The latest child suicide figures from the Office of Education make grim reading. For three consecutive academic years, suspected suicide cases among primary and secondary school students have continued he remained stubbornly high – 32 in 2023, 28 in 2024, and 31 in 2025.
Despite the flood of government resources, three-level emergency procedure in secondary schools and public education campaigns, this number refuses to decrease. We must ask ourselves a difficult question: why are we failing our children?
Of course, suicide is a difficult thing that does not have a single cause. However, data from the Jockey Club Center for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong, among other things, point to one powerful protective factor: a strong and supportive family.
Here is a paradox. Of course, parents in Hong Kong are very devoted to their children. They send their children to school, analyze their homework, fill their weekends with enrichment classes and meticulously plan their future. The cost of raising a child in Hong Kong is very expensive. However, walk into any home and you’ll likely hear this cry of anguish: “I’ve given you everything; why do you still feel I don’t understand you?”
Science is increasingly telling us that parental love is not enough. The important difference is whether the child feels that love and support. This is what some researchers might call parent-child incompatibility. Surprisingly, a lot of literature shows that parents and children often have different views on their relationship.
This gap — also known as the parent-child gap — has traditionally been considered a red flag for family trouble. Things would be even more difficult for single-parent households, step-parents and the like, which have become increasingly common in recent decades.
