Socioeconomic Disparities in Family Well-Being, Family Communication Quality, and Personal Happiness among Chinese: Findings from Repeated Cross-Sectional Studies in 2016–2023

Significant socioeconomic changes in Hong Kong have coincided with a conspicuous knowledge gap regarding the impact of disparities on family well-being, family communication quality, and personal happiness. To examine changes on family well-being, family communication quality, and personal happiness before, during, and after the 2019 social unrest and the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. Five repeated territory-wide cross-sectional surveys were conducted from 2016 to 2023, using telephone and online surveys on 27,074 adults in Hong Kong. Respondents rated their family health, happiness, harmony (family 3Hs), family communication quality, and personal happiness on scales of 0–10. Family well-being was the sum of family 3Hs divided by three (0–10). Trends by socioeconomic factors were analysed using linear prediction and multiple linear regression, weighted for sex and age. Highest scores for all outcomes were observed in 2016 and 2017, followed by a noticeable decline in 2020 and 2021, with the lowest scores recorded in 2023 except for personal happiness with its lowest score recorded in 2021. The decline since 2021 was most noticeable with low monthly household income (predicted margins in 2023 ranged from 5.55 to 6.46 for ≤ HK$19,999; 5.62 to 6.51 for HK$20,000–39,999; 5.81 to 6.78 for ≥ HK$40,000), but no differences were observed by education level. Female, older age, and higher monthly household income were significantly associated with higher family well-being, family communication quality, and personal happiness (all P < 0.001). Higher education level was only significantly associated with personal happiness (P = 0.008). We have first shown socioeconomic disparities in the declining family well-being, family communication quality, and personal happiness from 2016 to 2023 in Hong Kong. These alarming findings require targeted interventions and policies aimed at addressing these disparities and improving wellbeing in the population.