Challenged motherhood: risk and protective resources perceived by mothers with adolescent children in an impoverished New Town in Hong Kong

Abstract

Parenting in contemporary societies is challenged by rapid socio-economic changes which aggravate the generation gap. Parenting is further challenged when the family is located in developing outskirts of mega cities. Parenting becomes vulnerable when the parent feels under-supported by the spouse and inadequate in parental competence. This paper reports survey and focus group findings from over 1,000 mothers with adolescent children in a new town called Tin Shui Wai (TSW) in Hong Kong SAR, China. TSW is located at the northwestern corner of Hong Kong and is immediately south of Shenzhen, another mega city in south China. It used to be a swampy area inhabited by some native farmers. Since the late 1980’s, it has been turned into a new satellite town housing 300,000 people, 25% of them being children under 15. Unfortunately, such massive population relocation was not matched by adequate and timely provisions of social and recreational facilities, economic activities and employment opportunities. In fact, 2006 statistics showed that 18% of the unemployment cases and 7% of the low income families in Hong Kong reside in TSW. The community has thus been alleged to be a remote, isolated and chanceless home of grassroot families. Mothers of TSW were stereotyped as housewives abandoned as home-watchers because their husbands have to spend long hours at work. They seem to have limited personal resources and social network to offer much to their developing children. They suffer great stress but do not know how to get support. This paper will present these mothers’ self-reported stress, coping methods and protective factors. It will advocate for some micro, messo and macro measures to alleviate the challenges these women face. Implications on enhancing family life in new town development and population movement will be discussed. Acknowledgement: This project is financially supported by Mrs. Li Ka Shing Fund.