Comparing Shanghai and Hong Kong Students’ Psychological Sense of School Membership - Vol. 5 No. 1 - study findings

Oct 15, 2026

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The article compares the psychological sense of school membership (PSSM) between Shanghai and Hong Kong students using an 18-item PSSM scale. Evidence supports that the Chinese version of the scale is workable for Hong Kong and that it also functions for Shanghai students, with the key difference being the use of simplified Chinese characters for Shanghai. The study finds Shanghai students show higher school belonging and lower rejection feelings. It contextualizes PSSM measurement development and outlines relevant education system background in both regions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages5

Reading Time13 min

AccessFree to download

Comparing Shanghai and Hong Kong Students’ Psychological Sense of School Membership

Scale applicability and key differences

Evidence from 6th grade comparisons

Background: PSSM research and factor structures

Prior studies in Western societies

Cheung and Hui (2003) factor extraction

The Education System of Shanghai and Hong Kong

Shanghai compulsory and junior secondary structure

Curriculum subjects and examination context

Asia Pacific Education Review Copyright 2004 by Education Research Institute 2004, Vol. 5, No. 1, 34-38. Comparing Shanghai and Hong Kong Students’Psychological Sense of School Membership Hoi Yan Cheung Macao Polytechnic Institute Macao, China The previous study demonstrated that the Chinese version of the PSSM scale was applicable for use by Hong Kong students, and in this study, the scale was also found to be workable for the measurement of Shanghai students’psychological sense of school membership. The only difference found in the 18-item PSSM scale distributed to Shanghai and Hong Kong students was that in Shanghai, simplified Chinese characters were used. Four schools from Shanghai and Hong Kong were chosen to participate in this study. By comparing two hundred and twenty 6th grade students of Shanghai and Hong Kong, it was found that Shanghai students had a significantly higher sense of school belonging and lower feelings of rejection. Key Words: psychological sense of school membership (PSSM), Hong Kong students, Shanghai students, comparative study Much research has been done in the United States to elucidate the psychological sense of school membership (PSSM) of students (Goodenow, 1991, 1992, 1993; Goodenow & Grady, 1993; Hagborg, 1994, 1998) . Different studies were also done in western societies to investigate the school membership of students (Arhar & Kromrey, 1993; Brown & McIntire, 1996; Lee & Davis, 2000; Osterman, 2000; Tinto, 1997) . Despite the fact that relatively limited studies have been done in eastern societies, there was a study of PSSM done in Hong Kong to compare Hong Kong local students and Mainland immigrant students (Cheung & Hui, 2003) . Interestingly, in the study by Cheung and Hui (2003), Mainland immigrant primary students had a significantly higher sense of school belonging but lower feelings of rejection than local Hong Kong primary students. There is no doubt about the benefits that to students when their sense of school membership is high, for example, being more persistent academically, putting more effort into Hoi Yan Cheung (Hoi Ian Cheong), School of Business, the Macao Polytechnic Institute, Associate Professor. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to School of Business, the Macao Polytechnic Institute. Rua de Luis Gonzaga Gomes, Macao, China. Electronic mail may be sent [to cheonghi@ipm.edu.mo](to cheonghi@ipm.edu.mo). learning and studying (Tinto, 1997), making more affective, cognitive, and behavioral connections to school (Arhar & Kromrey, 1993), having better educational outcomes (Goodenow, 1993), having a more positive self-concept, more positive teacher-student relations, and lower social-emotional distress (Hagborg, 1998) . Since having a high sense of school membership brings such advantages to students academically, understanding students’ psychological sense of school membership becomes an important issue to investigate, especially in the eastern societies where education is seen asthe most important issue for children and that PSSM is still a novel topic of discussion. Goodenow developed an 18-item PSSM scale to investigate school membership of junior secondary school students in the United States (Goodenow, 1991, 1992, 1993) . Followed Goodenow’s studies, Hagborg (1994) applied the PSSM scale to US middle and upper secondary school students. The 18-item of PSSM scale in Goodenow’s study were phrased in terms of individual frames of reference probing for a global factor – the subjective sense of belonging in school, while in Hagborg’s study, the items of the PSSM scale were classified into three different factors – belonging, rejection, and acceptance. In Cheung and Hui’s study (2003), Shanghai and HK Students’ PSSM the Chinese version of the 18-item PSSM scale distributed to primary 4, 5, and 6 students in Hong Kong were extracted into two factors, known as school belonging (13 out of the 18 items) and feeling of rejection

FAQs

What measure does the study use to assess students’ school membership?

It uses the 18-item psychological sense of school membership (PSSM) scale to measure school belonging and feelings related to rejection.

What is the main difference in the PSSM scale application between Shanghai and Hong Kong students?

The study reports that the 18-item PSSM scale differs in Shanghai by using simplified Chinese characters.

What comparison results does the study find between Shanghai and Hong Kong students?

Shanghai students show a significantly higher sense of school belonging and lower feelings of rejection compared with Hong Kong students.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Grenda