POLS 7060 - Research Proposal

Housing unaffordability stress and Its impact on academic

performance of Hong Kong’s Youth

Chan Chun Sum Brian 23466987

Baiastan Muzuraimov 23472154

Date: 12/12/2023
1.Introduction

In today's knowledge-based economy like Hong Kong, youth, a pivotal element of the
future labor force, have encountered numerous challenges in their transition to adulthood.
This transition often involves essential life events such as completing high school, enrolling in
higher education, entering the workforce, and achieving independence from family (Osgood
et al., 2019). Recognizing these challenges, the Hong Kong Government introduced the Youth
Development Blueprint, a comprehensive strategy to enhance youth welfare, including health,
safety, and education (Youth Development Blueprint, 2022). Nonetheless, these policies have
had limited success.

Academic achievement, being an essential facet of youth development, not only

influences well-being but also predicts future educational success and higher earnings in
adulthood (French et al., 2015). However, the escalating issue of housing affordability in
Hong Kong presents a significant obstacle. According to the Demographia International
Housing Affordability Survey 2023, Hong Kong has been ranked as the least affordable
housing market for thirteen consecutive years, starting from 2010. This persistent housing
crisis profoundly affects the well-being of Hong Kong's youth. For instance, a 2012 study by
Chiu and Wong observed a notable decrease in young people's happiness, correlating strongly
with the high housing costs. Further research by Baptist University revealed that youths living
in public housing exhibited lower levels of happiness (Leung et al., 2020).

The repercussions of housing unaffordability extend beyond mere dissatisfaction,

leading to adverse health outcomes, including increased stress levels (Chung et al., 2019).
Moreover, a study conducted by Hong Kong University, surveying over 3,000 residents aged
15 to 24 between 2019 and 2022, found that those living in public housing and belonging to
lower-income groups were more prone to depression (Wong et al., 2023)

Given these circumstances, this study focuses on the stress caused by difficulties of
housing unaffordability and how this affects the academic performance of Hong Kong's
young students aged 18-25. Despite the sensitive housing affordability crisis and the rising
unhappiness and stress among young people, there is a lack of studies on this topic. Therefore,
this study addresses a crucial question: How does the stress associated with housing
unaffordability impact the academic performance of Hong Kong's youth?
2.Literature Review

The research studies on the relationship between housing unaffordability stress and
academic performance, primarily conducted in Western contexts, present mixed findings. For
instance, Harkness and Newman (2005) found no significant link between housing
affordability issues and academic achievement. In a similar vein, Harkness et al. (2009)
suggested that adolescents in areas with higher housing costs do not underperform
academically compared to those in more affordable regions. Another study by Sotomayor et
al. (2022) revealed that students struggling with housing unaffordability in urban areas like
Toronto face stress that affects their academic performance. Extending the geographical
scope, a recent study from China by Wang et al. (2023) observed a decline in academic
performance among adolescents due to housing unaffordability. This decline was attributed to
reduced investments in essential areas such as nutrition, social capital, and educational
resources. However, it is important to highlight that, except for Sotomayor et al., these studies
primarily concentrated on the 13-18 age demographic, whereas our research is specifically
aimed at individuals aged 18-25. Notably, studies specifically addressing this issue in Hong
Kong are scarce, highlighting a gap in the literature that our research aims to fill.

3. Research Framework

Different scholars’ studies defined “housing affordability” as individual renting ability

by housing and expenditure costs, or even household income measurement, which focused on
housing issues, such as housing needs or shortage and rent or mortgage issues that were
associated with challenges towards reality cost and housing balance (Gopalan &
Venkataraman, 2015; Friedman & Rosen, 2019; Yip & Lau, 2002; Ong, 2000; Hulchanski,
1995; Tang, 2012; Stone, 2006; Clapham, Clark & Gibb, 2012; Lund, 2017).

"Housing affordability" was defined as a relationship of both social and material

experiences to housing situations that provided associated linkage between housing
unaffordability and poor physical and mental health (Chung et al., 2020). Research study
reflected on the relationship between “housing affordability” and health throughout the
housing affordability ratio comparison between Hong Kong and other most developed
countries, which showed as 20.9 (Chung et al., 2020). Due to the continuous inflation rate
from 2004 to 2016, public actual income increased by 0.28 percent. As a result, “housing
affordability” played an important role in primary prediction towards adoption of residual
approaches that are linked to individual health, which provided assumptions on housing
unaffordability caused negative impact on individual health (Chung et al., 2020).

The concept of "stress" was determined as a reaction and stimulation, mainly focused
on sorrow and discomfort, related to environmental change (Papathanasiou et al., 2015),
which may lead to illness and anxiety in the behavior (Kranner et al., 2010).

For the concept of "academic achievement", it was argued that in a performance

outcome based on individual goals focused on college, school or university activities, the
central measuring unit will be GPA (Grade et al.) (Steinmayr et al., 2014). There are some
mutual relationships between "housing affordability", "stress," and "academic achievement",
as when housing prices increase, young people cannot afford high housing prices in the
market, which will lead to a negative impact on youth's subjective well-being and academic
performance. Therefore, as mentioned above, "Housing affordability" indicates each person's
renting ability by measuring housing costs, expenditure costs, and household income(Ong,
2000). The research question concerns the stress of housing affordability impacting Hong
Kong's youth. "Academic performance" and "stress" mainly responded to personal views.
"Housing affordability" determined individual rent ability towards assumption on personal or
family income can rent rather than purchasing houses. It has a mutual relationship with
"stress" and "academic performance", as when housing costs arise in Hong Kong, youths
cannot afford to own a house in the market, which causes difficulties in purchasing houses for
Hong Kong youth before or after housing prices arise. Therefore, it will negatively affect
youth academic performance and stress.
4.Methodology

This research will use qualitative methods. It is being used to further expand the
research question on how the stress associated with housing affordability impacts academic
performance of Hong Kong’s youth. The study will be planned to conduct focus group
interviews in Hong Kong.
4.1 Sample collection

The sample is expected to consist of 20 participants for a focus group interview. Focus
group interviews will be conducted in one session, with all 20 participants in this interview.
Snowball and purposive sampling are used for interviewees selection. Participants had to
meet three criterias for research eligibility:

i. Age 18-25 youths

ii. Education level: Bachelor (Year 1 to 4) and/or university graduate (e.g. full-time study,
full-time work, full-time study and part-time work, part-time study and full-time work, no
work and study)

iii. Income level: Below $3,000, $3,000-3,999, $4,000-4,999, $5,000-5,999, $6,000-6,999,

$7,000-7,999, $8,000-$8,999, $9,000-9,999, $10,000-14,999, $15,000-19,999,
$20,000-29,999, $30,000 or above, unstable income, etc.

4.2 Interview design

The interview will be conducted in a one hour semi-structured focus group

interview/discussion format. The interviews are expected to last less than one hour. To create
a relaxed atmosphere and help the interviewees feel comfortable talking about their true
thoughts, the study will choose HKBU or other universities, such as HKU, CUHK, HKUST
or Cityu, etc as an interview venue.

Before the focus group interviews start to be organized and conducted, the study will
seek and obtain every participant’s verbal and written informed consent and cooperation.
Therefore, all the respondents that are selected must complete the consent form that will be
provided by the researcher to ask for participants’ willingness to participate in the focus group
interview or not. For the Consent form, it will be stated on the researcher information, such as
name and university came from, research information such as topic and purpose, duration, etc.
The consent form will be approved by the university ethical committee before the focus group
interview. Moderators will be responsible for the organization of focus group interviews,
throughout researchers to observe and record the interview.

During the interview, respondents will be asked the following 15-20 questions:
1. Basic information, including age, education level, occupation status, income level,
fertility status and family status
2. What type of housing do you live in?
3. Is the housing currently rented or purchased by you or your parents?
4. What will you consider to purchase a house?
5. What will you consider to lucky draw for a public housing application?
6. Do you have stress on the housing affordability issue?
7. Will housing unaffordability affect your academic performance in university?

Except for the interview questions mentioned above, the moderator and researcher will
also ask in-depth and follow-up questions which focus on different respondents’ answers to
get more detailed information about stress towards housing affordability issues, also negative
impact of academic performance in university.
A $100 Starbucks coffee voucher will be given to each respondent as a gift or research
incentive at the end of the interview as a token of the researcher’s appreciation for their
participation in the research.

4.2 Sampling method

The study will use snowball and purposive sampling for participant selection. It will
start with a small case first and then make larger (Neuman, 2014). Before the focus group
interview, it will start with three or four youths that don't know each other, then invite their
friends who are struggling with the same issue to participate in the focus group interview. It
will be aimed at the exploratory purpose for how stress associated with housing affordability
impacts towards Hong Kong’s youth and academic performance.

4.3 Data collection

As mentioned above, moderator and researcher will be present to record and moderate
focus group interviews respectively. The focus group interviews will be tape recorded and
transcripted. It will use specific symbols to mark different participants’ feelings, such as
emotion, pauses, laughter and anxiety during the transcription. Focus group interview
transcription will be kept as an individual Microsoft or Google word document and save it in
the computer safely.

4.4 Data analysis

This study will analyze qualitative data by using grounded theory and it will be coded
by using Maxcoda software. To begin with, the first step was to open-coding and
conceptualize different keywords appearing in the focus group interview (Glaser, 1992),
which will code different keywords that are related to stress, academic achievement and
housing affordability. Secondly, this study will use axial coding that will make comparison of
coding similarity and difference, also on the selection of primary and sub-categories (Fei,
2008). The selective coding will be used for extracting core categories from conceptualized
categories by integration and condensation.

4.5. Research scheme, budget and resources

4.5.1 Research scheme

The research programme and resource requirements for this study are specified in
Appendix. The study will take 20 days to conduct. 6 days for contacting the participants,
setting up time and interview venue, 1 day spent for completing one session of focus group
interview, finally 13 days will be spent on data analysis and findings transformation into
academic articles. It will start in January to have fieldwork for data collection, while in
February will be writing the thesis and data analysis. It is important to refine the thesis in
March and last but not least submit the final project proposal in April.

4.5.2 Required resources

In this study, the focus group interview required one moderator services, the university
venue, a tape recorder and 20 Starbucks coffee vouchers.

4.5.3 Research budget

Based on the interview venue being set in university, the study budgeted HKD$0 for
interview venue setting; the study will purchase a meeting tape recorder at HKD$1500 as a
recording tool for focus group interviews.
 The study will also purchase Starbucks coffee vouchers from Starbucks, a common
coffee cafe, as an incentive for respondents to participate in the focus group interview, with a
budget of HKD$2000. Therefore, the total budget of this study will be HKD$3500.

5. Scope and limitations

The study is designed to explore the relationship between the stress of housing
affordability and its influence on the academic performance of youth in Hong Kong.
Specifically, it will concentrate on individuals aged 18 to 25. This age group is significant as
it primarily includes undergraduate and graduate university students, a period when many are
transitioning from living in their parental homes to establishing independent living
arrangements. As such, our data collection will be focused on university students in Hong
Kong who are currently residing with their parents.

However, it's important to note that our approach to sampling is purposive, targeting a
specific demographic. Consequently, the sample size and composition may not provide a fully
representative cross-section of the broader youth population in Hong Kong. Our methodology
involves the use of semi-structured interviews within focus groups. While this qualitative
approach offers valuable insights, particularly in terms of validity, it is important to
acknowledge that it may not have the same level of reliability as quantitative research
methods.
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Appendix

Tab.2 Research scheme, Resources required and budget

Research phase Estimated time Issues Resources Budget

spent required

Contacting the 6 days Invite the 1 University $3500HKD

participants, respondents; confirm venue;
setting up time the time and place of 1 tape recorder;
and interview the focus group 20 Starbucks
venue discussions coffee vouchers as
interview rewards.
Conduct 1 day One focus group A moderator is $0HKD
focus group discussion/interview needed for focus
discussions/intervi group discussion.
ews

Collation and 13 days Transcription and /

analysis of analysis of interview
research data, data and writing a
writing a paper paper based on
findings

Total 20 days $3500HKD