11% of primary and secondary school students have engaged in self-harming behaviour, study finds

More than one in 10 Hong Kong primary and secondary school students have engaged in self-harm, a survey has found, with almost half saying school was their main source of stress.

Researchers behind the study, conducted by the Junior Chamber International Lion Rock and the Hong Kong Family Mediation Association (HKFMA), said students tie academic performance to their self-worth.

Researchers collected 254 student questionnaires and 107 parent questionnaires between March and August this year. Around 47 per cent of students and 41 per cent of parents identified school as the main source of stress for students.

The survey was conducted to enhance parents’ ability to identify warning signs in their children and establish methods for stress relief.

‘Extreme and ineffective’

Of the students surveyed, 11 per cent said they had engaged in self-harming behaviour, including cutting and refusing to eat. Another 8 per cent said they had tendencies towards harming others.

“When students cannot verbally express their distress, extreme behaviour becomes the only way out when stress reaches its breaking point. Without early professional intervention, these tendencies risk escalating,” a Chinese press release for the report said.

Self-harm is an “extreme and ineffective” emotional regulation mechanism where physical pain is used to numb intense internal turmoil, psychologist Victor Ching said at a Sunday press conference.

“It starts with small acts [of self-harm], such as slapping or scratching oneself, and there are cases of pulling out one’s own hair,” he said.

“We advise parents and students to practise mindfulness, grounding, and breathing relaxation techniques early, and actively seek professional counselling before [students] reach a breaking point,” Ching added.

However, more than a fifth of students said their parents could not tell they were stressed, while 12 per cent of parents admitted they were unaware of their children’s stress, “indicating a clear communication gap that leads to missed opportunities for early intervention.”

Fish Leung, executive director of the HKFMA, urged parents to try and notice warning signs and withhold judgment, empathise with their children, and communicate to seek a solution.

May, a parent representative at the Sunday press conference, said that she would easily be annoyed when her children had questions about schoolwork that she herself could not answer.

She said the atmosphere at home has ”improved significantly” since she learned communication and relaxation techniques in a programme offered by the family mediation NGO.