Attempts are made to unravel the ground state H-X-H bond angles in group-15 hydrides (XH \(_3\) , where X=N, P, As and Sb) via high level quantum chemical calculations. The energy differences between s and p valence orbitals of the central atoms and their linear combinations demonstrate a systematic increase of p and decrease of s orbital character in the involved hybrid orbital as one descends through group-15. This parameter quantitatively indicates the deterioration of s-p orbital overlapping and reveals a systematic decrease in the H-X-H angles from NH \(_3\) to SbH \(_3\) , and thus corroborates the existing experimental observations.