High Hopes on China's Young Elite

High hopes are placed on students in China who are the first generation of only children after the introduction of the one-child policy in the late 1970s. But are these high hopes also responsible for the relatively high amount of mental problems among Chinese students as compared to China’s general population as is often suggested? Annette Hillers-Chen tries to answer the question whether there is an etiological relationship between perceived social expectations and mental problems in Chinese undergraduate students. Hypotheses derived from Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional stress model (1984) and two additional models of reference predict the importance of appraisal processes (viz., degree of distress and degree of fulfillment), freedom of choice, and Asian values as potential moderators in this relationship. But can social expectations in combination with those concepts really predict Chinese students’ mental health?