Interrelationship between anxiety, lifestyle self-reports and fitness in a sample of Hong Kong University students

Although anxiety in university students has been well documented, the influence of lifestyle and fitness status in relation to anxiety has not been investigated from a cultural perspective previously. To make recommendations regarding the avoidance or management of anxiety in this anxiety-prone cohort that are rationally based, this preliminary investigation examined the interrelationship between anxiety, lifestyle self-reports and aerobic fitness in Hong Kong Chinese University students. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Form Y-2) and a lifestyle questionnaire were completed by 213 students. Female students were more anxious than male students. Subjects with high anxiety reported more deleterious lifestyle behaviours including higher salt consumption and lower levels of exercise; in addition to more frequent symptoms of anxiety such as headaches and daytime somnolence. The extremes of this sample were stratified into a low anxiety group ( n =17) and a high anxiety group ( n =14) to compare their fitness status. Although both groups had below normal aerobic capacity, the higher systolic blood pressure observed for the high anxiety group is consistent with signs of anxiety, or greater deconditioning in this group or both. The results of this study have highlighted anxiety as a concern in Hong Kong University students and identified some lifestyle and fitness correlates. Understanding lifestyle and pathophysiological correlates of anxiety in Hong Kong University students that may have a cultural basis, is a crucial step toward averting or managing anxiety when these students are studying either in Hong Kong or abroad.

Understanding neighborhood environment related to Hong Kong children's physical activity: a qualitative study using nominal group technique

Relationships between the neighborhood environment and children's physical activity have been well documented in Western countries but are less investigated in ultra-dense Asian cities. The aim of this study was to identify the environmental facilitators and barriers of physical activity behaviors among Hong Kong Chinese children using nominal group technique.

Regulating corporate governance in China and Hong Kong : do Chinese values and ethics have a place in the age of globalization?

Much has been said about the convergence of corporate governance and regulations. The underlying assumptions of this phenomenon are driven by globalisation and the dominance of the Anglo-US model of corporate governance. Since the Asian crisis in 1997, Hong Kong and perhaps to a less extend Mainland China, had amended both Company laws and Stock Exchange Listing Rules obligations, arguably, mirroring provisions and rules in the UK and US. However, there has been a small amount of literature in law drawing from cross cultural management asking the question - is Western governance and regulation appropriate for the East? This paper will approach this issue from a different mindset, instead of drawing distinctions about East and West, a meta-regulatory framework will attempt to incorporate Western ‗hard‘ and ‗soft‘ laws with Asian ethical values. The aim is to combine laws and ethics thereby enhancing corporate governance and, improve compliance of those rules by adapting Chinese ethical values like Confucianism into the regulatory system. The overarching goal of this exercise is to adapt the wisdom of Chinese ethics into regulatory guidelines to suit the modern global market.

Does Chinese traditional values matter in regulating China's company directors? Preliminary findings from surveys in Hong Kong

Much has been said about Chinese corporate governance and the new laws on companies. While most literature focuses on either the political or the legal doctrinal issues, this paper argues that Chinese traditional values do matter in Chinese corporate governance. The object of this paper is to report on the preliminary findings of a project supported by the General Research Fund in Hong Kong (HK). Thus far the survey results from HK respondents support our hypothesis. As such, traditional Chinese values should be on the agenda of the next round of company law reforms in China.

The role of the audit committee and institutional investors in constraining earnings management : evidence from Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong

Using data from 2004 to 2008, we find that an audit committee is an important monitoring mechanism as audit committee independence, expertise and size are associated with reduced levels of abnormal accruals, our measure of earnings management. This study also attempts to discern when the monitoring role of the audit committee is more salient for the firm. We find that ownership concentration and the presence of government officials on the audit committee are important determinants of the negative association between audit committee characteristics and earnings management. In contrast, we find no significant associations between the audit committee and abnormal accruals for Chinese firms listed only on the Chinese domestic Stock Exchanges. The paper contributes to the corporate governance literature in a transitional economy. Identifying the role of audit committees of firms listed on markets other than the domicile market demonstrates the importance of considering the institutional setting in governance research.

Can an effective audit committee help to mitigate earnings management in Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong?

This paper attempts to determine whether the adoption of recommended corporate governance practices by Chinese firms is associated with less earnings management proxied by abnormal accruals. We examine the role of the audit committee and ownership concentration in preventing earnings management using Chinese firms listed in Hong Kong. The results of this preliminary analysis show that the frequency of audit committee meetings is associated with reduced levels of abnormal accruals, our measure of earnings management. We conclude that audit committee activity is an important factor in constraining the propensity of managers to engage in earnings management. In contrast, we find that the size of the audit committee is associated with increased levels of abnormal accruals and suggest that increasing the size of the audit committee creates information asymmetry between the audit committee and management that reduces the monitoring capacity of the audit committee. We do not find any association between audit committee independence, financial and industry experience, or ownership concentration and abnormal accruals.

Do Chinese traditional values matter in regulating China’s company directors? Preliminary findings from surveys in Hong Kong

This article argues that Chinese traditional values do matter in Chinese corporate governance. The object is to report on the preliminary findings of a project supported by the General Research Fund in Hong Kong (HK). Thus far the survey results from HK respondents support the authors’ hypothesis. As such, traditional Chinese values should be on the agenda of the next round of company law reforms in China

Reliability and validity of psychosocial and environmental correlates measures of physical activity and screen-based behaviors among Chinese children in Hong Kong

Background : Insufficient participation in physical activity and excessive screen time have been observed among Chinese children. The role of social and environmental factors in shaping physical activity and sedentary behaviors among Chinese children is under-investigated. The purpose of the present study was to assess the reliability and validity of a questionnaire to measure child- and parent-reported psychosocial and environmental correlates of physical activity and screen-based behaviors among Chinese children in Hong Kong.

Methods : A total of 303 schoolchildren aged 9-14 years and their parents volunteered to participate in this study and 160 of them completed the questionnaire twice within an interval of 10 days. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs), kappa statistics, and percent agreement were performed to evaluate test-retest reliability of the continuous and categorical variables, respectively. Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) were conducted to assess convergent validity of the emergent scales. Cronbach's alpha and ICCs were performed to assess internal and test-retest reliability of the emergent scales. Criterion validity was assessed by correlating psychosocial and environmental measures with self-reported physical activity and screen-based behaviors, measured by a validated questionnaire.

Results : Reliability statistics for both child- and parent-reported continuous variables showed acceptable consistency for all of the ICC values greater than 0.70. Kappa statistics showed fair to perfect test-retest reliability for the categorical items. Adequate internal consistency and test-retest reliability were observed in most of the emergent scales. Criterion validity assessed by correlating psychosocial and environmental measures with child-reported physical activity found associations with physical activity in the self-efficacy scale (r = 0.25, P < 0.05), the peer support for physical activity scale (r = 0.25, P < 0.05) and home physical activity environmental (r = 0.14, P < 0.05). Children's screen-based behaviors were associated with the family support for physical activity scale (r = -0.22, P < 0.05) and parental role modeling of TV (r = 0.12, P = 0.053).

Conclusions : The findings provide psychometric support for using this questionnaire for examining psychosocial and environmental correlates of physical activity and screen-based behaviors among Chinese children in Hong Kong. Further research is needed to develop more robust measures based on the current questionnaire, especially for peer influence on physical activity and parental rules on screen-based behaviors.