Hong Kong pupils showing signs of depression as new school year brings heavier workload and added stress
- More than half of those questioned by Federation of Youth Groups displayed signs that they were struggling
- Survey’s results in line with the observations of frontline social workers deployed at the city’s schools
More than half of some 3,600 Hong Kong secondary school pupils questioned by a youth group showed signs of depression, researchers said on Tuesday.
The Federation of Youth Groups poll in October found that while more than a third were happy to be back in school for the new term, 51.9 per cent of them scored over 16 points on a 20-question depression scale, indicating they were showing signs of the mental illness.
“More common symptoms include a loss of focus, anxiety over issues that were previously not of concern and fatigue,” said Hsu Siu-man, deputy executive director of the federation, the city’s largest youth service organisation.
The federation surveys students every two years using the US Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and since 2017 the number of pupils scoring more than 16 has hovered at about 50 per cent. The 2017 sample included university and college students as well.
At the same time, 48.6 per cent of the pupils surveyed reported “relatively high” stress levels, scoring themselves between seven and 10 on a 10-point scale, with the higher end representing more stress. While the proportion of stressed students this time is slightly down from the 10-year high of 52 per cent in 2020, it is still almost 10 percentage points higher than in 2017.