Korean Teens Unhappier Than Peers in Japan, China

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Korean teenagers are the least happiest among their peers in Japan and China, a state-run institute said Thursday.

They have less satisfaction for their present or past and less expectation for the future compared, said Lee Chang-ho, a researcher at the National Youth Policy Institute.

"Life seems quite tough for Korean teenagers. On top of the burden of studying, the economy and many other social factors have changed their perspective on marriage and other things in life," Lee said. "Still they strongly hold onto some traditional values."

According to the survey of 2,000 middle and high school students from each of the three countries between November to December last year, Chinese teens generally expressed contentment in their life. They scored top in all three categories asking about their satisfaction about the past, present and future, making a composite happiness index of 79 while Koreans marked 61.6 and Japanese 69.

Korean teens value money more than reputation or academic career, and tend to look up to rich people the most. About 92 percent said money was most important and four out of 10 said the rich were to be admired.
"It seems that Korean society weighs wealth as the most important factor above anything else," Lee said. Chinese teens valued an academic career the most.

Still, Korean teens have more filial feelings toward their parents. About 66 percent said they were willing to live with and support their parents after they were married, compared to 37.2 percent and 25.2 percent for Chinese and Japanese. Korean teens said it was the children's responsibility to take care of their "old and sick" parents.

Family means a lot. Koreans have the most conversations with their families and are more open to respecting the father figure inside the family. Korean teens usually talk about their studies or future job selection mostly with their mothers.

Koreans were quite positive about getting married, too. They said they want an average of two children ― daughters over sons.

Source

Comments

[merlinspants.livejournal.com]

About 92 percent said money was most important and four out of 10 said the rich were to be admired.

:| i wonder what the numbers in the US are/would be though

[cookie-nut.livejournal.com]

Are you forgetting how massively popular "Boys Over Flowers" was? XD

[dreamgazed.livejournal.com]

Man, this is almost the EXACT opposite of teens in the US. Not the money part tho...

[buffalosorwings.livejournal.com]

they should be happy ;___; they have DBSK, SuJu, and 2pm

[-ochre.livejournal.com]

Not.

DBSK and Big Bang are in Japan. :(

[itangeisha.livejournal.com]

I like social facts.
Thank you!

[hyuktsu.livejournal.com]

IAWTC!

Daughters over sons surprised me though :D
IDK if I could ever marry Korean let alone asian XD Two children? I want at least 4, but aiming for 6 -_-

[downpour.livejournal.com]

Family means a lot. Koreans have the most conversations with their families and are more open to respecting the father figure inside the family. Korean teens usually talk about their studies or future job selection mostly with their mothers.

lol this. isn't it the same for all asian children? it is for me, at least.

[-ochre.livejournal.com]

Eh, I would think it is. A lot of the traits listed in the article are what I'm expected to do anyway. So idk, I'm not very surprised.

[tinyknots.livejournal.com]

idk if i were in korea i'd be very very very content with my life.

[buffalosorwings.livejournal.com]

ikr lol. my dad was like,"If we ever move back to Korea, you have to be at least second to last in your class!" bc everyone is so effing smart.

that's okay with me~~

[nicooyo.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised weight wasn't mentioned.

[czarny.livejournal.com]

I think that's an international problem.

[czarny.livejournal.com]

I do wonder how much of that is good PR though. Kind of what society wants to hear, but I'd love it if Heechul came out with how he plans to become a lapdancer and showgirl, touring across Canada.

[czarny.livejournal.com]

Aww cheer up emokid.

I sometimes wonder if they feel linguistically isolated too, whereas Chinese kids can use their language all across China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere.

[margarette-mkj.livejournal.com]

ah in Korea, money seems to be a means to an end: in order to provide for your parents when they're older and to give your children the best possible chance at success, you need a lot of money. I originally thought GEEZ these people are OBSESSED with money, but I realized that it's part of an individual's pride, to be able to take care of your family. Because if you become a bum, it's not only your own detriment-- your family (and on a larger scale, society) will suffer as well. Also, money is also sort of a measure of how hard you work :) it's easy to assume that a person with a lot of money is responsible, diligent, etc etc.

Sorry for the srs bznz answer! And these are just sort of my opinions/observations as a Korean-American, not some sort of godly truth that i'm blasting at you haha

[kyujong.livejournal.com]

Whenever I hear talk about taking care of parents they always make it sounds like once Mom and Dad hit 40 or 50 they immediately become feeble and helpless and their kids have to be around to look after them lol.

[evil-zucchini.livejournal.com]

THIS. My Mom's almost 50 and she still plays badminton every weekend with the village ladies. Who are all 60+

[ruginthesky.livejournal.com]

I remember reading somewhere the suicide rates in Korea and East Asia was extremely high or much higher than other places in the world. I do notice a lot how much Koreans love their parents or always talking about caring for them or appreciating what they've done. I'm talking about you Danghae! But really I feel like it's far more different then what I'm growing up in.
Ahh yeah the rich thing in dramas when they flip out it happens all the time so reading this kinda makes sense.

[crystalheng.livejournal.com]

My Korean teacher told us that Korea has the no. 1 suicide rate in the world. He said in every school, at least one student will commit suicide due to stress. Idk if he's exaggerating that though :/

[essyllus.livejournal.com]

daughters over sons?

this is the first time i've heard of that.

[kyou-enna.livejournal.com]

Korean teens are unhappy because of those new Korean copyright laws rofl.

[livelovespeak37.livejournal.com]

wow this whole article is suprising! Wealth is worth more for them? And the traditional wanting of sons over daughters is not promonent too. those really suprised me.

[aurait.livejournal.com]

Whoo, nothing like sweeping cultural generalizations based on limited and insufficiently contextualized survey data! Good thing stuff like the gender, socio-economic status, and geographic (rural/suburban/urban/etc) breakdown of the survey participants or, say, how individuals articulate and gauge "satisfaction" wouldn't affect how these results could be interpreted . . .

[hp-groupie.livejournal.com]

Korean teens value money more than reputation or academic career, and tend to look up to rich people the most.

MORE than reputation OR academic career? So, would this explain the ridiculous management that a lot of famous Koreans have? idek

[tyreling.livejournal.com]

Perhaps that may be one of the factors that led to bad management.

[evil-zucchini.livejournal.com]

Korean teens are unhappy because they spend too much time on the internet stressing about their idols getting girlfriends/boyfriends or whatever.

[fraash.livejournal.com]

weellllllll... i guess it goes both ways.

[bbgroove.livejournal.com]

"Korean teens value money more than reputation or academic career, and tend to look up to rich people the most."

But... aren't reputation and academic career foundations for becoming ridiculously wealthy?

I've been DECEIVED!!!!!

[tyreling.livejournal.com]

Actually, those two are. Only, in Korea they've just reached different standards. Apparently.

[tokyolovelite.livejournal.com]

The first thought that came to me about teen Koreans wanting to be rich is to buy idol related things...but then again, since they are willing to stay with their families, they naturally want to be rich to easily support them. Makes sense.

The daughter over sons leaves goosebumps though. I can see it now, the airports will be more stuffed than ever.

[kanaala.livejournal.com]

too much responsibility and pressure on them =/ poor kids~~

[fuji-sempai.livejournal.com]

My Korean friend fills all the listed criterion.

[v-rosesandwine.livejournal.com]

Daughters over son?

Looks like more girl groups are coming up.
Hahahhaha sorrysorry jk.

[schizofragile.livejournal.com]

They said they want an average of two children ― daughters over sons.
NO.