Presentation (CTI)

OBJECTIVES: In Hong Kong, a Chinese-predominant metropolitan, approximately 220,000 reside in inadequate houses including subdivided units with a floor area per capita <= 8m². Housing is a critical determinant of mental health as cramped housing exposes residents to higher risks of distress, alongside lower life satisfaction. However, most local studies focus exclusively on Chinese residents, overlooking a considerable proportion of inadequate housing residents from other ethnicities, such as Pakistani and Indian individuals, whose mental health equally deserves attention. From an equity-oriented perspective, this study investigates the mental health configurations of Chinese and other minority residents living in inadequate housing.
METHODS: A sample of 1,877 adult residents without prior diagnosed mental disorders (Chinese: n = 1,546; other minority: n = 331; ageM = 26.10 years; 67.7% female) completed questionnaires assessing depression, anxiety, stress (DASS-21), and life satisfaction (WHO-5). Multi-group latent profile analysis (LPA) was performed for these two groups separately.
RESULTS: For the Chinese sample, LPA identified three distinct mental health configurations: Contented residents with low distress and high life satisfaction (n = 1,109; 71.3%), balanced residents with moderate distress and life satisfaction (n = 370; 23.8%), distressed residents with high distress but low satisfaction (n = 77; 4.9%). On the other hand, the other minority sample generated a completely homogeneous, single-profile configuration labelled as contented residents (n = 331; 100%). Furthermore, a cross-group MANOVA comparison revealed that the mean scores for depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction between the Chinese and ethnic minority contented residents were at a similar level.
CONCLUSIONS: While local Chinese residents exhibit diverse mental health configurations under housing deprivation, ethnic minority residents display striking psychological homogeneity and contentment. Public health policies are suggested to leverage these cross-cultural insights to optimize resources and implement tailored psychosocial support.