The Rebirth of the Meaning of Family
Dr. Yeung Ka Ching
March 11, 2008
Demographic trends of families in HK
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Household size
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Household composition
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Size of domestic households: Dropped from 3.4 in 1994 to 3.1 in
2004
Unextended nuclear family: Increased from 63.6% in 1996 to
66.2% in 2001
Vertically extended nuclear family: Decreased from 9.9% in 1996
to 8.5% in 2001
Households with children aged under 15
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Rise in no children: From 57.6% in 1994 to 65.1% to 2004
Decline in 2 or more children: From 22.5% in 1991 to 15.2% in
2001
Rise in single-child family: From 46.9% in 1991 to 56.5% in 2001

Decline in no. of births & drop in fertility rates
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Late marriage

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Median age at first marriage: Male from 29.6 to 31.1 & female
from 26.5 to 28.1 in 1994 & 2004
Increase in cross-boarder marriage

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No. of births: From 71,600 in 1994 to 51,300 in 1999 and then
49,800 in 2004
Crude birth rate even dropped by 40% as compared in1991 and
2001
No. of cross-boarder marriages between HK and Mainland
residents was estimated at 24,360 in 2004
Rising in domestic violence, spouse abuse and child
abuse cases

10 domestic violence cases per day (HKCSS, 1999, the annual
proposal for government)

Increase in remarriage & divorce

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No. of remarriages rose significantly between 1994
and 2004, i.e., from 13.9% to 28.8% of all marriages
Rate of divorce or separation increased for both sexes;
proportion of divorced or separated men and women
increased from 0.9% to 2.0% and 1.2% to 3.8%
Increase in single parent family

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From 34,538 to 58,460 in 1991 and 2001;
Sex ratio of single parents, i.e., no. of single fathers
per 1,000 single mothers dropped from 498 to 297
In 2001, median age of single father was 43 and 41 of
single mother

Rise in no. of singleton / doubleton elders
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More than a quarter of elders (136,298 in number) are the
households comprising solely elderly persons, 62.7% are elderly
person living alone
Single elderly households grew by 42% between 1991 and 2001
2-person elderly households increased from 28.8% to 36.3%
Long life expectancy



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Increase to 82.5 for male and 88 for female in 2033
27% of population over 65 in 2033
No. of households with elderly persons aged 65 and over grew by
46% between 1991 and 2001
Increasing median age of population from 38 in 2003 to 49 in
2033
Ratio of dependents (aged under 15 & 65 or above) per 1,000
from 378 to 598

Household income



Median monthly household income (MMHI): Increase from $9,964
in 1991 to $17,500 in 1996 during the period of strong economic
growth; the income of small households had dropped in 2001 due
to the economic downturn in 1997; and the MMHI was $16,000 in
2005
Single parents: The MMHI went up from $8,000 in 1991 to
$12,500 in 1996 and then dropped to $11,000 in 2001
Labour force participation


Single parents: Dropped slightly from 74.5% in 1991 to 72.2% in
1996; dropped significantly to 63.7% in 2001
Married women: 45% to 48.9% between 1991 and 2001 which
remains lower than those for never married females for all groups
except 15-19
Family solidarity
According to the Social Development Index
released by the Hong Kong Council of
Social Service, the sub-index of family
solidarity has sequential drop. This indicates
there is low marriage rate, high divorce rate
and rapid increase in family violence cases.
-90 (1998) -72 (2000) -150 (2002)
Social Development Index 2004, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2004.
Family solidarity
1998
2000
2002
Number of marriage
(every 100,000 people aged 15 or
above)
578
551.7
559.8
Divorce : marriage ratio
42.2
43.4
40.4
Number of domestic violence cases
(every 100,000 family)
57.5
50.5
76.7
Social Development Index 2004, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, 2004.
An Ecological Analysis on
Drop in family solidarity in Hong Kong
Disintegration of traditional
beliefs
Popular & youth cultures
Drop in significance
Economic disadvantage
Changing family forms
Cultural
Societal
factors
factors
Family system
values
Social stress and obsession
Low psychosocial competencies
Individual
factors
Daniel Shek, 2006
Implications

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Family is under stress
Family solidarity decrease
Decrease in traditional family functions
High social cost
Institutional transition vs. equilibrium-oriented
models.
Institution transition : the fourth wave
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The first wave – wandering family and
communal units in the preagriculture period.
The second wave – extended family after the
domestication of agriculture.
The third wave – independent family units
with new, differentiated roles and
responsibilities for family members after
industrialization.
The fourth wave – changing family values
and norms
Bellah (1985, p.276-277)

Perhaps most common today, however, is a
note of uncertainly, not a desire to turn back to
the past but an anxiety about where we seem to
be headed. In this view, modernity seems to be
a period of enormously rapid change, a
transition from something relatively fixed toward
something not yet clear. Manny might still find
applicable Matthew Arnold’s assertion that “We
are wandering between two worlds, one dead,
the other powerless to be born”
Changing family values

The value of marriage versus independence

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More voluntary singleness
Marriage more a choice than a must
Individualism versus collectivism
Commitment versus autonomy
Nurturance versus narcissism
Changing Family Norms
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Family norms refer to the expectations for those behaviors
associated with the statuses and roles of family members.
Relational-formation norms – The norms that guide dating,
courtship, and mate selection has changed dramatically in recent
decades.
Relational-maintenance norms – today only a minority of families
follow what was once the traditional pattern of the couple getting
married and having children, mothers staying at home with the
children, children leaving home, and the couple living into old age
and death together (family life cycle).
Relational-dissolution norms – the acceptance of divorce as an
alternative to marital unhappiness has increased
What can we do?

Rethinking of our Social Value

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Community Care and Support

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WoC’s research on Core Values
Quality parent, quality parenting
Social inclusion
Social capital
Family-friendly Employment Policies and
Practices
Maintaining Intimate Family Relationship
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Communication – Tapes demonstration
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Between spouse
Between parent and children
Uncle Long-Legs
章克標百歲啟(一九九九年一月)

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本人一九零零年生，年正百歲不老。前年老伴仙逝以
來，初時頗感得到解放自由之樂，但一年之後，又漸
覺孤獨單調難耐，深感「男人的一半是女人」有道理。
為此，廣告徵求伴侶，以解孤寂。
徵求對象：女性，別無條件，但希望她亦知道
「女人的一半還是男人」的小道理。所謂伴者，照測
字先生講，就是半個人，也是說明這個道理的，還有
「侶」者，是二口人，表示兩人可以開口談話，自然
不患孤獨寂寞了。徵伴求侶四個字已經說明了問題。
其他可以不管了。作此廣告文以廣而告之。
Hetherington, Cox, & Cox (1977)

The divorced individuals wanted sustained,
meaningful relationships and were not satisfied with
a series of superficial encounters. The formation of
lasting intimate relations, involving deep concern
and a willingness to make sacrifices for the partner,
as well as a strong attachment and desire to be near
the person, was a strong factor in happiness, selfesteem, and feelings of competence in sexual
relations for both divorced men and women (p.42)
Peter McDonald
McDonald, P,(1988). Families in the future: The pursuit of personal autonomy, Family Matters, 22, 40-44.

In the face of the enormous push toward competition,
deregulation, and autonomy, so powerfully reinforced in
this area of market forces, we need policies which
promote the conviction that men and women are
irreducively social and that we have a strong
psychological need for companionship and intimacy.
Education for both children and adults must extend
beyond the utilitarian to a recognition that we are social
beings who have intimate human relationships with
others. We need to reinterate the undoubted value of
family life; to emphasize the positive rather than rant and
rave about the negative
A chicken and a pig were having a
discussion
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The chicken said, “I am committed to giving
one egg every day.”
“That’s not commitment,” the pig said. “That’s
just participation. Giving bacon, now, THAT’s
commitment !”