A CROSS-SOCIETAL COMPARATIVE STUDY OF BEIJING AND HONG KONG CHILDREN'S SELF-CONCEPT

This was a cross-sectional comparative study of the self-concept of Beijing and Hong Kong grade three and five children. Beijing students scored much higher than Hong Kong students on the academic, social, physical and general domains and all the perspectives of parental appraisal, school appraisal, upward comparison and downward comparison. Boys were higher than girls on all domains, and on upward and downward comparison. Grade 3 students were higher than grade 5 students on the academic and physical domains and the perspectives of parental and school appraisal. Patterns of difference were found in the main effects of gender and grade as qualified by the interactions of society. Only children in Beijing were found to score higher than Hong Kong only children on academic, physical and general self-concept as well as school appraisal and upward comparison.