Wai Kai Hou

The Education University of Hong Kong | ied · Department of Psychology

Prior work has considered demand and distress, temporal dynamics, and differential outcomes in defining human stress resilience but not the processes and mechanisms of resilience across different life challenges. The purpose of this chapter is to outline the Drive to Thrive (DTT) theory in an attempt to advance existing understanding of stress adap...

Sustainment of daily routines requires greater psychological resilience and may lead to greater resilience in the face of stressors. Existing scales tend only to focus on emotions and engagement, rather than how well individuals sustain routine behaviors. To address this gap in the literature, we developed the Sustainability of Living Inventory (SO...

Purpose To examine the joint associations of civil unrest and COVID-19 with probable anxiety and depression during the first half of 2020 in Hong Kong. Associations were compared between persons with low or high assets. Methods A population-representative sample of 4011 Hong Kong Chinese residents aged 15 years or older were recruited between Febr...

The present meta-analytic review examined the associations between different forms of trauma and mental disorders among prisoners and ex-prisoners. Studies published from 1998 to March 31, 2021 were identified by searching PsycINFO, PubMed, Medline and Web of Science. Data were meta-analyzed using a random-effect model. Moderator and mediator analy...

Positive adjustment to chronic diseases reduces psychiatric comorbidity and enhances quality of life. Very little is known about the benefit of internet-based and mobile-based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (IM-CBT) on physical outcomes and its reciprocal interactions with psychiatric outcomes, the active therapeutic elements, and effect moderators a...

Background The number of ex-prisoners worldwide has constantly been increasing in recent years. Currently, little is known about post-release daily adaptation, not to mention valid and reliable instruments for post-release daily routines pertinent to mental health. Objective This study aims to develop and validate a self-report instrument, hereaft...

The international school sector in Hong Kong makes a substantial contribution to educational provision in the city, employing many expatriate teachers. Wellbeing has taken on increasing prominence in international school discourses, but little research has investigated how the wellbeing of international school teachers is influenced by school-level...

Currently little is known about the interrelations between changes in psychiatric symptoms and changes in resources (personal, social, financial) amid large-scale disasters. This study investigated trajectories of psychiatric symptoms and their relationships with different patterns of changes in personal, social, and financial resources between 202...

Resilience is the cornerstone to mental health, and entails multiple biological and psychological mechanistic processes. However, the interplay of the psychobiological processes in shaping resilience is unclear. Here we report the results of testing whether an acute cortisol response and positive affectivity traits moderate the relationship between...

This article on stress covers four topics. An overview is given on how persons cope with chronic stress and trauma. Classic theories of the psychology of stress, namely the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, the Salutogenic Model, and the Conservation of Resources Theory, are outlined. Next, the meaning-making process, the Shift-and-Persist...

In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy, Spain, New York, and Hong Kong stood out for their high rates of infections. Given this scenario, a web-based international multisite and cross-sectional study was conducted between April and May 2020 to investigate the psychological impact of the pandemic and the restrictions imposed by the gove...

Humans experience multiple biological and emotional changes under acute stress. Adopting a multi-systemic approach, we summarized 61 studies on healthy people’s endocrinological, physiological, immunological and emotional responses to the Trier Social Stress Test. We found salivary cortisol and negative mood states were the most sensitive markers t...

Background In face of large-scale disasters, persons with fewer assets are at greater risk of persistent poorer mental health than persons with more assets. Everyday daily routine disruptions and financial hardship could mediate this association. Methods This prospective population-representative study in Hong Kong aimed to investigate the relatio...

Organizational virtuousness is defined as collective positive attributes and behaviors supported by and characteristic of an organization that promote hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being, and optimal performance. The underlying mechanisms through which organizational virtuousness operate remain largely unknown. Drawing from the broaden-and-bu...

Background This study investigated whether subjective unrest-related distress was associated with probable depression during and after the 2019 anti-ELAB movement in Hong Kong. Methods Population-representative data were collected from 7157 Hong Kong Chinese in four cross-sectional surveys (July 2019–July 2020). Logistic regression examined the as...

This study examined the mediating effects of coping resources in the prospective associations between daily routine disruptions in the acute phase of COVID-19 and persistent probable anxiety and depression. A prospective, population-representative cohort of 1318 Hong Kong Chinese respondents completed a baseline survey between February and July 202...

This study aims to test the associations of nature contact with multiple dimensions of psychological functioning. A total of 90 university employees were randomly assigned to spend their lunch breaks on (1) a 30-min structured protocol of nature contact and (2) a control group for 10 consecutive weekdays. Psychological distress, psychological well-...

The spread of SARS-CoV-2 led to rapid vaccine development. However, there remains considerable vaccine hesitancy in some countries. We investigate vaccine willingness in three nations with very different vaccine histories: Israel, Japan and Hungary. Employing an ecological-systems approach we analyse associations between health status, individual c...

Both COVID-19 and unrest are posing a significant threat to population mental health across the globe. This study examined trends of probable depression and anxiety during a time of civil unrest and concurrent COVID-19 in Hong Kong. Four random digit dialing telephone surveys were conducted in July 2019 (n = 1112), February–March 2020 (n = 2003), A...

Objective There is a socioeconomic gradient to depression risks, with more pronounced inequality amid macroenvironmental potential traumatic events. Between mid-2019 and mid-2020, the Hong Kong population experienced drastic societal changes, including the escalating civil unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic. We examined the change of the socioeconomi...

Background and Objective This study examined the association of loneliness with depressive symptoms across various age groups. Loneliness is a significant risk factor for precipitating depressive symptoms. Rumination, a mechanism that underpins depression, can become intense when a person feels lonely. In addition, age is a major factor associated...

Objective: Children and adolescents are found to be more vulnerable to developing PTSD than adults over time after major disasters. This study aims to investigate the network structures of PTSD and the directions of relationships between symptoms among adolescent survivors in the year after the Yancheng Tornado in China. Method: A total of 395 yout...

Self-compassion has been shown to be protective against stress. Whether its stress buffering effect differs between cancer caregivers and non-caregivers is unknown. This study examined the moderating effect of self-compassion among cancer caregivers relative to non-caregivers by recruiting cancer caregivers from the hospital and a community sample...

Positive emotions are linked to numerous benefits, but not everyone appreciates the same kinds of positive emotional experiences. We examine how distinct positive emotions are perceived and whether individuals’ perceptions are linked to how societies evaluate those emotions. Participants from Hong Kong and Netherlands rated 23 positive emotions bas...

The rapid international spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus 19 led to unprecedented attempts to develop and administer an effective vaccine. However, there is evidence of considerable vaccine hesitancy in some countries and sub-populations. We investigated willingness to vaccinate in three nations with historically different levels of vaccine willingnes...

The Adjustment Disorder New Module (ADNM) is a self-report instrument for assessing Adjustment disorder (AjD), but uncertainties remain in evaluating factor structure and psychometric properties of ADNM in previous studies. Three studies were conducted to examine the factor structure, psychometrics properties, and clinical utility of the 20-item ve...

Positive emotions are linked to numerous benefits, but not everyone appreciates the same kinds of positive emotional experiences. We examined how distinct positive emotions are perceived and whether individuals’ perceptions were linked to how societies evaluate those emotions. Participants from Hong Kong and the Netherlands rated 23 positive emotio...

This study examined prevalences of anxiety and depression and their correlations with daily routines among Hong Kong Chinese during the COVID-19 pandemic. Random digit dialing recruited two population-representative samples of 6029 residents during a period of low infection and limited intervention (survey 1: n = 4021) and high incidence and intens...

A vignette approach was adopted to investigate flexibility of sustaining daily routines and whether and how this ability was related to mental health at different levels of financial strain. Three separate studies were conducted with community-dwelling adults (N = 1685) in the USA. In Study 1, we drafted, tested, and modified vignettes with referen...

Background To assess the prevalence of elevated risk of serious mental illness and probable ICD-11 adjustment disorder in the UK population at two time points during COVID-19, and their association with COVID-19-related stressful events. Aims To check the dose–response model for stress between the number of COVID-19-related stressful events and me...

Background Previous research has suggested a socioeconomic gradient of mental health in the face of potentially traumatic events. Nevertheless, few studies examined the intermediary mechanisms of this gradient. This study tested a hypothesised mediating effect of disruptions to daily routines (eg, eating/sleeping habits) between socioeconomic statu...

Background This study examined the associations between components of psychological resilience with mental health at different levels of exposure to COVID-19 stressors. Methods A population-representative sample of 4,021 respondents were recruited and assessed between February 25th and March 19th, 2020. Respondents reported current anxiety symptom...

This study examined the associations of perceived social capital and income change since the outbreak with probable depression and preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. Random digit dialing recruited a population-representative sample of 3011 Hong Kong Chinese aged ≥ 15 years (mean = 44, 55% females) between February 25 an...

Introduction: Despite the burgeoning literature on COVID-19, there has been little cross-national work on the correlates of mental health or its association with pandemic behaviours. We considered psychological distress, quarantine status, social distancing and self-medication in China and the UK. Methods: We conducted online surveys in China (N...

Purpose: This study examined prevalence and correlates of probable depression and suicidal ideation among Hong Kong Chinese residents amidst the anti-extradition bill protests. Methods: Random digit dialing recruited a population-representative sample of Hong Kong residents aged 15 years or older during the first three weeks of July, 2019. Respo...

Limited by conventional data collection methods, it is unclear how community-dwelling multimorbid people's daily routines are affected by their co-occurring illnesses. This study investigated the differences in everyday life schedules between multimorbid and nonmultimorbid people. Three hundred community-dwelling adults, representative of the Hong...

The COVID-19 pandemic presents a significant challenge to wellbeing for people around the world. Here, we examine which individual and societal factors can predict the extent to which individuals suffer or thrive during the COVID-19 outbreak, with survey data collected from 26,684 participants in 51 countries from 17 April to 15 May 2020. We show t...

Power is one of the vital components embedded within interpersonal interactions, but few studies have studied it in everyday life context. This experience sampling study examined the associations of subjective power with emotional well‐being and investigated the moderating effects of counterpart' postures in the associations. Our results demonstrat...

Background: There are a growing number of forced migrants worldwide. Early detection of poor adjustment and interventions to facilitate positive adaptation within these communities is a critical global public health priority. A growing literature points to challenges within the post-migration context as key determents of poor mental health. Aims: T...

Social media interactions are popularly implicated in psychological changes like radicalization. However, there are currently no viable methods to assess whether social media interactions actually lead to such changes. The purpose of the current research was to develop a methodological paradigm that can assess such longitudinal change in individual...

Positive emotion regulation is important for enhancing psychological well‐being. Previous studies have adopted a cross‐sectional design to examine the relationships between positive emotion regulation strategies and psychological functioning. Relatively little is known about the role of positive emotion regulation strategies in positive and negativ...

Multimorbid adults are more likely to have depression. However, existing data are mostly cross-sectional or retrospective with poor control of baseline depressive symptoms and a focus on long-term effects. This prospective study examined the short-term independent predictive association of multimorbidity with depressive symptoms. We collected basel...

Previous studies have investigated interdependence of the associations between predictors and negative psychological outcomes in dyads of cancer patients and family caregivers. This study examined the dyadic effects of perceived capability of savouring the moment on psychological well‐being. A total of 152 dyads of cancer patients and caregivers re...

Objective: This study tested the interactive relationships between college students' perceived capability of regulating negative emotions and savoring positive emotions on mental health outcomes, including anxiety and depressive symptoms. Participants: Participants were healthy undergraduates (n = 167) recruited from two universities in Hong Kon...

The ability to accurately perceive cues to contextual demands across different situations has been identified as a crucial component of successful self-regulation. However, previous attempts to measure context sensitivity have suffered from serious methodological limitations, most notably the possibility that respondents may not possess sufficient...

The present study tested the mediating role of perceived capability of savoring positive experiences in the associations between family functioning and emerging adults’ psychological outcomes, namely, depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. A sample of 167 Chinese emerging adults (112 female) were recruited from two major universities in Hong Ko...

We examined the incidence and predictors of threat perceptions toward people who oppose government action (i.e., protestors) following the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong (September 28th to December 15th, 2014). A population-representative sample of 1,208 citizens (mean age = 46.89 years; 52.4% female) was recruited two months after the conclusion o...

This study examined concordances of cancer patients’ received and caregivers’ provided support and dyadic relationship quality, and their predictive utility in prospective psychological distress and well-being. A total of 83 Chinese cancer patient-caregiver dyads were recruited in two government-funded hospitals in Hong Kong. Participants reported...

Background: Evidence has shown that people living with nonpsychotic mental disorders experience difficulties in maintaining their daily living, consequently impacting on psychological well-being. However, the role of daily life experience remains unclear. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to determine the association between daily life...

Emotion mobilizes and demobilizes a social movement while the movement itself impacts people’s emotions. An evidence base is needed for developing timely emotion-focused counseling services for affected populations worldwide. This experience sampling study investigated the impact of social movement on everyday emotional reactivity, variability, ins...

Purpose Macau is a Special Administrative Region in China that has experienced tremendous development in its gambling industry during its post-colonial years. To inform mental health planning, this study presents the first population estimates and correlates of current depression in Macau. Methods A population-representative sample of 1,068 Macau...

Relatively little is known about the emotional processes underlying the association between adult attachment styles and psychological distress. This study aims to examine the role of contentment in terms of intensity and duration in the positive associations between anxious and avoidant attachment styles and psychological distress. A sample of 284...

Background: This study investigated the associations of savoring with cancer-specific physical symptoms, psychological distress, and psychological well-being and the moderating effect of savoring in the associations between physical symptoms and psychological outcomes among cancer patients. Methods: A total of 263 Chinese adults recently diagnos...

Social media use has proliferated in the past ten years and studies are beginning to investigate the association between social media use and its effect on mental health. This study extends this literature by testing a novel hypothesis that social resource loss on social media (e.g., “unfriending”) may be associated with increased symptoms of depre...

Background: Recovery experience including psychological detachment from caregiving and savoring positive moments in life could be complementary coping processes for cancer caregivers. This study aims to examine the nature of their associations with caregiving burden and anxiety and depressive symptoms among Chinese cancer caregivers in Hong Kong....

Objective: This study examined whether and how changes in positive affect and mindfulness predicted changes in cortisol secretion and psychological distress in adaptation to examination stress. Design: A sample of 105 college students completed a questionnaire set and provided salivary samples before (T1), during (T2) and after (T3) an examinati...

More empirical investigation is needed to understand the mechanisms through which psychological resilience impacts psychiatric symptoms. This study aimed to examine the mediating role of emotion-focused positive rumination and relationship satisfaction in the inverse associations between trait resilience and anxiety and depressive symptoms. A sampl...

This study examined prospective reciprocity between psychological distress and subjective well-being and the role of change in psychosocial resources in the reciprocity in the year following cancer diagnosis. Psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), subjective well-being (Chinese Affect Scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale)...

This study examined the dissociable neural effects of ānāpānasati (focused-attention meditation, FAM) and mettā (loving-kindness meditation, LKM) on BOLD signals during cognitive (continuous performance test, CPT) and affective (emotion-processing task, EPT, in which participants viewed affective pictures) processing. Twenty-two male Chinese expert...

The whole-brain results of significant 3-way interaction effects (state by group by form-of-meditation) for each condition were shown below. A threshold of p<0.001, k>10 was used, which is the same as that used for the 2-way analyses in the main text. The differences between these 3-way results and the 2-way results reported in the main text were l...

BOLD signals associated with performing the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) and Emotion Processing Task (EPT) by novices at the baseline state. Notes: (a) Neural activity of all novices performing the CPT (experimental>control condition) at a resting state (p<.001, k = 10); (b) Neural activity of all novices while viewing happy (p<.001, k = 10),...