title: Life satisfaction, ethnicity and neighbourhoods: Is there an effect of neighbourhood ethnic composition on life satisfaction?
abstract: Immigrants and ethnic minorities tend to have lower life satisfaction than majority populations. However, current understanding of the drivers of these gaps is limited. Using a rich, nationally representative data set with a large sample of ethnic minorities and matched neighbourhood characteristics, we test whether first and second generation minorities experience lower life satisfaction once accounting for compositional differences and whether, specifically, neighbourhood deprivation impacts their wellbeing. We further investigate whether a larger proportion of own ethnic group in the neighbourhood improves satisfaction. We find life satisfaction is lower among ethnic minorities, and especially for the second generation, even controlling for individual and area characteristics. Neighbourhood concentration of own ethnic group is, however, associated with higher life satisfaction for Black Africans and UK born Indians and Pakistanis. The effect for Black Africans may stem from selection into areas, but findings for Indians and Pakistanis are robust to sensitivity tests.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, UK. Electronic address: gknies@essex.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gundi
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Knies
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex, UK.
authors.forename: Alita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nandi
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Sciences, UK.
authors.forename: Lucinda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Platt
mesh_terms: D044383:Black People; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants; D005006:Ethnicity; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000208:ethnology; D008913:Minority Groups; D010154:Pakistan / Q000208:ethnology; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D006113:United Kingdom; D014481:United States; D001741:Black or African American
keywords: Ethnic diversity; Ethnic group; Happiness; Immigration; Life satisfaction; Neighbourhood effect; Quality of life; UKHLS; Wellbeing