HK School Children Happiness & Life Worth Living Indices rise slightly amid a rise in life education in 2024/25

Lingnan University was commissioned to conduct a Hong Kong School Children Happiness Annual Survey in 2012. In 2017/18 this annual study was augmented by including a survey on life education in schools. Since 2023, the Lingnan team was joined by the Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine of the University of Hong Kong, the Department of Paediatrics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and the Hong Kong Paediatric Society. The 2024/2025 study began with an invitation sent to all Hong Kong’s subvented schools in March 2023. We enlisted a total of 10 primary schools and 8 secondary schools in this study, covering 1752 primary school students, 1982 secondary school students, and 116 teachers.
By

Lingnan University

HK School Children Happiness & Life Worth Living Indices rise slightly amid a rise in life education in 2024/25.

Lingnan University

The HK school children index is compiled using Primary 4 to Primary 6 and Form 1 to Form 3 students. Form 4 and Form 5 data are not included in the index but schools may volunteer to have these grades included. Results of these are included in some analyses and in the confidential, tailor-made school report for each school’s reference. This index is compiled by averaging the indices for different grades and then averaging across grades. It shows a small rise from 6.75 to 6.85, a three-year high on the 0 to 10 scale. Even more encouraging is the finding that the Life Worth Living Index has risen to a four-year high, to 6.90, and up significantly from 6.74 in the previous year. 

 

Prof Ho Lok-sang from the STEAM Education and Research Centre of Lingnan University said that it is noteworthy that the School LIFE Education Index, which reflects the intensity of school activities in promoting the 4 LIFE mental capitals Love, Insight, Fortitude, and Engagement, fell significantly from last year among primary schools, but generally rose among secondary schools.  The decline is especially serious for Primary 6, where the index fell by 6.2%. This could have to do with the cancellation of classes and possible termination of some schools. An alternative index, the LIFE Education Scope Index, which measures the percentage of responses agreeing or very much agreeing to their school organizing activities to promote LIFE using five categories of activities, shows a similar pattern, with increases all round with the exception of primary school grades.

 

The No Bullying Index (3.72/5) rises by 0.9% in 2024/2025 after a drop in 2023/2024. The only grade that registered a fall (worsening) is Primary 6. The incidence of verbal bullying, at 23%-29% is higher than that of physical bullying (20%-25%). As much as 25.4% of students in P6 reported having been physically bullied, while 28.7 percent reported having been subjected to verbal bullying. For secondary school students, the incidence of physical bullying ranges from 13.5% to 17.9%.  The incidence of verbal bullying is lower, at 15% to 20.1% 

 

School happiness generally improves in 2025 with the exception of P6 and S4. The decline in P6 is especially notable.  A small decline is found for S4.

 

LIFE scores generally rose in the year across all grades with the exception of P.6, which registered declines in all LIFE categories, with the biggest decline in the Fortitude score. LIFE scores reached a three-year new high or equally high levels.   

 

The Family LIFE education index reversed the decline recorded in the previous academic year, showing an increase alongside the increase in the school LIFE education index. The only exception again is in the case of P6 and S4, for which a small decline is noted.

 

Regression analysis shows that LIFE education significantly benefits happiness and a student’s sense of self-worth, and is associated with less bullying.  Pressures, whether from study or from activities, undermine Happiness and a student’s sense of Life is worth living. Our findings suggest students under a lot of study pressures are more likely to be bullied, while LIFE education or strong LIFE mental capital will reduce bullying.  Regressions using grade-school specific bullying indices and life education as an independent explanatory variable show that study pressures may reduce bullying. When interactive variable model is used, we found that study pressures cause more bullying, while life education reduces it.