Six in 10 happy with their family life: survey
Nearly six in 10 people have given positive feedback in a survey of family happiness conducted by Hong Kong University. The research team, which also includes academics from the department of social work at Baptist University, invited around 4,500 adults to answer an online questionnaire between July and August 2023. Respondents were asked to rate, on a scale of one to 10, a series of indices, including family "xingfu", a broad Chinese term for happiness and contentment. While 58 percent of participants gave a score of seven or higher, compared to a mean of 6.53, the results varied according to their socio-demographic characteristics. Higher-income individuals and homeowners tended to be more content with their lives, as well as those who were 55 or older. Professor Kelvin Wang, who led the study, said the findings differed from similar polls such as the World Happiness Report jointly commissioned by the United Nations. "We think (the World Happiness Report) is not able to 100 percent capture the xingfu ... in Chinese groups," he explained. "In the West, we all know that many things which [people] do are to pursue happiness on an individual level. But for China ... the traditional wisdom is that family is almost in a higher position than individual well-being." Researchers also compared the results with a separate survey measuring the so-called 3Hs in family life - health, harmony and happiness. They noted a "moderate to high" correlation between the two sets of attributes. Wang suggested that people make an effort to communicate with their family members and be generous in offering praise, either face-to-face or through instant messaging apps.