A qualitative study of Chinese female university students experiencing economic disadvantage.

Tang, Mun Yu.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 473-493).Abstracts in English and Chinese; appendices in Chinese.Abstract --- p.i摘要 --- p.iiiAcknowledgments --- p.ivTable of Contents --- p.viList of Figures and Tables --- p.xiiiChapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter Chapter Two --- Literature Review on Adolescent Development with Particular Reference to Poor Adolescents --- p.11Chapter 2.1 --- Theories of adolescent development --- p.11Chapter 2.1.1 --- Micro theories --- p.11Chapter 2.1.2 --- Macro theories --- p.15Chapter 2.1.3 --- Ecological model --- p.17Chapter 2.1.3.1 --- Introduction --- p.17Chapter 2.1.3.2 --- Application to understand the development of adolescents experiencing adversity ´ؤ Resilience Model --- p.18Chapter 2.1.3.2.1 --- Definitions of resilience with specific to children and adolescents --- p.18Chapter 2.1.3.2.2 --- Models of resilience --- p.20Chapter 2.1.4 --- Summary --- p.22Chapter 2.2 --- Existing findings on the development of adolescents growing up in poor families --- p.22Chapter 2.2.1 --- Poor adolescents perceive poverty --- p.23Chapter 2.2.1.1 --- Conceptualization of beliefs about causes of poverty --- p.23Chapter 2.2.1.2 --- Review of previous studies --- p.29Chapter 2.2.1.3 --- Limitations --- p.34Chapter 2.2.2 --- Development of adolescents experiencing poverty --- p.38Chapter 2.2.2.1 --- Development of poor adolescents in their present lives --- p.38Chapter 2.2.2.1.1 --- Psychological well-being and magnitude of having behavioral problems --- p.38Chapter 2.2.2.1.2 --- Educational outcomes --- p.45Chapter 2.2.2.1.3 --- Limitations --- p.52Chapter 2.2.2.2 --- Perceptions of future lives --- p.56Chapter 2.2.2.2.1 --- Review of previous studies --- p.56Chapter 2.2.2.2.2 --- Limitations --- p.64Chapter 2.3 --- Directions for future research --- p.69Chapter Chapter Three --- Research Questions and Research Design --- p.77Chapter 3.1 --- Research questions --- p.77Chapter 3.2 --- Proposal for a qualitative research approach --- p.79Chapter 3.3 --- Research design --- p.81Chapter 3.3.1 --- Sample --- p.87Chapter 3.3.2 --- Data collection --- p.92Chapter 3.3.3 --- Data analysis --- p.95Chapter 3.3.3.1 --- Reliability of the findings --- p.99Chapter 3.3.3.2 --- Validity of the findings --- p.100Chapter Chapter Four --- Findings --- p.106Chapter 4.1 --- Perceived economic disadvantage experienced by their families --- p.107Chapter 4.1.1 --- Beliefs about the causes of their families in need for financial support from the Government --- p.108Chapter 4.1.1.1 --- Individualistic causes --- p.108Chapter 4.1.1.1.1 --- Causes in relation to parents --- p.108Chapter 4.1.1.1.2 --- Causes in relation to mother --- p.109Chapter 4.1.1.1.3 --- Causes in relation to father --- p.110Chapter 4.1.1.1.4 --- Causes in relation to children --- p.111Chapter 4.1.1.2 --- Societal causes --- p.115Chapter 4.1.1.3 --- Fatalistic causes --- p.117Chapter 4.1.1.4 --- Summary --- p.119Chapter 4.1.2 --- Perceptions of being a CSSA recipient --- p.119Chapter 4.1.2.1 --- Personal views --- p.120Chapter 4.1.2.2 --- Perception shaped by mother --- p.125Chapter 4.1.2.3 --- Perceptions related to peers --- p.126Chapter 4.1.2.3.1 --- Perceptions related to peers' financial circumstances --- p.126Chapter 4.1.2.3.2 --- Perceptions related to peers' reactions towards their financial backgrounds --- p.127Chapter 4.1.2.3.3 --- Perceptions related to the level of closeness with peers --- p.129Chapter 4.1.2.4 --- Perceptions related to the views of general public --- p.129Chapter 4.1.2.4.1 --- Views of general public influenced by the Government --- p.130Chapter 4.1.2.4.2 --- Views of general public influenced by the media --- p.130Chapter 4.1.2.4.3 --- Views of general public influenced by with or without personal experiences of receiving CSSA or personal contacts with CSSA recipients --- p.133Chapter 4.1.2.4.4 --- Views of general public influenced by the dominant societal ideologies --- p.134Chapter 4.1.2.5 --- Perceptions related to CSSA claim procedures --- p.138Chapter 4.1.2.6 --- Perceptions related to special policy for CSSA recipients --- p.139Chapter 4.1.2.7 --- Perceptions related to attitudes of staff in CSSA unit --- p.140Chapter 4.1.2.8 --- Summary --- p.141Chapter 4.1.3 --- Perceived quality of life under the CSSA and the related factors --- p.142Chapter 4.1.3.1 --- Perceived quality of life under the CSSA --- p.143Chapter 4.1.3.1.1 --- Primary school --- p.143Chapter 4.1.3.1.2 --- Secondary school --- p.145Chapter 4.1.3.1.3 --- University --- p.146Chapter 4.1.3.2 --- Perceived quality of life under the CSSA in relation to mothers' financial management --- p.150Chapter 4.1.3.2.1 --- Ways of monitoring family finance --- p.150Chapter 4.1.3.2.2 --- Ways of fulfilling unmet needs --- p.151Chapter 4.1.3.3 --- Perceived quality of life under the CSSA in relation to self financial management --- p.153Chapter 4.1.3.3.1 --- Being self-disciplined of spending money --- p.153Chapter 4.1.3.3.2 --- Saving money --- p.155Chapter 4.1.3.3.3 --- Doing part-time jobs and summer jobs --- p.157Chapter 4.1.3.4 --- Perceived quality of life under the CSSA in relation to other sources of financial support --- p.161Chapter 4.1.3.4.1 --- Financial support from relatives --- p.161Chapter 4.1.3.4.2 --- Financial support from non-relatives --- p.163Chapter 4.1.3.5 --- Summary --- p.166Chapter 4.1.4 --- Comments on the staff in the CSSA unit --- p.166Chapter 4.1.4.1 --- Positive comments --- p.166Chapter 4.1.4.1.1 --- Attitudes --- p.167Chapter 4.1.4.1.2 --- Performance --- p.167Chapter 4.1.4.2 --- Negative comments --- p.169Chapter 4.1.4.2.1 --- Attitudes (from personal experiences) --- p.169Chapter 4.1.4.2.2 --- Attitudes (from mothers' experiences) --- p.171Chapter 4.1.4.2.3 --- Performance --- p.172Chapter 4.1.4.3 --- Summary --- p.176Chapter 4.1.5 --- Comments on the CSSA scheme --- p.177Chapter 4.1.5.1 --- Positive comments --- p.177Chapter 4.1.5.1.1 --- Nature of the CSSA scheme --- p.177Chapter 4.1.5.1.2 --- Strict policy for preventing abuse of the scheme --- p.179Chapter 4.1.5.2 --- Negative comments --- p.180Chapter 4.1.5.2.1 --- Amount of support in the CSSA scheme --- p.180Chapter 4.1.5.2.2 --- Policy on the CSSA scheme --- p.183Chapter 4.1.5.2.3 --- Claim procedures in the CSSA scheme --- p.187Chapter 4.1.5.3 --- Summary --- p.191Chapter 4.1.6 --- Circumstances of women in economic disadvantaged and female-headed families --- p.192Chapter 4.1.6.1 --- Struggles on financial adversity --- p.192Chapter 4.1.6.2 --- Consequences of receiving financial support from the Government --- p.194Chapter 4.1.6.2.1 --- Influences on self-image --- p.194Chapter 4.1.6.2.2 --- Influences on psychological state --- p.195Chapter 4.1.6.3 --- Pressure of taking up the parental roles --- p.197Chapter 4.1.6.4 --- Summary --- p.199Chapter 4.1.7 --- Recommendations for improvement in the CSSA service --- p.200Chapter 4.1.7.1 --- Staff training --- p.200Chapter 4.1.7.2 --- Quality of the service --- p.201Chapter 4.1.7.3 --- Other recommendations --- p.204Chapter 4.1.7.4 --- Summary --- p.195Chapter 4.1.8 --- Recommendations for improvement the policy in the CSSA scheme --- p.207Chapter 4.1.8.1 --- Subvention policy --- p.207Chapter 4.1.8.1.1 --- Subvention for students --- p.207Chapter 4.1.8.1.2 --- Subvention for households --- p.209Chapter 4.1.8.1.3 --- "Subvention for children, elderly, disabled and chronic illness patients" --- p.211Chapter 4.1.8.2 --- Claim procedures --- p.214Chapter 4.1.8.3 --- Employment-related policy --- p.216Chapter 4.1.8.3.1 --- Employment-related policy for single parents --- p.216Chapter 4.1.8.3.2 --- Employment-related policy for general able-bodied CSSA recipients --- p.219Chapter 4.1.8.4 --- Other recommendations --- p.222Chapter 4.1.8.5 --- Summary --- p.224Chapter 4.1.9 --- Service gaps for economic disadvantaged and single-parent families --- p.225Chapter 4.1.9.1 --- Services for CSSA families --- p.225Chapter 4.1.9.1.1 --- Emotional support services --- p.225Chapter 4.1.9.1.2 --- Household support services --- p.227Chapter 4.1.9.2 --- Services for women in economic disadvantage and marital disruption --- p.229Chapter 4.1.9.2.1 --- Employment-related support services --- p.229Chapter 4.1.9.2.2 --- Counseling services --- p.230Chapter 4.1.9.3 --- Services for the single-parent families --- p.232Chapter 4.1.9.3.1 --- Emotional support services --- p.232Chapter 4.1.9.3.2 --- Public education --- p.233Chapter 4.1.9.4 --- Summary --- p.234Chapter 4.1.10 --- Overall summary of Section 4.1 --- p.235Chapter 4.2 --- Perceived past lives --- p.237Chapter 4.2.1 --- Area 1: Perceived quality of life before receiving the CSSA --- p.237Chapter 4.2.2 --- Area 2: Reactions towards economic disadvantage --- p.241Chapter 4.2.2.1 --- Feelings about living under the CSSA --- p.241Chapter 4.2.2.2 --- Perceived influences of economic disadvantage in their past lives --- p.246Chapter 4.2.2.2.1 --- Experienced different from those of their peers --- p.246Chapter 4.2.2.2.2 --- Influenced on their study plans --- p.248Chapter 4.2.2.3 --- Summary --- p.253Chapter 4.2.3 --- Area 3: Views on mother's employment status --- p.253Chapter 4.2.4 --- Area 4: Perceptions of one's roles in the family --- p.257Chapter 4.2.5 --- Area 5: Perceived source of influences on one's development --- p.265Chapter 4.2.5.1 --- Aspect 1: Family backgrounds --- p.266Chapter 4.2.5.1.1 --- Experiences of economic disadvantage --- p.266Chapter 4.2.5.1.2 --- Single-parent family Other people --- p.278Chapter 4.2.5.1.3 --- Summary --- p.289Chapter 4.2.5.2 --- Aspect 2: Significant others --- p.290Chapter 4.2.5.2.1 --- Mother --- p.290Chapter 4.2.5.2.2 --- Other people --- p.298Chapter 4.2.5.2.3 --- Summary --- p.304Chapter 4.2.5.3 --- Aspect 3: Beliefs --- p.304Chapter 4.2.5.4 --- Summary --- p.306Chapter 4.2.6 --- Overall summary of Section 4.2 --- p.307Chapter 4.3 --- Perceived experiences of their present lives --- p.309Chapter 4.3.1 --- Area 1: Meanings of becoming a university student --- p.309Chapter 4.3.1.1 --- Familial meanings --- p.309Chapter 4.3.1.2 --- Personal meanings --- p.313Chapter 4.3.1.3 --- Summary --- p.326Chapter 4.3.2 --- Area 2: Perceived differences with the peers in university --- p.326Chapter 4.3.3 --- Area 3: Economic circumstances --- p.333Chapter 4.3.3.1 --- Personal financial circumstances --- p.334Chapter 4.3.3.2 --- Perceived meanings of with or without financial support from the Government to their families --- p.347Chapter 4.3.3.3 --- Summary --- p.350Chapter 4.3.4 --- Area 4: Perceptions of one's roles in the family --- p.351Chapter 4.3.5 --- Overall summary of Section 4.3 --- p.357Chapter 4.4 --- Perceived future lives --- p.359Chapter 4.4.1 --- Expected lives after graduation and the related contributory factors --- p.359Chapter 4.4.1.1 --- Area 1: Work --- p.359Chapter 4.4.1.2 --- Area 2: Life style --- p.369Chapter 4.4.1.3 --- Area 3: Economic circumstances --- p.372Chapter 4.4.1.4 --- Area 4: Marriage --- p.380Chapter 4.4.1.5 --- Area 5: Spouse --- p.383Chapter 4.4.1.6 --- Area 6: Quality of relationship in future family --- p.389Chapter 4.4.1.6.1 --- Marital relationship --- p.389Chapter 4.4.1.6.2 --- Parent-child relationship --- p.392Chapter 4.4.1.7 --- Summary --- p.396Chapter 4.4.2 --- Feelings about their future lives --- p.397Chapter 4.4.3 --- Overall summary of Section 4.4 --- p.403Chapter 4.5 --- Summary of the findings and findings deserving special attention --- p.404Chapter Chapter 5 --- Discussion and Recommendation --- p.423Chapter 5.1 --- Discussion of nine aspects of findings --- p.423Chapter 5.1.1 --- Aspect 1 -- Role of education in life --- p.423Chapter 5.1.2 --- Aspect 2 -- Absence of father as the main cause of economic hardship --- p.425Chapter 5.1.3 --- "Aspect 3 -- Being a ""good child""" --- p.427Chapter 5.1.4 --- Aspect 4 -- Difficult growth trajectory --- p.430Chapter 5.1.5 --- Aspect 5 -- Poverty: Blessing in disguise --- p.434Chapter 5.1.6 --- Aspect 6 -- Family of origin's influence on expectations of future life --- p.437Chapter 5.1.7 --- Aspect 7 -- Five protective factors in development --- p.440Chapter 5.1.8 --- Aspect 8 -- Mothers experiencing economic disadvantage: Long-suffering women guarding their children --- p.443Chapter 5.1.9 --- Aspect 9 -- Balanced view of the CSSA scheme --- p.446Chapter 5.1.10 --- Summary --- p.452Chapter 5.2 --- Theoretical contributions and implications of the present findings --- p.455Chapter 5.3 --- Practical implications and recommendations of the present findings --- p.459Chapter 5.4 --- Limitations of this study --- p.461Chapter Chapter Six --- Conclusion --- p.463Chapter 6.1 --- Summary of findings --- p.463Chapter 6.2 --- Evaluation of the quality of this qualitative study --- p.468Chapter 6.3 --- Directions for further study --- p.470Bibliography --- p.473Appendix I: Written Consent Form --- p.494Appendix II: Interview Guide --- p.49