One in seven HK children claim they have stress overload
Over 70% relieve stress with electronic games and snacks
“AXA Light Up Your Mind Programme” enhances children’s physical & mental wellness

According to statistics from the Hospital Authority in 2017, the number of children and teenagers diagnosed with mental health problems had increased by 70% from about 19,000 in year 2011-2012 to 32,000 in year 2016-2017. Of these, around 20,000 are aged below 12 while with the remainder aged 12 to 17. In October 2018, St. James' Settlement’s “Grant-in-aid Brightens Children’s Lives Service” partnered with AXA Foundation to conduct a survey on “Stress Handling by Grassroots Children”, by interviewing 807 children from P.3 to P.6 and 791 parents of P.3 to P.6 children via a questionnaire.

Andrea Wong, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer of AXA Hong Kong, and Connie Ng, Senior Manager of St. James’ Settlement, announced the results of the survey today, revealing that 33% of the responding children rated their stress index as 7 to 10, while 14% rated their stress index as 10, the top score. In other words, one in every seven children claimed that their stress level is overloaded, which is a worrying situation.

When asked about their ways of relieving stress, 44% of them choose to surf the Internet or play electronic games while 33% prefer to eat snack foods and 32% will chat with classmates or friends. Only 22% of the respondents choose exercise as a way to relieve stress, and only 44% will exercise for at least 30 minutes daily. However, these most popular ways of relieving stress are indeed not the most effective for reducing stress.

Over half of parents worry about their kids’ consumption habits

In addition to pressure caused by studying, the survey also revealed that grassroots children are often stressed by the financial situation of their family. Only 23% of parents know that their children are worried about the family's financial situation, with 8% claiming that their children have felt emotionally unstable or have cried because of the worry. But, from the children’s feedback to the questionnaire, the situation is even worse. 40% of the children claimed that they felt worried about their own financial situation and that of their family members, and 23% have felt emotionally unstable or cried in the past month. In terms of pocket money, 64% of the parents will give $0 to $25 to their children every week, with 14% of parents claiming that this is due to financial constraints. Over half of them are also worried that their kids have developed an early and unhealthy consumption habits. This reflects that wealth management education is important for upper primary students.

Andrea Wong, Chief Corporate Responsibility Officer of AXA Hong Kong, said, “AXA Foundation is committed to supporting local education. We are delighted to partner with the ‘Grant-in-aid Brightens Children’s Lives Service’ of St. James' Settlement to launch this multi-form learning project. We hope that the participants will learn about mental wellness, emotion and diet, and smart wealth management through interactive games, so that they can be equipped with skills to tackle challenges, reduce stress and relieve emotions, and at the same time enhance their physical health and learn wealth management concepts. We hope this multi-form learning project can help children achieve balanced development and light up their lives.”

Around 80% of parents claimed that their children will share in times of pressure, but less than 30% of children will actually act

Connie Ng, Senior Manager of St. James’ Settlement, reported that 74% of the responding parents claimed that they understand their children’s problems and worries, while 78% said that their kids will talk to them when they are under pressure. However, from the results of the questionnaire completed by the children, only 25% of them will talk to their parents when they are unhappy or encountering difficulties. Connie said, “Parents are always willing to listen to their kids, but the kids may not know how to express negative emotions to their parents. We hope that this programme can help the participants to manage their emotions and stress in an effective way, and empower them with the ability and confidence to deal with challenges in the future.”

To respond to the needs of enhancing mental wellness among grassroots children, AXA Foundation and St. James’ Settlement jointly launched “AXA Light Up Your Mind Programme” in November 2018. The interactive programme aims to enhance physical and mental wellness among its participants and covers topics like “understanding self-emotion”, “emotion management” and “ways to relieve stress”, as well as “emotion & diet” and “financial management”. 80 students from four schools have already participated in the pilot programme. The programme is applying for a matching grant from the government, and will benefit around 400 students in the coming three years if the application is successful.

Chow Suk Ping, a teacher at St. Edward’s Catholic Primary School, which has participated in the pilot programme, said, “We are very concerned about the development of our students. We recognise that some students are facing different kinds of pressure, and some of them will easily lose their temper. We joined this programme because we see that it is tailor-made for students who are stressed. Our students have joined three lessons and learned about personal emotion and the correct ways to express and relieve stress.” Kwok Yuen, one of the participating students, said that the programme is useful to him and he has learned how to reduce stress by blowing a balloon. Another participant, Poon Cheuk Lam, also agreed that the programme can help her understand and manage her negative emotions, and she has learned how to manage stress by breathing deeply.