A total of 2,141 people aged between 10 and 29 were surveyed between March and July by the Hong Kong Young Women's Christian Association.

About 75.2 percent assessed their "moral character" with an average 6.7 out of 10, while 24.8 percent gave themselves five marks or below.

Most perceived good "moral character" as being optimistic, respectful, honest and responsible.

But asked to mark their peers, 67.8 percent considered others' moral character was not ideal.

Also, 37.9 percent said they knew too little or had no understanding of moral character, while 71.2 percent said moral education in Hong Kong was inadequate.

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YWCA team leader Ho Kai-ming said the survey results implied that youngsters adopted double standards.

"Young people evaluate their moral character as acceptable but, at the same time, single out their peers for not displaying satisfactory character," he said. "It shows they are easy on themselves but strict on others."

A separate questionnaire focused on 600 parents from "core families" with one or two children.

"In core families, parents always try to fulfil their desires. So they may neglect others' feelings when they interact with other people," Ho said.

Parents' attitudes may filter down to their children, he added.

On the one hand, parents gave themselves 7.1 marks when it came to moral character, but 78.8 percent felt that youngsters' character was unsatisfactory or extremely unsatisfactory.

Also, 66.5 percent of the parents thought their children had inadequate understanding of moral values. But while parents believed they were authoritative enough, their children did not think so. "Youngsters have different moral standards to their parents, so they may not reach a consensus with parents and win their recognition," social work supervisor Li Wing-sze said.

Li said many young people lacked a sense of responsibility.

The organisation suggested that moral education should be enhanced from kindergarten to secondary school.

"Instead of teaching them to be multi-skilled, schools should emphasise more on moral education," Ho said.