 resources building variables in step 4 explained another 22% of total variance of the dependent variable (Change F_(24,308) = 5.17, p < 0.01; $R_{Δ}^{2}$ = 0.26). Looking at each step, in step 2, Positive Affect was a positive predictor (β = 0.33) whereas Negative Affect was a negative predictor (β = −0.29). In step 3, Creativity and Positive Reframing were two statistically significant predictors (ps < 0.05) among the four broaden variables, but both appeared to be weak predictors (e.g., β ∼ 0.10 s). These two broaden variables became statistically non-significant after the inclusion of the 24 resources building variables in step 4. The inclusion of all 24 variables in the four resources building domains explained a considerable amount of variance in Satisfaction with Life ( $R_{Δ}^{2}$ = 0.22), and seven variables (one in the cognitive domain, two in each of the social, psychological, and physical domains, respectively) reached statistical significance (p < 0.05). However, these predictors appeared to be relatively weak predictors individually (e.g., β ∼ 0.10 s).

Discussion and implications

Age and grade level differences in students’ subjective well-being

This current study found that Chinese academically gifted girls had significantly higher satisfaction with life than the boys. However, Suldo, Riley, and Shaffer (2006) reviewed some studies on gender difference in subjective well-being, and found that the research in general (e.g., Ash & Huebner, 1998; Huebner & Alderman, 1993; McCullough & Huebner, 2003) indicated no significant gender group difference. Therefore, it is necessary to examine if the findings in this study (i.e., girls had significantly higher satisfaction with life than boys) could be supported in future studies in the Chinese social and cultural context.

There could be concern about potential bias because of the gender ratio (223 girls vs. 126 boys) in this sample. However, this sample may reflect the reality of competitive high school students today to some extent. Different from the old impression that China has traditionally valued sons over daughters, and that boys could benefit more due to educational and physical resources, this stereotype may need to be refreshed nowadays. First, China has experienced fast economic, social, and cultural development, and the inequity in education between boys and girls has been reduced considerably. The gender gap in college enrollments has been in favor of female students (Lee, 2014). Second, given that adolescent girls generally mature earlier than boys, girls often outperform boys in both cognitive performance (e.g., working memory) and academic performance (e.g., standardized test in China) (Zhou et al., 2016). As a result, more girls are typically found in the ‘key’ schools where only students with very high academic achievement could be admitted, especially in the developed urban areas of southern China, in which our sample was selected from. Therefore, in our sampling, we randomly sampled participants, and the sample in our study should reasonably reflect the key school student population in the region. Furthermore, as indicated by our findings that gender only showed minimal impact on the overall findings, difference in sample size of gender groups should not be an issue in this study.

The results of this current study also showed that girls reported higher parent and peer trust, parent and peer communication, optimism, and role physical. The effect sizes for parent and peer trust and communication were the strongest when compared to other variables. Generally speaking, it seemed that the girls had better relationships with their parents and peers. Ma and Huebner (2008) suggested that relationships with both parents and peers were important to adolescents’ life satisfaction, and such relationships are more important for girls than for boys. Although both parent and peer attachment were important, parent attachment seemed to be more significant. No gender difference in parent attachment was shown, but girls were found to be more attached to their peers than boys, and that ‘for girls, peer attachment partially mediated the relationship between parent attachment and global LS’ (LS: life satisfaction) (p. 186). In other words, especially the girls, quality relationships with parents and peers were generally important for one’s satisfaction with life.

Across the three grade levels, Grade 10 students scored higher in exploratory-curiosity, parent trust and parent communication than those in Grades 11 and 12. This finding was not consistent with Jirout and Klahr (2012), who reviewed research on curiosity of children, and suggested that age was unrelated to curiosity. Although it is somewhat unclear why the finding here in this study showed inconsistency here, it could be possible that the competitiveness of the education system in China may have decreased the curiosity of the academically gifted secondary school students. For most students in China, performance in the National College Entrance Examination is almost the only criterion for determining if they can get admitted into universities; and if yes, which universities they can get admitted to. As a result, there is usually great emphasis in China on academic performance, which could lead to the decrease in the importance of developing students’ overall curiosity. Lack of creativity of the students has been considered one critical issue in the Chinese education system in recent years. Consequently, more research is needed to understand why the academically gifted students in lower grade level in this study showed higher levels of exploratory curiosity than their higher grade counterparts.

On the other hand, Grade 12 students scored high in mindful attention and self-rated academic performance. According to Broderick (2013), mindful awareness is to perceive daily experiences and tasks with full attention, interest, and compassion. ‘Mindfulness practice must be tried, experienced, applied, and incorporated into your day-to-day life’ (p. 5). Because mindfulness in education was considered to increase as children/students grow from kindergarten to high school in different countries (Broderick, 2013), this finding Grade 12 students showed higher levels of mindfulness among the Chinese academically gifted students than those in lower grades was consistent with the theoretical expectations.

The findings above may imply that the schools for academically gifted students in China should provide more innovative teaching and learning methods to increase the curiosity and mindful awareness of the academically gifted students. For example, more experiments, discussions, field trips, and study tours could be considered for academically gifted students so that it would be more likely that they would find academic study more interesting, useful and meaningful.

This study showed that Grade 12 academically gifted students displayed higher self-rated academic performance than their younger peers, a pattern opposite to the general observation in this area. For example, Anderman and Midgley (1997), and Marsh, Chessor, Craven, and Roche (1995), revealed a general pattern that gifted students in gifted programs had a decline in their academic self-concept as they got older. It is not clear if the pattern revealed in this study represented the general situation in the Chinese education context, or this patter is sample specific. Future studies are needed in this area on this issue.

Variables contributing to life satisfaction

After controlling for gender, with all the independent variables in the model, the following variables showed unique statistical contributions (that is, a variable’s contribution over and beyond all other variables included in the final model) to the life satisfaction of the Chinese academically gifted students: Positive affect, negative affect, agency hope, parent trust, peer alienation, depression, anxiety, general health, and social functioning.

Previous studies generally supported the relationships between positive/negative affect and life satisfaction (Lyubomirsky, King, & Deiner, 2005). Cohn et al. (2009) explained that positive emotions could help individuals to create desirable outcomes by building resources that help them handle difficult situations and challenges in their lives; in addition, ‘positive emotions also emerged as functionally distinct from an absence of negative emotions’ (p. 366). In other words, life satisfaction is a result of feeling good rather than the absence of bad feelings.

For the variables cognitive building resources, Agency hope was positively related to life satisfaction for these students. Many studies have shown a significant relationship between these two variables (e.g. Bailey, Eng, Frisch, & Snyder, 2007). As mentioned earlier, agency hope can be defined as one’s capability to meet past, present, and future goals. Green, Grant and Rynsaardt (2007) suggested that, providing cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused life coaching programs could be an effective way of enhancing one’s agency hope. Thus, it would be beneficial to provide these programs (i.e., cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused life coaching programs) for the academically gifted students in Chinese schools, so as to enhance their agency hope and to improve the overall development of academically gifted students.

Parent trust was significantly related to life satisfaction in this study, and not surprisingly, those who had more anger towards, and alienation from, their peers reported lower life satisfaction. A positive relationship was also found between social functioning (from the physical building resources) and life satisfaction. These findings were generally consistent with the research literature on these issues. For example, Young et al. (1995) found that, in order for adolescents to have high life satisfaction, it was necessary for them to feel that their parents trusted them. Ma and Huebner (2008) even went as far as to say that ‘parental trust was found to be the most significant component of the attachment LS relationship’ (p. 179).

This current study also found a negative relationship between depression and life satisfaction. Again, this was consistent with the previous studies in general. According to Milevsky, Schlechter, Netter, and Keehn (2007), when parents provided love, involvement, acceptance, and closeness to their children, the children had lower depression and higher life satisfaction. As indicated by Nickerson and Nagle (2004), attachments both to parents and to peers predicted life satisfaction. These findings suggest that it is important for parents of the academically gifted students to give more quality time and love to their children, and schools also need to be more attentive to the development of students’ peer relationships.

General physical health showed positive relationship with life satisfaction in this study. Most studies on life satisfaction and health focused on the elderly or those with illnesses. However, the results of this study indicated that, even for young and physically healthy academically gifted secondary school students, health was a contributor to their life satisfaction. It is likely that good physical health allows the students to be fully engaged in many aspects of their lives, especially in view of the very busy and competitive study schedule of these academically gifted students. On the other hand, lack of good physical health could make it much harder to keep up with all the demands. As a result, good physical health is important in contributing to their life satisfaction in general.

Implications for practice

The study findings have some potential practical implications. First, the study suggested some protective factors for the subjective well-being for the academically gifted students, such as positive emotions, a creative and reframing mindset, hopeful thinking, parents’ and peers’ supportive relationships, and beneficial psychological and physical health. For school practice, these findings may suggest that integrating the positive elements in the both school and family environment could be meaningful. Educators in school could make efforts in enhancing a positive learning environment by encouraging students and teachers to engage in more innovative teaching and learning. For example, rather than heavily relying on rote memory and passive learning, which is typical in Chinese social and educational context for many students, innovative teaching is needed (Kember, 2000). The gifted schools and programs in China should provide and implement more innovative and diversified teaching approaches compatible with gifted students’ unique intellectual profiles, in order to enhance academically gifted students’ positive emotions, their natural curiosity and creativity, and their hopeful thinking.

Given that gifted learners often tend to exhibit much more curiosity in the learning process (Council & Fiedler, 2017), it is beneficial to have reasonably challenging goals for these students, to provide active learning opportunities, and to prepare exercises in class that require flexible problem-solving skills and deep-thinking skills (Kitsantas, Bland, & Chirinos, 2017). Outside of school classrooms, to better meet their educational and intellectual needs, various forms of subject-based acceleration could be provided to the gifted learners. Schools could collaborate with universities to offer more intellectually challenging college-level courses for those advanced high school learners, and provide mentorship to support students who are very talented and interested in a specific research field (Rogers, 2007). These education practices may promote students’ learning motivation and their development of positive concepts, and contribute to students’ overall school satisfaction and school engagement (Alzoubi, Qudah, Albursan, Bakhiet, & Abduljabbar, 2016).

On the family side, previous research has suggested that parents play an important role in the well-being of gifted students. Research has shown that authoritarian parenting style tended to have negative impact on gifted students’ well-being (Dwairy, 2004). It is important that the parents of academically gifted students have more trust, care, and respect for their children, which would be conducive to strengthening parent-child supportive relationships, which, in turn, would be helpful for enhancing the beneficial psychological and physical health for the gifted kids. In addition, the results suggested that general physical health was also positively related to life satisfaction in this study. Therefore, parents and school should pay more attention to students’ physical health and encourage students to engage more in sports and physical fitness activities both in and after school.

Second, this study also pointed out some potential risk factors for gifted adolescents’ subjective well-being, such as negative affect, peers’ alienation, depression, and anxiety. In education practice, schools could provide more support and guidance for academically gifted students, especially for those in higher-grade levels who may experience more pressure and psychological vulnerability. Such support could enhance their confidence and positive perceptions of themselves. For preventing negative emotions and peers’ alienation, previous research suggested that like-ability cooperative learning could have positive emotional and social effects for the gifted students (Neber, Finsterwald, & Urban, 2001; Rogers, 2007), and such education practice could be advocated in schools for the gifted students. School teachers and counselors are encouraged to offer theme-based life-coaching program regularly and psychological counseling services with deep level sensitivity and understanding for gifted students in higher-grade levels, in order to help them better deal with stressors and anxiety in their everyday lives (Mendaglio, 2003).

Conclusion and limitations

In summary, this study applied the broaden-and-build theory to understand the subjective well-being, or life satisfaction, of a sample of academically gifted secondary school students in the Chinese social and cultural context. With regard to the outcome of life satisfaction, the findings are generally consistent with previous findings reported in the literature. The study has shown that positive emotions, some factors from the broaden aspect and the four building resources could contribute to these students’ life satisfaction.

There were, however, some limitations to this study. First, the study relied on self-report data only. Self-report data from adolescents could be less reliable, and could have negative impact on the validity of the findings of the study. In the future, data from some other sources (e.g., parent-rating, teacher-rating) may be considered for such research, which would make it possible for ‘triangulation’, thus enhancing the validity of the findings concerning the subjective well-being of academically gifted students. Second, the factors from the broaden-and-build theory could only explain the outcome variable of life satisfaction to some degree, and there remains a considerable portion of their life satisfaction unexplained. Third, the study sample was from a limited geographical region and very limited number of schools, thus imposing limits on the generalizability of the findings from this study. Moreover, this study could be improved by incorporating qualitative research methods (i.e., mixed methods study) in order to develop better and more in-depth understanding about the relationships among the constructs under the broaden-and-build theory and the life satisfaction of the academically gifted students in China. Future studies in this area should take these issues into consideration.

Supplemental Material

Supplemental material for The subjective well-being of academically gifted students in the Chinese cultural context

Supplemental material for The subjective well-being of academically gifted students in the Chinese cultural context by Xinjie Chen, Xitao Fan, Hoi Yan Cheung and Joseph Wu in School Psychology International

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Supplementary material

Supplementary material is available for this article online.

Notes

Author biographies

Xinjie Chen is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Stanford University. She obtained her PhD in Educational psychology from University of Macau.Her research interests include Educational psychology, Positive psychology, Giftedness, Bi/multilingualism, and Second language acquisition.

Xitao Fan, served as Chair Professor and Dean of School of Humanities and Social Science, Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen). Prior to his appointments in the CUHK(Shenzhen), he was Dean of Faculty of Education, University of Macau, and the interim Vice Rector (Academic Affairs) of University of Macau, China. He was full professor, and endowed chair professor (Curry Memorial Professor) in the University of Virginia, USA. His research includes a wide range of educational and psychological research topics.

Hoi Yan Cheung is an Associate Professor at the University of Macau, Faculty of Education. She is interested in research related to gifted education, risk-taking, motivation, academic cheating and educational psychology.

Joseph Wu is currently an Associate Professor and also the program leader of the Master of Social Sciences (Psychology in Education) at the Department of Applied Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong.His areas of research include self-concept clarity and self-esteem, psychometrics, psychological tests and measurement.

References

Alzoubi1

A. M.

Qudah

M. F. L.

Albursan

I. S.

Bakhiet

S. F.

Abduljabbar

A. S.

(2016) The effect of creative thinking education in enhancing creative self-efficacy and cognitive motivation. Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology 6(1): 117–130. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jedp.v6n1p117

Anderman

E. M.

Midgley

(1997) Changes in achievement to goal orientations, perceived academic competence, and grades across the transition to middle-level schools. Contemporary Educational Psychology 22: 269–298. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1006/ceps.1996.0926

Armsden

G. C.

Greenberg

M. T.

(1987) The inventory of parent and peer attachment: Individual differences and their relationship to psychological well-being in adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence 16(5): 427–454. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02202939

Ash

Huebner

E. S.

(1998) Life Satisfaction reports of gifted middle-school students. School Psychology Quarterly 13: 310–321. Retrieved from doi:10.1037/h0088987

Baker

J. A.

(1995) Depression and suicidal ideation among academically gifted adolescents. Gifted Child Quarterly 39(4): 218–223.

Baker

J. A.

(1996) Everyday stressors of academically gifted adolescents. Journal of Advanced Academics 7(2): 356–368.

Bailey

T. C.

Eng

Frisch

M. B.

Snyder

C. R.

(2007) Hope and optimism as related to life satisfaction. The Journal of Positive Psychology 2(3): 168–175.

Basirion

Majid

R. A.

Jelas

Z. M.

(2014) Big Five personality factors, perceived parenting styles, and perfectionism among academically gifted students. Asian Social Science 10(4): 8–15. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v10n4p8

Block

Kremen

A. M.

(1996) IQ and ego-resiliency: Conceptual and empirical connections and separateness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 70(2): 349Retrieved from doi:10.1037/0022-3514.70.2.349

10.

Bodycott

Lai

(2012) The influence and implications of Chinese culture in the decision to undertake cross-border higher education. Journal of Studies in International Education 16(3): 252–270. Retrieved from doi: 10.1177/1028315311418517

11.

Broderick

P. C.

(2013) Learning to breathe: A mindfulness curriculum for adolescents to cultivate emotion regulation, attention, and performance, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

12.

Brown

K. W.

Ryan

R. M.

(2003) The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84: 822–848. Retrieved from doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.4.822

13.

Buysse

D. J.

Reynolds

C. F.

Monk

T. H.

Berman

S. R.

Kupfer

D. J.

(1989) The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Research 28(2): 193–213. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-1781(89)90047-4

14.

Cassady

J. C.

Cross

T. L.

(2006) A factorial representation of suicidal ideation among academically gifted adolescents. Journal for the Education of the Gifted 29(3): 290–304.

15.

Chan

D. W.

(2000) Identifying gifted and talented students in Hong Kong. Roeper Review 22(2): 88–93. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02783190009554008

16.

Chan

(2007) Positive and negative perfectionism among Chinese gifted students in Hong Kong: Their relationships to general self-efficacy and subjective well-being. Journal for the Education of the Gifted 31: 77–102. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4219/jeg-2007-512

17.

Chan

(2010) Healthy and unhealthy perfectionists among academically gifted Chinese students in Hong Kong: Do different classification schemes make a difference? Roeper Review 32: 88–97. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02783191003587876

18.

Chan

(2012) Life satisfaction, happiness, and the growth mindset of healthy and unhealthy perfectionists among Hong Kong Chinese gifted students. Roeper Review 34(4): 224–233. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02783193.2012.715333

19.

Chen

Cui

Zhou

Jia

(2012) Revision of Mindful Attention Awareness Scale. Chinese. Journal of Clinical Psychology 20(2): 148–151.

20.

Chow

E. N.

Zhao

S. M.

(1996) The one-child policy and parent-child relationships: A comparison of one-child with multiple–child families in China. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 16(12): 35–62. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/eb013285

21.

Cohn

S. J.

Fredrickson

B. L.

Brown

S. L.

Mikels

J. A.

Conway

A. M.

(2009) Happiness unpack: Positive emotions increase life satisfaction by building resilience. Emotion 9(3): 361–368. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0015952

22.

Colangelo

Kerr

B. A.

(1990) Extreme academic talent: Profiles of perfect scorers. Journal of Educational Psychology 82(3): 404Retrieved from doi:10.1037/0022-0663.82.3.404

23.

Councill

K. H.

Fiedler

(2017) Gifted 101: Unlocking the mystery of academically gifted education. Music Educators Journal 103(4): 48–56. Retrieved from doi: 10.1177/0027432117697005

24.

Cross

T. L.

Adams

Dixon

Holland

(2004) Psychological characteristics of academically gifted adolescents attending a residential academy: A longitudinal study. Journal for the Education of the Gifted 28(2): 159–181. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/016235320402800203

25.

Cross

T. L.

Gust-Brey

Ball

P. B.

(2002) A psychological autopsy of the suicide of an academically gifted student: Researchers’ and parents’ perspectives. Gifted Child Quarterly 46(4): 247–264. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/001698620204600402

26.

Diener

E. D.

Diener

(1995) Factors predicting the subjective well-being of nations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 69(5): 851–864. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.851

27.

Diener

E. D.

Emmons

R. A.

Larsen

R. J.

Griffin

(1985) The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment 49(1): 71–75. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13

28.

Diener

E. D.

Oishi

Lucas

R. E.

(2003) Personality, culture, and subjective well-being: Emotional and cognitive evaluations of life. Annual Review of Psychology 54: 403–425. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145056

29.

Dwairy

(2004) Parenting styles and mental health of Arab gifted adolescents. Gifted Child Quarterly 48(4): 275–286. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa490113

30.

Feldhusen

J. F.

Kroll

M. D.

(1991) Boredom or challenge for the academically talented in school. Gifted Education International 7(2): 80–81. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/026142949100700207

31.

Feng

(1995) From the imperial examination to the national college entrance examination: The dynamics of political centralism in China's educational enterprise. The Journal of Contemporary China 4(8): 28–56. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/10670569508724213

32.

Fredrickson

B. L.

(2001) The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist 56(3): 218–226. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.56.3.218

33.

Fredrickson

B. L.

Branigan

(2005) Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertories. Cognitive and Emotion 19(3): 313–332. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930441000238

34.

Fredrickson

B. L.

Joiner

(2002) Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being. Psychological Science 13(2): 172–175.

35.

Gallagher

Harradine

C. C.

Coleman

M. R.

(1997) Challenge or boredom? Gifted students’ views on their schooling. Roeper Review 19(3): 132–136. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02783199709553808

36.

Gough

H. G.

(1979) A creative personality scale for the Adjective Check List. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 37(8): 1398Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.37.8.1398

37.

Guangzhou Government. (2002). Construct National-level ModEL schools in Guangzhou Report, June 2002 (No.33). Guangzhou: Guangzhou Government Office (in Chinese)

38.

Guangzhou Zhaokao Office (2013, 2014, 2015) High School Entering Public Examination Report, Guangzhou: Guangzhou Zhaokao Office (in Chinese).

39.

Green

Grant

Rynsaardt

(2007) Evidence-based life coaching for senior high school students: Building hardiness and hope. International Coaching Psychology Review 2(1): 24–43.

40.

S. M.

J. W.

Pau

B. K.

Hui

B. P.

Wong

R. S.

Chu

A. T.

(2012) Hope based intervention for individuals susceptible to colorectal cancer: A pilot study. Familial Cancer 11(4): 545–551. Retrieved from doi:10.1007/s10689-012-9545-3

41.

Huebner

E. S.

Alderman

G. L.

(1993) Convergent and discriminant validation of a Children’s Life Satisfaction Scale: Its relationship to self and teacher-reported psychological problems and school functioning. Social Indicators Research 30: 71–82. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01080333

42.

Jin

S. U.

Moon

S. D.

(2006) A study of well-being and school satisfaction among academically talented students attending a science high school in Korea. Gifted Child Quarterly 50(2): 169–184. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/001698620605000207

43.

Jirout

Klahr

(2012) Children’s scientific curiosity: In search of an operational definition of an elusive concept. Developmental Review 32: 125–160. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2012.04.002

44.

Jones

Day

J. D.

(1996) Cognitive similarities between academically and socially gifted students. Roeper Review 18(4): 270–273. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02783199609553757

45.

Kashdan

T. B.

Rose

Fincham

F. D.

(2004) Curiosity and exploration: Facilitating positive subjective experiences and personal growth opportunities. Journal of Personality Assessment 82(3): 291–305. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa8203_05

46.

Kember

(2000) Misconceptions about the learning approaches, motivation and study practices of Asian students. Higher Education 40(1): 99–121. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1004036826490

47.

Kitsantas

Bland

Chirinos

D. S.

(2017) Gifted students’ perceptions of gifted programs: An inquiry into their academic and social-emotional functioning. Journal for the Education of the Gifted 40(3): 266–288. Retrieved from doi:10.1177/0162353217717033

48.

Lambert

N. M.

Graham

S. M.

Fincham

F. D.

Stillman

T. F.

(2009) A changed perspective: How gratitude can affect sense of coherence through positive reframing. The Journal of Positive Psychology 4(6): 461–470. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760903157182

49.

Lee

M. H.

(2014) Schooling and industrialization in China: Gender differences in school enrollment. Comparative Education Review 58(2): 241–268. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1086/675380

50.

Lent

R. W.

Singley

Shue

H. B.

Gainor

K. A.

Brenner

B. R.

Treistman

Ades

(2005) Social cognitive precursors of subjective well-being. Journal of Counseling Psychology 52(3): 429–442. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.3.429

51.

Wang

Shen

(2002) Development and psychometric tests of a Chinese version of the SF-36 Health Survey Scale. Chinese Journal of Preventive Medicine 36(2): 109–113.

52.

Liu, Z. (2014). Positive and Negative Scale. Retrieved from http://wenku.baidu.com

53.

Lovibond

P. F.

Lovibond

S. H.

(1995) The structure of negative emotional states: Comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy 33(3): 335–343. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(94)00075-U

54.

Lyubomirsky

King

Diener

(2005) The benefits of frequent positive affect: Does happiness lead to success? Psychological Bulletin 131(6): 803–855. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.131.6.803

55.

McCullough

Huebner

E. S.

(2003) Life Satisfaction Reports of adolescents with learning disabilities and normally achieving adolescents. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment 21: 311–324. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/073428290302100401

56.

C. Q.

Huebner

E. S.

(2008) Attachment relationships and adolescents’ life satisfaction: Some relationships matter more to girls than boys. Psychology in the Schools 45(2): 177–190. Retrieved from doi: 10.1002/pits.20288

57.

Marsh

H. W.

Chessor

Craven

Roche

(1995) The effects of gifted and talented programs on academic self-concept: The big fish strikes again. American Educational Research Journal 32(2): 285–319. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032002285

58.

Mello

Z. R.

Worrell

F. C.

(2006) The relationship of time perspective to age, gender and academic achievement among academically talented adolescents. Journal for the Education of the Gifted 29(3): 271–289. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/016235320602900302

59.

Mendaglio

(2002) Heightened multifaceted sensitivity of gifted students: Implications for counseling. Journal of Secondary Gifted Education 14(2): 72–82.

60.

Milevsky

Schlechter

Netter

Keehn

(2007) Maternal and parental parenting styles in adolescents: Associations between self-esteem, depression and life satisfaction. Journal of Child and Family Study 16(1): 39–47. Retrieved from doi:10.1007/s10826-006-9066-5

61.

Neber

Finsterwald

Urban

(2001) Cooperative learning with gifted and high-achieving students: A review and meta-analyses of 12 studies. High Ability Studies 12(2): 199–214. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/13598130120084339

62.

Nickerson

A. B.

Nagle

R. J.

(2004) The influence of parent and peer attachments on life satisfaction in middle childhood and early adolescence. Social Indicators Research 66: 35–60.

63.

Park

(2004) The role of subjective well-being in positive youth development. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 591(1): 25–39. Retrieved from doi: 10.1177/0002716203260078

64.

Pfeiffer

S. I.

Stocking

V. B.

(2000) Vulnerabilities of academically gifted students. Special Services in Schools 16(1–2): 83–93. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1300/J008v16n01_06

65.

Phillipson

Cheung

H. Y.

(2007) Giftedness. In: Phillipson

(ed.) Learning diversity in the Chinese classroom: Contexts and practice for students with special needs, Hong Kong: The Hong Kong University Press, pp. 201–244.

66.

Reis

S. M.

Boeve

(2009) How academically gifted elementary, urban students respond to challenge in an enriched, differentiated reading program. Journal for the Education of the Gifted 33(2): 203–240. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/016235320903300204

67.

Richardson

A. S.

Bergen

H. A.

Martin

Roeger

Allison

(2005) Perceived academic performance as an indicator of risk of attempted suicide in young adolescents. Archives of Suicide Research 9(2): 163–176. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/13811110590904016

68.

Roberts

S. M.

Lovett

S. B.

(1994) Examining the ‘F’ in gifted: Academically gifted adolescents’ physiological and affective responses to scholastic failure. Journal of the Education of the Gifted 17(3): 241–259. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/016235329401700304

69.

Rogers

K. B.

(2007) Lessons learned about educating the gifted and talented: A synthesis of the research on educational practice. Gifted Child Quarterly 51(4): 382–396. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0016986207306324

70.

Scheier

M. F.

Carver

C. S.

Bridges

M. W.

(1994) Distinguishing optimism from neuroticism (and trait anxiety, self-mastery, and self-esteem): A reevaluation of the Life Orientation Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 67(6): 1063Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.67.6.1063

71.

Schiffin

H. H.

Falkenstern

(2012) The impact of affect on resource development: Support for the broaden-and-build model. North American Journal of Psychology 14(3): 569–584.

72.

Schimmack

Radhakrisknan

P. O.

Oishi

Dzokoto

Ahadi

(2002) Culture, personality, and subjective well-being: Integrating process models of life satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82(4): 582–593. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.4.582

73.

Silverman

L. K.

(1994) The moral sensitivity of gifted children and the evolution of society. Roeper Review 17(2): 110–116. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/02783199409553636

74.

Snyder

C. R.

Harris

Anderson

J. R.

Holleran

S. A.

Irving

L. M.

Sigmon

S. T.

et al. (1991) The will and the ways: Development and validation of an individual-differences measure of hope. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 60(4): 570Retrieved from doi:10.1037/0022-3514.60.4.570

75.

Suldo

S. M.

Riley

K. N.

Shaffer

E. J.

(2006) Academic correlates of children and adolescents’ life satisfaction. School Psychology International 27(5): 567–582. Retrieved from doi: 10.1177/0143034306073411

76.

Taouk, M., Lovibond, P. F. & Laube, R. (2001). Psychometric properties of a Chinese version of the short Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS21). Report for New South Wales Transcultural Mental Health Centre, Cumberland Hospital, Sydney

77.

Wang

Shi

H.-S.

Geng

F.-L.

Zou

L.-Q.

Tan

S.-P.

Wang

Neumann

D. L.

Shum

D. H. K.

Chan

R. C. K.

(2015) Cross-cultural validation of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale–21 in China. Psychological Assessment 28(5): e88–e100. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pas0000207

78.

Wang

K. T.

Yuen

Slaney

R. B.

(2009) Perfectionism, depression, loneliness, and life satisfaction: A study of high school students in Hong Kong. The Counseling Psychologist 37(2): 249–274. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000008315975

79.

Wang

(2016) The impact of cultural values on Chinese students in American higher education. The Qualitative Report 21(4): 611.

80.

Ware

Jr. Kosinski

Turner-Bowker

D. M.

Gandek

(2002) User’s manual for the SF-12v2 Health Survey, Lincoln, RI: QualityMetric.

81.

Watson

Clark

L. A.

Tellegan

(1988) Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54(6): 1063–1070. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.6.1063

82.

Wu, Y. (2015). The examination system in China: The case of Zhongkao mathematics. In Selected Regular Lectures from the 12th International Congress on Mathematical Education (pp. 897–914). New York, NY: Springer

83.

Young

M. H.

Miller

B. C.

Norton

M. C.

Hill

E. J.

(1995) The effect of parental supportive behaviors on life satisfaction of adolescent offspring. Journal of Marriage and the Family 57(3): 813–822. Retrieved from doi: 10.2307/353934

84.

Zhou

Medina

Shi

Zhang

Rozelle

(2016) The gender gap among school children in poor rural areas of western China: Evidence from a multi-province dataset. International Journal for Equity in Health 15(1): 162Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-016-0442-5

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.47 MB