Sense of Belonging and Life Satisfaction among Hong Kong Adolescent Immigrants in Canada

This article attempts to disentangle the primary factors affecting Hong Kong adolescent immigrants’ life satisfaction and sense of belonging to Canada. A total of 368 participants attending 26 high schools under the jurisdiction of six school boards in Toronto took part in a self-administered questionnaire survey. Results of the multiple ordinary least-squares regression analysis indicated that presence of father in Canada, higher self-rated socio-economic status, immigration to Canada being politically and culturally motivated, positive experience in making friends with Canadians, immigration to Canada at a later stage in life, and no prior experience in Canada before immigration were associated with a stronger sense of belonging to Canada. On the other hand, positive experience in making friends with Canadians, positive academic experience, absence of discrimination experience, and immigration to Canada being non-economically motivated were associated with a markedly higher level of life satisfaction.