The study also found more than 60 per cent of local families often have meals together, but only 40 per cent of them chat while eating. Some 30 per cent of those surveyed would not tell other family members about their unhappy experiences.

Single-parent families and single people tended to have the poorest family connections. But the researchers said Hong Kong is generally quite healthy when it comes to family ties.

They said the reason why so many households do not talk much around the dining table is more to do with the Chinese habit of not revealing one's feelings to others than anything else.

www.881903.com