- Poll by Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service also finds pupils opting to cover up felt more social anxiety than schoolmates who ditched their masks
- Top reasons for continuing to wear masks after pandemic include health concerns, low confidence in appearance and parental influence
Schoolchildren play basketball at the height of the pandemic with masks on - but a survey has found many have kept wearing them because of worries about their looks. Photo: Sam TsangMore than 80 per cent of students in Hong Kong have continued to wear masks despite the end of a coronavirus pandemic-induced mandate earlier this year, with low confidence in their appearance in the top three reasons for the decision, a survey has found.
The poll by the Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service also found that pupils who still opted to cover up felt higher levels of social anxiety than schoolmates.
“When the mask mandate was dropped, some social media posts said: ‘Eyes of Hong Kong girls are beautiful. But what will they look like after they remove their masks?’” the charity’s service director Stella Hou Sze-nga said on Monday. “This added a lot of pressure on girls.”
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The organisation found 83 per cent of respondents preferred to still wear masks despite the government lifting the Covid-19 requirement from March 1.
More than 44 per cent of pupils quoted health concerns after they were asked to give one or more reasons for their continued use of masks.
But almost 11 per cent admitted they wanted to still wear masks because of a lack of confidence in their appearance.
Parental influence was given as a reason by 10.6 per cent, and 7.2 per cent admitted they still wore masks because they were not comfortable with in-person social interactions.
The survey interviewed 2,564 pupils from Primary Three to Form Five between May 24 and June 9.
Among those who had worn masks regularly before the pandemic, more than 80 per cent had cited health concerns at the time, 7.3 per cent of respondents reported low confidence in their appearance and 6.7 per cent listed worries about social interactions.
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Respondents also scored an average of 8.53 out of 15 points in the survey’s grading test for social anxiety – a level the charity said was quite “quite serious”.
A breakdown of the results showed 40.9 per cent of pupils scored more than nine points and 9 per cent were classified as “seriously socially anxious” after they registered scores of more than 12.
Those still covering up scored an average of 8.7 on the index, 0.9 points higher than those who stopped wearing masks.
Girls generally reported higher social anxiety scores, a mean of 9.09, than boys, who recorded 8.18.
“Girls may have higher standards for appearance than boys and girls of this age are more sensitive socially, while boys tend to be more open,” Keswick Chuk Wing-hung, the organisation’s assistant chief executive, said.
“Wearing face masks provides socially anxious people with room for breathing, but has also hidden the problem because social distancing provided a good excuse for them to avoid interactions, and others did not notice their anxiety.”
Chan Hiu-fai, a service director for the organisation, also highlighted the pressure of social expectations placed on girls and women.
“Everywhere we go, no matter whether it’s MTR stations, in the neighbourhood, or in the media, we see a lot of features and depictions of female appearance,” he said.
“We would like to cultivate a social atmosphere where women can advance in different areas and where their achievements, instead of merely their appearance, can attract attention.”
Hou added she hoped the situation could be alleviated by support for girls to pursue their personal goals.
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“It is normal for pupils at such ages to care a lot about their appearances, but we hope girls can care more about their talents,” she said.
The charity said it aimed to launch programmes that gave girls the chance to nurture their hobbies and skills.
It added that animals could play a valuable role in giving the self-confidence of young people a boost because they helped them to relax in social situations.