Macro Factors, Social Trust, and Life Satisfaction of Adolescents in Hong Kong

Abstract

Life satisfaction has widely been viewed as an important indicator of individual’s well-being. It has been found to be associated with adolescents’ development in several aspects. Previous studies have emphasized the influences of individual, family, and school factors on adolescents’ life satisfaction, and largely neglected the role played by some macro factors, such as social and political environment as perceived by individuals. In this study, we evaluate and compare the relative impacts of various factors on life satisfaction of adolescents in Hong Kong. These factors include (1) individual characteristics, such as gender, place of birth, and religion, (2) family factors, such as parental education, household financial and living conditions, (3) adolescents’ perceptions of educational system and overall development in Hong Kong, and (4) interpersonal and institutional trust. We employed the data set of “The Hong Kong Youth Survey 2017” collected by Department of Sociology of The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The results of regression analysis indicated that individual characteristics and parental education have negligible effects on the dependent variable. Family financial and living conditions, perceptions of educational system and overall development in Hong Kong, and interpersonal and institutional trust were found to be significant predictors of life satisfaction of localadolescents. Some theoretical and practical implications, as well as the limitations of this study, are discussed at the end.