Within the context of social discontent and pandemic: A quantitative study examining the gender difference on perceived depression, anxiety and stress, socio-political participation, value and socio-emotional well-being in Hong Kong youth aged 15-24 years

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Major traumatic events can often cause physical, emotional and psychological harm and distress to individuals. In the wake of social and political discontent and coronavirus pandemic, youth exposed to the same trauma may respond with varying stress and intensity levels. This study aims to examine values, sense of coherence, sense of hope, psychological and stress reactions and identity any commonalities of values and differences in emotional and social well-being of youth participation during period of escalated political and social disturbance. Methods: Data were gathered from 712 online respondents aged between 15 and 24 years old between January – March 2020. Respondents were reached via social media. Respondents completed self‐report questionnaires including the Activism/Radicalism Intention Scale, Sense of Coherence Scale, Depress Anxiety Stress Scale, Value scale, The Short Schwartz’s Value Survey, Hope Index, Impact of Event Scale – Revised, Social well-being, and Youth Inventory of involvement. Analyses were conducted including ANOVA and zero‐order correlations between study variables. Results: Findings revealed that nearly half of the sample reported scores that indicated a probable experience of post-traumatic stress, with mean (SD) IESR=33.3557 (17.3693). Overall, female respondents generally score higher on Impact of Event Scale on measures of all three emotional states including depression (6.5732 (4.8853)), anxiety ( 5.4289 (4.1711)) and stress (7.5915 (4.3989)), and overall DASS (39.1870 (24.5067)). Female respondents indicated lower scores than male respondents in collective sense of hope (29.2256 (8.0158)), sense of coherence (51.1626 (9.6850)) and sense of social well-being (59.6545 (8.3062)). All of these scores contributed to identifying poorer mental health and well-being state in female respondents than their counterparts during emotionally turbulent times and coping with stress. On average, female youth reported a lower radicalism intention (17.9634 (6.0791)) than male youth (18.3545 (6.7831)) but a higher activism intention (18.8049(5.2251)) than their counterparts (18.2500 (5.7080)). Examining the correlations between the variables revealed a positive correlation between sense of coherence and sense of hope [r =0.548, n =712, p = 0.000]; a positive correlation between impact of events and DASS [r =0.667, n =712, p = 0.000]; and a negative correlation between sense of coherence and DASS [r =-0.649, n =712, p = 0.000]. Conclusion and Implication: The findings from the current study suggest that a large proportion of the sample are at risk of mental health problems by highlighting partial traumatic stress or at least some of the symptoms in the overall sample. Particularly, results suggest female respondents are more vulnerable than male respondents to mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Further research is required to explore the ways in which mental health and well-being of youth are affected by traumatic or stressful events for an extended period of time.