Half of Hong Kong parents and adult children living with them fight at least once a week: survey
Family care group urges government to build more youth hostels and public space, calls on fighting loved ones to respect one another and get help early
About 50 per cent of Hong Kong parents and adult children living under a single roof clash at least once a week, a survey by a family care group has found, with issues such as allowance, division of household chores, and lack of privacy among the main reasons.
The group urged the government to build more youth hostels and public space, and called on family members to respect one another and seek professional help early in their conflicts.
Caritas Family Crisis Line and Education Centre, which conducted the survey, received 258 valid questionnaires from parents and 417 from children over 18.
The main reasons for their living together were either economic or for the convenience of taking care of one another.
But the survey revealed 27.5 per cent of parents and 18 per cent of adult children clashed every day or every two to three days.
The figure went up to 36.8 per cent for parents and 30.2 per cent for children for those having conflicts once a week.
Around a quarter of the parents and 21.8 per cent of the children cited an allowance as a cause for the conflicts, while 37.6 per cent of parents and 25.9 per cent of children believed the clashes arose from household chores.
Another main cause for parents – 36 per cent – was a lack of concern shown towards them, while a high percentage of children – 35.5 per cent – cited a lack of privacy.
Caritas supervisor Wong Chui-shan said when parents and their adult children stayed in a small living space “seeing each other from day to night without finding a way to resolve conflicts and improve communication, the relationship will get tense”.
The relationship will get tense. This could easily lead to emotional problems
“This could easily lead to emotional problems,” she added.
The survey found that 60 per cent of both parents and children did not think their relationship would improve in the next six months, and 62.2 per cent of parents and 75.2 per cent of children would not seek professional help.
Alluding to Hong Kong’s housing and rental prices, Wong urged the government to build more youth hostels and public space for leisure.
“Such hostels will give children another option and having more public space could allow those living in tiny homes to catch a breather,” Wong said.
She also recommended family members set up a meeting to plan issues such as finances and household chores, learn to respect one another, and seek professional help in the absence of proper communication for more than two weeks.
