Hong Kong kids suffer in silence as cyberbullying contributes to youth suicide spike
Increasing online harassment and abuse contributing to alarming numbers of young people taking their own lives, experts say
Since the beginning of February this year, at least six Hong Kong schoolchildren have taken their own lives. And on February 28, a 19-year-old Japanese man with a Hong Kong ID card was found dead in a suspected hanging at an apartment building in the Mid-Levels. Their deaths followed a worrying spike in the number of student suicides last year, again prompting concerns of a mental health crisis in Hong Kong, particularly among young people.
Psychologists have emphasised that mental illness amongst young people and, in the extreme, youth suicide, is rarely caused by one factor.
Professor Paul Yip Siu-fai, a University of Hong Kong academic who chairs the Committee on Prevention of Student Suicides, has said it is wrong to “simplify” the matter.
Other issues facing young people include family problems, social anxiety, body image problems and indeed, the negative influences of social media.
Although cyberbullying’s prevalence and impact is difficult to quantify, a study by the Hong Kong Family Welfare Society in 2012 found that one in three students between Primary Four to secondary Three were victims of cyberbullying. And from its research, the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups estimates only one quarter of local cyberbullying victims will formally report the abuse.