【明報專訊】Resilience(抗逆力) is the ability to deal with difficulties or crises. Resilient people can positively and actively overcome setbacks and become stronger. You can improve your resilience by enhancing your social skills, emotional management skills and problem-solving skills, cultivating a sense of identity to your place and trying to look at things optimistically.
Education for parents
Paul Yip Siu-fai, a professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration of the University of Hong Kong, believes that parents who are too attentive (so-called "helicopter parents"「直升機家長」) and those who are too offhand ("free range chicken parents" 「走地雞家長」) have a danger of raising children who lack resilience. "Helicopter parents" tend to make every decision on behalf of their children, making them self-centred and unable to rein in their emotions when they experience difficulty. Conversely, "free range chicken parents" are too busy to care about their children. Having no one to talk to, these children find it difficult to embrace positive values.
One-child policy X lack of resilience
In 1979, the mainland government implemented the "one-child" policy, under which a couple could have only one child. This was replaced with the "two-children" policy in 2016. Only children (who have no siblings) find it hard to deal with problems on their own when they grow up. Because their parents ''coddle them'', they lack the ability to deal with setbacks.
Born happy?
No two persons deal with setbacks the same way. A person's natural disposition and later life events can affect his or her resilience. A study published in a 2016 issue of the Journal of Happiness Studies found a strong correlation between the sense of happiness and the prevalence of "A allele"(A對偶基因). Mexicans, people with the highest happiness rating, had the highest estimated prevalence of "A allele". But people were unhappy in Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, Thailand, Iraq and Jordan, all of which had a low prevalence of "A allele".
Threat to mental health
Lacking guidance and medical resources, students unable to deal with setbacks may not obtain professional assistance immediately. In 2016, a school-based education psychologist had to deal with 7.5 schools on average. It was often the case that a school had to wait one to two weeks before an educational psychologist could give it service of one full day. Furthermore, the overall median waiting time for first appointment at out-patient psychiatric clinics under the Hospital Authority increased from 8 weeks in 2013/14 to 10 weeks in 2015/16.
Student suicide cases X enhanced online support
In 2015/16, many students took their own lives. According to the Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong, from 1995 to 2015, the percentage of people under 20 seeking help from the group fell from 27% to 4%. The group believes people in the younger generation are likelier to express their feelings online instead of talking to others face to face. This makes it harder for them to get much-needed help and likelier for them to wallow in despair. Tragedies may easily happen. The group suggests improving online support for those who need help.
[通通識 第452期]
