Childhood in Hong Kong : perspectives from children's safety, mobility and wellbeing

Abstract

This thesis seeks to understand childhood in Hong Kong from three perspectives of children’s safety, mobility and their wellbeing, each interlinked with the children’s surrounding neighbourhood environments and personal and socio-demographic characteristics. A conceptual framework was developed and put forward children’s wellbeing as the ultimate outcome, unravelling the interlinkages between various associated factors. First-hand data was collected from surveys conducted on Hong Kong primary school children (aged 5-12), using (1) questionnaires for children and their parents, (2) a computer-based road-crossing simulation experiment, (3) neuropsychological testing and (4) physiological measurements. Secondary data of the neighbourhood environment were obtained from a variety of sources to address the three research questions, in terms of safety, mobility and wellbeing respectively. Further on-site fieldwork was conducted to better understand the neighbourhood environment of primary school children at a microscopic level. A range of quantitative and qualitative methods were used to better understand the interrelationships and links within and between the different components of childhood experiences. This thesis provides important lessons for parents, educators and policymakers alike about children’s safety, mobility and wellbeing, given the variety of their personal and household socio-demographic characteristics as well as the diverse attributes of the neighbourhoods within which they live, go to school and go about their daily activities. Together, the conceptual framework and research methodology offer a holistic approach in understanding the issues that children face and endeavour to find ways to resolve them. The results illustrate important associations between neighbourhood attributes with children’s behaviour and activity-travel characteristics. Children’s road-crossing decision-making was highly associated with the road environment and vehicle condition. Neighbourhoods with more sports facilities were associated with a higher propensity of children walking to school. Finally, children desired more outdoors and high-intensity physical activities, and participation in more of these activities was associated with increased wellbeing. Policymakers should seek to create more child-friendly neighbourhoods that cater toward children’s needs. Further research may consider obtaining more interdisciplinary insight into child-parent interactions, as well as better understanding the hardware and software aspects of child-friendly neighbourhoods.