Survey on the integration of Hong Kong immigrants in the UK: 40% firmly refuse to return to Hong Kong; unemployed Hong Kong people and students feel lonely

The British government has opened the British National (Overseas) Passport ( BNO ) visa program for three and a half years. A Hong Kong organization in the UK conducted a study to explore the integration of Hong Kong people in the UK. The survey found that many Hong Kong immigrants in the UK are facing psychological distress and feel lonely, among which the situation of unemployed people and students is particularly worrying. A Hong Kong secondary school student who has been troubled by loneliness encouraged his classmates to take the first step bravely.

The Hong Kong Association of Hong Kong in the UK, an organization of Hong Kong people in the UK , published a new research report on the " Hong Kong Immigrants Policy Research Project " on Friday (July 26 ) , exploring the integration of Hong Kong immigrants into the UK. The research was conducted in the form of a questionnaire survey to analyze the degree of integration of Hong Kong people into the UK in four aspects: political, psychological, social and economic. 657 valid samples were received. Among them, more than 80% of the Hong Kong immigrants interviewed in the UK intend to settle permanently in the UK, and more than 40% said that no matter what difficulties they face in the UK, they will not consider returning to Hong Kong.

The psychological distress of unemployed Hong Kong people is close to the serious level. When introducing the survey results, the project manager Hu Haoyang said that in the " psychological integration " part, the team used the GHQ-12 mental health questionnaire, which is divided into 0 to 36 points. The higher the score, the more serious the psychological distress. The survey found that the average score of full-time and part-time Hong Kong immigrants to the UK was slightly higher than the normal level of 12 points, and the scores of unemployed Hong Kong people and students were particularly noteworthy.

Wu Haoyang said: " The high GHQ scores of the unemployed and students indicate that they are facing serious or obvious psychological distress. In particular, the average score of the unemployed is 18.3 , close to the 20 points for ' severe distress ' ; the students also recorded 15.68 points for ' obvious distress ' . Therefore, we think that we should focus on exploring why these two types of Hong Kong immigrants to the UK face such a degree of distress. "

Research director: Hong Kong students' loneliness level deserves attention

The social integration of Hong Kong people in the UK is also worrying. The research team used the UCLA Three -point Loneliness Scale , where a score of 7 is considered " significant loneliness " . The study shows that Hong Kong people who are employed or " economically inactive " due to retirement and other reasons have an average score of 6.8 or above , while the scores of unemployed Hong Kong people and students are as high as 8.05 and 8 respectively . Hu Haoyang believes that this situation deserves attention.

It is worth noting that students should have the most opportunities to interact with other British people or people of different ethnicities, but they still feel lonely. (Reuters photo)

He said: " It is understandable that unemployed Hong Kong people may feel lonely more easily because they have fewer opportunities to interact with others and may not have a good social circle. But it is a bit troubling and worthy of attention that students also feel lonely. Although students should have the most opportunities to interact with other British people or people of different ethnicities, they still feel lonely. Further research is needed to find out the reasons. "

Experienced people encourage Hong Kong students to take the first step

17 -year-old Hong Konger Ah Wing (pseudonym) moved to the UK with her family last year. She recently completed her GCSE public examination and is waiting for the results. She revealed that she also experienced a period of loneliness when she first arrived in the UK: " When I first moved, because it was my first time to study in such a far place, and I didn't have many friends in the UK, I had to learn everything again, make new friends, and catch up with many things. So when I arrived, I was quite lonely at the beginning, and I experienced it for about two or three months. "

Ah Wing said that the students in the school are very enthusiastic, and the school has also arranged English classes and other measures to help people adapt. She encouraged other Hong Kong students who feel lonely to take the first step bravely.

She said: " I would encourage them to be brave and take the initiative to make friends, because people in the UK are not as bad as you think. As long as you are willing to talk to them, they will also be willing to be friends with you, chat with you and interact with you. " The research team advocated that the NHS monitor the mental health of Hong Kong people in the UK

The " Hong Kong Overseas Chinese Association in the UK " recommends that the National Health Service ( NHS ) of the United Kingdom distribute and collect psychological questionnaires to Hong Kong people who have immigrated to the UK in hotspots where Hong Kong people gather, so as to monitor the mental health of the Hong Kong population; and to organize lectures and sharing activities through the British Council in Hong Kong, so that Hong Kong people can understand important information and manage their expectations before immigrating to the UK.