Princess sickness

Princess sickness (or princess syndrome, Chinese: 公主病; princess disease, Korean: 공주병) is a term used in China and Korea to describe a psychological phenomenon affecting young women, especially teenagers, and can be characterized by numerous physiological disorders, including narcissistic personality disorder, egocentrism and histrionic personality disorder, consequently resulting in individuals acting like or believing that they are "princesses".

Males with similar characteristics are regarded as having "prince sickness."

The term originated from East-Asian nations as a result of economic growth, particularly in China and in East Asian Tiger countries, where economic growth and prosperity led to disparity between the upper and lower classes, leading to the upper class investing heavily in their children and sometimes doting on them to a pathological degree.^[1][2]

Characteristics

• Raising nonsensical requests and demands to others
• Advocating materialism
• Having extreme emotions
• Being self-indulgent, not logical
• Not concerned about social issues
• Not willing to take any responsibility (to shirk one's duty)
• Being self-centered
• Desiring to be an authority
• Yearning to rely on others
• Having a strong sense of self-superiority

Major causes

Situation in Hong Kong

Low birth rate

Hong Kong has enjoyed low birth rates due to its geographic location and size,^[3] leading to families that often consist of single children, similar to Mainland China's one-child policy.

The daughter or son is treasured by their parents, who love their only children so much and try to protect them from getting hurt. They help them to solve problems and fight all the obstacles in his or her daily life. In addition, parents are willing to buy everything the children want, provided they can afford it. As children have easy access to materials, the perception of obtaining materials is inculcated into their minds, and hence they care more about the material aspect rather than the spiritual one.

Furthermore, these parents are usually middle class and busy with their own careers. They employ maids to take care of the family. As time goes by, children may come to rely too much on them, even placing unreasonable demands on their servants.^[4]

Intense competition in society

With the maturity of economic development, social mobility is solely based on personal academic achievements.^[5] Parents under this competitive environment are pressured to cultivate children with great talents so they have a better chance of getting into a prestigious school and eventually take their place in the middle or upper class. This tension spreads through every detail of the children's lives, like complaining when teachers give the child a low grade,^[6] with the intention to raise their competitiveness. The children's development suffers because of their parents' over-protectiveness.

Social inequality

Social inequality in Hong Kong is a major economic issue that propagates this phenomenon, with the recent civil disobedience movement, Occupy Central with Love and Peace attempting to address the issue of social inequality.^[7][8] As a result, the Hong Kong elite have more disposable income than ordinary residents, leading to new generations with more wealth to pursue their desires.

In popular culture

Music

• Princess Syndrome (Gōng Zhǔ Bìng 公主病)- By Taiwanese singer Jay Chou in the album Exclamation Mark.^[9]

• Disease Princess - By Masa.

Video Clip

• I am a Hong Kong Girl with 公主病 (Gung Jyuh Behng) - Cantonese Word of the Week!^[10] - By CarlosDouh.

See also

• Little Emperor Syndrome
• Black American princess
• Jewish-American princess
• Cluster B personality disorders

References