Beliefs About the Causes of Poverty in Parents and Adolescents Experiencing Economic Disadvantage in Hong Kong

Abstract

Over 2 consecutive years, parents and their adolescent children from 199 poor families in Hong Kong responded to the Chinese Perceived Causes of Poverty Scale, which assesses beliefs about the causes of poverty. The author abstracted 4 factors from the scale. Analyses showed that these factors (personal problems, exploitation, lack of opportunity, fate) were stable across time and across different samples. The author also found related subscales to be internally consistent. Regarding the effects of time, adolescents had weaker endorsement of the belief that poverty is caused by the personal problems of poor people over time. The author found parent—adolescent differences (parents vs. adolescents) and parental differences (fathers vs. mothers) regarding beliefs about the causes of poverty in terms of personal problems of poor people, exploitation, and fate.

Keywords:

• beliefs
• Chinese families
• economic disadvantage
• psychological well-being