Media Releases

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), in collaboration with Wofoo Social Enterprises, has conducted a study on the perceptions of parents/guardians (hereafter referred collectively as "parents") of the moral character development of Hong Kong adolescents. The findings indicated that parents perceived a decline in moral values in local adolescents, leading to concerns about the adolescents' character development.

The study is led by PolyU scholars: Professor Daniel Shek, Associate Vice President (Undergraduate Programme) and Chair Professor of Applied Social Sciences, and Dr Yu Lu, Assistant Professor at the Department of Applied Social Sciences. The self-reportquestionnaire study on 431 parents from 9 local secondary schools attempts to explore their perceptions of the moral character, psychosocial competence and social behaviour of their children versus the Hong Kong adolescents in general, as well as their parenting practices and relationship with their children.

It is the third study of a series of five under the PolyU-Wofoo collaborated project "Character Building – A shared mission for a better future". The results of the first two studies, from the perspectives of secondary school students and teachers respectively, have been published earlier. (please refer to note at the end)

Releasing the major findings of the third study at a press conference today (23 January) with Dr Yu, Professor Shek highlighted that parents surveyed are generally not optimistic about the development of moral character, values and social behaviours of Hong Kong adolescents (including their own children). Nevertheless, it is encouraging to find that majority of the respondents perceive positively about their parenting practices and relationship with their children, and are aware of the important role of family in the development of adolescents' moral character.

Major Findings of the Third Study

1. The respondents generally have negative perceptions about the moral character of local adolescents in general, especially in: diligence (33.9%), frugality (34.5%), self-discipline (31.2%), respect for traditional culture (34.1%), and dedication (26.5%).
2. On moral character and social behaviours, more respondents perceive their own children as being better than local adolescents in general. For example, over 90% of them perceive their children as willing to help others (96.1%), kind (95.3%), and friendly (90.0%). Yet, somerespondents believe that their children with problems in diligence (21.2%), self-discipline (18.9%), respect for traditional culture (13.1%), frugality (10.4%), and dedication (10.4%).
3. For local adolescents in general, about 30% to 40% of the respondents perceive that they are becoming materialistic, while over half perceive them having signs of egocentrism. The findings are similar to the previous two studies basing on the perspectives of students and teachers respectively.
4. 36.5% of the respondents perceive that local adolescents in general having low level of morality. Over half of them even perceive a deteriorating trend.
5. The respondents generally believe that peer (80.9%), family (77.6%), Internet (75.5%), school (74.3%), and media (63.7%) had significant influence on adolescent behaviour. Such findings are similar to the previous study based on teachers' perspective. However, in the study based on students' perspective, students perceive Internet (42.6%) and media (30.3%) as less influential than family and school.
6. The respondents generally perceive that their own children, as well as local adolescents in general, are weak in psychosocial competences and they should take up greater responsibility in, for example (figures in brackets refer to % of respondents perceiving the virtue exists in their own children versus in local adolescents), doing housework (40.8%; 52.6%), and be more caring about the community (30.5%; 38.6%), Hong Kong (30.3%; 38.1%), the nation (39.1%; 50.9%) and the world (36.6%; 43.9%).The findings are similar to the previous two studies.
7. On overall social trust, the respondents generally perceive that both their children and local adolescents have high level of trust towards the police and courts, but relatively low level of trust towards the government and different political parties.
8. Around 40% of the respondents perceive that the current moral education at schools is inadequate. Around 60% perceive that life skills education is inadequate.
9. Nearly 70% of the respondents perceive their parenting practices and relationship with their children as positive. Yet, 20.4% report of conflicts among family members. Among 30 topics on moral issues listed in the survey, there are 19 topics that more than half of the respondents said they often discuss with their children. But for 3 topics (altruism, spirituality, delinquency), more than 20% of them have never discussed with their children, reflecting infrequent parent-child discussion on certain moral issues.
10. Overall speaking, the respondents generally believe that in comparison with the Hong Kong adolescents in general, their own children have better moral character, with higher social trust, and are less materialistic and egocentric.

In conclusion, Professor Shek said family plays an important role in the moral and character development of adolescents, and parents' acts and deeds particularly exert direct influence on their children. The research team suggests the Government and various sectors of the society to invest more resources in facilitating schools and community organisations to strengthen family education for parents, so as to enhance their parenting skills and capabilities, and help improve cross-generation communications.

Note:     

1. Findings of the First Study from the Perspective of Secondary School Students:-
   https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/en/media/media_releases/index_id_6470.html
2. 2) Findings of the Second Study from the Perspective of Secondary School Teachers:-
   https://www.polyu.edu.hk/web/en/media/media_releases/index_id_6491.html

Attachments:

1. Report of the Study(in Chinese, with English Executive Summary)
2. PowerPoint file of the Study Presentation and Major Charts (in Chinese only)

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