Ethnic Minority Immigrants Research Articles

Religion and Social Trust: Evidence From Chinese Christians in New Zealand

Social trust is vital for immigrant societies with diverse backgrounds, as it bridges differences, fosters mutual understanding, and facilitates collective actions. While most studies on the relationship between religion and social trust focus on North America and Europe, little is known about this dynamic in New Zealand. This paper examines Chinese New Zealander Christians to explore how religion fosters social trust. The findings were derived from an interpretive analysis of 47 Chinese New Zealander Christians from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Most interviewees exhibited low general trust in strangers because of the complex and untrustworthy post-pandemic social environment. Believing in Christianity did not mitigate this negative impact. Interviewees’ particular trust in fellow congregators varied. Social network theory offers a plausible explanation for this phenomenon. Most interviewees cultivated trust in fellow congregators through frequent informal interactions outside churches. Regular face-to-face religious activities and a shared religious identity had little impact on forming particular trust in other Christians. Furthermore, Chinese Christians were internally divided based on their homelands and dialects, hindering them from constructing a shared identity. The findings enhance our understanding of how religion affects social trust among ethnic minority immigrants and their identity construction within religious communities.

Examining dimensions of help-seeking intentions and associations with personal mental illness stigma among racial and ethnic minority immigrants.

This study examined the factor structure of the General Help-seeking Questionnaire and how personal mental illness stigma was associated with different types of help-seeking intentions among racial and ethnic minority immigrants in the United States. A sample of 202 immigrants aged 18-39 were recruited from a Qualtrics panel and completed the online survey. Confirmatory factor analysis and multiple linear regression were conducted. Results confirmed four dimensions of help-seeking intentions: informal, formal, semi-formal, and traditional sources. Immigrants with higher levels of mental illness stigma are more likely to seek help from traditional sources (e.g., religious leader or other community-based nonfaith resources) and semi-formal sources (e.g., web-based resources). Lack of awareness of service options is a key barrier to formal help-seeking. Results signal the importance of collaboration between mental health service providers. Adopting culturally sensitive care and web-based delivery formats may help address immigrants' concerns about mental health stigma.

Sustainable Development of Ethnic Minority Immigrants: A Comprehensive Review of Concepts, Challenges, and Strategies

This comprehensive review explores the sustainable development of ethnic minority immigrants, a topic of increasing global importance in the context of accelerating migration trends. The study employs a systematic literature review methodology, analyzing over 30 recent articles from diverse disciplines including sociology, ethnology, economics, and geography. It investigates the conceptual framework of sustainable development for minority immigrants, encompassing economic, social, and cultural dimensions. The paper examines current challenges faced by these communities, including economic hardships, social integration difficulties, and cultural conflicts. Furthermore, it identifies key influencing factors such as economic opportunities, social and cultural dynamics, policy environments, and natural settings. The research highlights the complex interplay of these factors and their mechanisms in shaping the sustainable development of minority immigrant groups. Based on this analysis, the study proposes multifaceted strategies to promote sustainable development, emphasizing the need for cultural and educational exchange, economic support policies, and social integration initiatives. This review contributes to the growing body of literature on minority immigration and provides valuable insights for policymakers and researchers alike, underlining the importance of a holistic approach to address this critical global issue.

Voted in, standing out: Public response to immigrants' political accession

AbstractHow do dominant‐group natives react to immigrants' political integration? We argue that ethnic minority immigrants winning political office makes natives feel threatened, triggering animosity. We test this dynamic across the 2010–2019 UK general elections, using hate crime police records, public opinion data, and text data from over 500,000 regional and local newspaper articles. While past work has not established a causal relationship between minorities' political power gains and dominant‐group animosity, we identify natives' hostile reactions with a regression discontinuity design that leverages close election results between immigrant‐origin ethnic minority and dominant‐group candidates. We find that minority victories increase hate crimes by 67%, exclusionary attitudes by 66%, and negative media coverage of immigrant groups by 110%. Consistent with power threat and social identity theories, these findings demonstrate a strong and widespread negative reaction—encompassing a violence‐prone fringe and the mass public—against ethnic minority immigrants' integration into majority settings.

Sleep disturbances and interrelationship between persons with dementia and family caregivers: The lived experiences of Korean American Dyads

BackgroundLittle research has investigated sleep quality in dyadic interrelationships between persons with dementia (PWD) and family caregivers, particularly among immigrant ethnic minorities, such as Korean Americans. PurposeThe study aimed to describe lived experiences of sleep disturbances and sleep interrelationships between Korean American PWD and their family caregivers. MethodsA descriptive qualitative design used semi-structured interviews with cohabitating PWD-caregiver dyads. ResultsEleven Korean American dyads participated (PWD mean age: 82.7, SD=2.3; caregivers mean age: 69.1, SD=10.2). Major themes included (1) linked sleep disturbances between PWD and caregivers, (2) interrelationship in dyads, (3) language challenges within and outside the dyads, and (4) strategies that improve sleep quality for dyads. ConclusionFindings demonstrated bidirectional influences in dyadic sleep disturbances, where caregiving reciprocally impacted PWD sleep as part of an interactional unit. Communication barriers and limited community resources posed challenges for these dyads. Future sleep interventions should consider culturally competent, dyadic approaches.

Factors Related to Diabetes Self-Care among Immigrants in the United States: A Scoping Review

Purpose: The purpose of this scoping review was to explore related factors in diabetes self-care among immigrants in the U.S. Diabetes is one of the fastest-growing chronic illnesses, but little is known about factors in self-care among minority immigrants in the U.S. Methods: The Arksey and O’Malley (2005) methodological framework guided this review, which examined 16 articles, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods designs. PRISMA guidelines were used with five Databases. Search terms included: immigrants in the U.S., type 2 diabetes, self-care, and self-management. Results: Factors related to diabetes self-care among immigrants were identified: (1) changed dietary lifestyle, (2) low economic and health insurance, (3) social support and resources, (4) low English proficiency, (5) psychological contexts, and (6) gender roles. Conclusion: Given the culturally unique related factors in diabetes self-care among immigrants, healthcare professionals must be knowledgeable and responsive to the ethnic minority immigrants’ needs to promote effective diabetes self-care.

INSTITUTIONAL RESOLUTION OF NON-TERRITORIAL INTERETHNIC CONFLICTS: ADAPTATION AND INTEGRATION STRATEGIES

Aim. To reveal the differences and similarities in the implementation of integration and adaptation strategies in institutional settlement of non-territorial interethnic conflicts.Methodology. The author applies comparative analysis and event analysis of France, Italy and Austria cases of institutional settlement of non-territorial interethnic conflicts in which Muslim migrant communities are involved.Results. The author concluded that the national institutions which implement adaptation policy are similar to the integrative ones – both strategies rely not so much on formal as on informal institutions. The main differences are the types of the immigrant movements that are involved in a dialogue with the state and degrees of involvement of immigrant ethnic minorities in the cultural life of the host state.Research implications. The research materials can be used by teachers when preparing special courses on interethnic conflicts resolution.

Ethnic bias in restorative processes? An analysis of access to the police-based national Danish VOM-programme

In this article, possible ethnic bias in access to the national Danish police-based Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) programme is investigated. The analyses of this project show that the VOM personnel informants believe that ethnic minority offenders are underrepresented in this VOM programme. Also, numerous examples of essentialist views on ethnicity and culture emerge among police personnel in the interview and observation data. Yet interestingly, the national VOM participation rates in penal cases analysed for this article show that while young male ethnic minority immigrants are underrepresented in VOM some years, young male ethnic minority descendants are actually overrepresented in VOM meetings.

‘You feel you’re not alone’: how multicultural festivals foster social sustainability through multiple psychological sense of community

Recognizing the limited research on social aspects of sustainability in event studies, this paper seeks to understand how multicultural festivals promote and deliver social sustainability through the facilitation of multiple psychological sense of community for attendees. By considering refugees and ethnic minority immigrants, it also addresses the gap at the nexus of events and marginalization for under-researched groups in critical event studies. Focusing on the New Beginnings Festival, an arts and culture festival for migrant communities in Sydney, Australia, we sought to gain a better understanding by addressing this knowledge gap. A qualitative research approach was applied with data collected through participant observation, in-the-moment conversations, and semi-structured interviews. Applying the theoretical framework of Psychological Sense of Community as well as the concept of Multiple Psychological Sense of Community, we present the Festival Multiple Psychological Sense of Community (FMPSOC) model with three interconnected levels of community facilitated by the festival: Ethnic, Migrant and Mainstream. The model enables critical event scholars, event organizers and local governments alike to understand how multicultural festivals contribute to the social sustainability of their communities. It also provides a basis for evaluating this contribution and identifying areas for improvement.

Knowledge Level and Hand Hygiene Practice of Nepalese Immigrants and Their Host Country Population: A Comparative Study.

Nepali people are one of the ethnic minority immigrants of Hong Kong. This epidemiological investigation aims to determine and compare the knowledge level and hand hygiene (HH) behaviour of the Nepali people and the population of their host country (i.e., native Chinese population of Hong Kong). A total of 1008 questionnaires were collected via an online platform. The overall knowledge level of the native population towards HH was considerably higher than that of the Nepali respondents. Lower levels of knowledge in young and older people were noted. Reduced HH knowledge was also observed in people with low educational level or with comorbid illness(es). Significant differences between groups were noted in the self-reported hand washing behaviours. Regarding hand drying, more Nepalese than native Chinese respondents always/sometimes dried their hands on their clothing irrespective whether after performing handwashing in public washrooms or at home. Misconceptions and suboptimal practices on HH were prevalent in the two populations. The findings of this comparative study offer valuable information for the development of culturally sensitive health educational programs to enhance HH practices for the ethnic minorities and native Chinese population.

To trust or distrust?: Unpacking ethnic minority immigrants’ trust in police

Abstract Studies find that immigrants can be less trusting of police than non-immigrants, with immigrants’ views deteriorating as their length of residence in a host country increases. However, existing research has failed to consider different dimensions of trust. This study applies different trust measures (single-item and multi-item measures) to examine whether trust in police varies by immigrant status and length of residence. Using survey data from 1,367 first- and second-generation ethnic minority immigrants in Australia, we find that the effect of immigrant status and length of residence on trust varies depending on how trust in police is measured. The theoretical and policy implications of these findings are discussed.

Bicultural identity harmony and American identity are associated with positive mental health in U.S. racial and ethnic minority immigrants.

In this study, we examined the association of ethnic and American identity with depression and anxiety and whether this relation is mediated by Bicultural Identity Integration. We recruited racial and ethnic minority immigrant college students (N = 766, Mage = 19.89, 60.4% women, 19.8% Black, 34.2% Hispanic, 36.6% Asian, and 9.4% other) who completed a series of self-report questionnaires. Participants answered questions relating to their ethnic and American identities, the degree to which these identities are compatible (i.e., Bicultural Identity Integration; BII), and presence of depression and anxiety symptoms. We conducted hierarchical linear regressions to test the direct relations between ethnic and American identity, BII, and depression and anxiety symptoms. We used bootstrapping to test the mediating role of BII. Our analyses showed significant negative associations between American identity and BII cultural harmony with depression symptoms. BII cultural harmony was also negatively associated with anxiety symptoms. BII cultural harmony mediated the relations between American identity and both depression and anxiety symptoms. Perceived compatibility between ethnic and American identities is seemingly important for understanding the relation between national identity and mental health among racial and ethnic minority immigrants. However, longitudinal research designs would help assess causality in the relations found herein. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Disruptive Norms: Assessing the Impact of Ethnic Minority Immigration on Nonimmigrant Voter Turnout Using a Complex Model

This article explores whether introducing an external group into a population with different characteristics to the existing population may lead to behavioral change. Specifically, we test whether introducing ethnic minority immigrants with varying levels of civic duty (commitment to voting) norms into a previously homogenous nonimmigrant ethnic majority population influences voter turnout among the nonimmigrant majority group. The findings have been produced using a complex agent-based model (“the voter model”) where the parameters and characteristics have been developed through the extensive synthesis of existing findings from real-world social science research on voter turnout. The model adopts the KIDS (“Keep It Descriptive Stupid”) approach to this form of modeling complex systems. The model puts a particular emphasis on exploring the dynamic social aspects that influence turnout by focusing on the role of networks and spatial composition factors such as ethnic diversity and levels of internal and external immigration. It uses an approach based on aggregative neighborhood dynamics to go beyond existing static models of the influence of social norms on voting similar to the classic approach of Schelling. The main findings from this article suggest that, other factors being equal, increased levels of immigration lead to a small but significant increase in turnout among the nonimmigrant population and show that higher levels of civic duty among immigrants lead to higher levels of turnout among nonimmigrants over time. This challenges the popular belief that increased immigration and diversity in a specific community will always lead to lower turnout levels.

31.2 Taking a Public Health Approach to Providing Trauma-Informed Services in Schools for Immigrant and Other Ethnic Minority Students

31.2 Taking a Public Health Approach to Providing Trauma-Informed Services in Schools for Immigrant and Other Ethnic Minority Students

Loss of loved ones or home due to a disaster: Effects over time on distress in immigrant ethnic minorities.

Exposure to mass trauma may bring about increased sensitivity to new or ongoing stressors. It is unclear whether sensitivity to stress associated with ethnic minority/immigrant status may be affected by severe exposure to mass trauma. We examined whether the loss of loved ones or home due to a disaster is associated with more persistent disaster-related distress in ethnic minorities compared with Dutch natives in the Netherlands. In residents affected by a fireworks disaster ( N = 1029), we assessed disaster-related distress after 3 weeks, 18 months, and 4 years. The effects of loss of loved ones or home and ethnic minority/immigrant status on distress were analyzed using latent growth modeling. After controlling for age, gender, education, employment, and post-disaster stressful life events, the loss of loved ones was associated with more persistent disaster-related distress in ethnic minorities compared with natives at 18 months, and the loss of home was associated with more persistent disaster-related distress in ethnic minorities compared with natives between 18 months and 4 years. Our results suggest that the loss of loved ones may increase sensitivity to stress associated with ethnic minority/immigrant status during the early phase of adaptation to a disaster. Loss of home may lead to further resource loss and thereby increase sensitivity to stress associated with ethnic minority/immigrant status in the long term. Efforts to prevent stress-related psychopathology following mass trauma should specifically target ethnic minority groups, notably refugees and asylum seekers, who often experienced multiple losses of loved ones as well as their homes.

Family conflict and future concerns: Opportunities for social workers to better support Chinese immigrant caregiver employees

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the experiences of Chinese immigrant caregiver employees (CEs) residing in Southern Ontario, Canada. Qualitative analysis of participant interviews with thirteen Mandarin Chinese immigrant CEs revealed family conflicts due to cultural differences and an intergenerational gap between CEs and their care recipients. CEs also had future concerns in regards to their own health and the lack of long-term care facilities that offer cultural services for immigrant seniors. These findings provide an opportunity for social workers to collaborate with other service providers to provide ethno-specific and culturally sensitive health, community. and employment services to immigrant ethnic minority CEs.

Perceptions of Eldercare Service Needs: A Chinese-Canadian Community Survey

Ethnic minority immigrants, especially those who resettle in a foreign country in the later stages of life, face many challenges as they age. A community survey using a representative sample of Chinese-Canadians aged 18 or above was undertaken to explore perceptions towards eldercare service needs among Chinese seniors. Telephone interviews were conducted with 336 Chinese-Canadians residing in a western Canadian city (Calgary, Alberta) by trained, bilingual interviewers using a structured questionnaire on topics such as perceived eldercare needs of Chinese seniors, household composition, and socio-demographic information. Multiple ordinary least-squares regression analysis demonstrated that age, country of origin, perceived service needs, health of seniors in household, length of residence in Canada, and sense of filial responsibility are significantly related to respondents’ support for ethnic eldercare services. The findings underscore the importance of culturally and linguistically sensitive eldercare services and programs in the Chinese community.

\u2018The Healthy Migrant Effect\u2019 for Mental Health in England: Propensity-score Matched Analysis Using the EMPIRIC Survey

Evidence has demonstrated that immigrants have a mental health advantage over the indigenous population of developed countries. However, much of the evidence-base demonstrating this mental health advantage is susceptible to confounding and inadequate adjustment across immigrant and non-immigrant groups preventing a rigorous assessment of a ’healthy migrant effect’. To compare the risk of common mental disorders in the immigrant population compared to the non-immigrant population in ethnic minority groups in England. A propensity-score matched analysis was carried out to adequately balance immigrant and non-immigrant groups for known confounders using the EMPIRIC national survey of Black-Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups. The mental health of participants was assessed using the validated Revised Clinical Interview Schedule tool. Immigrant participants were significantly less likely to have a common mental disorder than non-immigrant participants; OR = 0.47, (95% CI 0.40, 0.56). The results from this study demonstrate that a mental health advantage exists in ethnic minority immigrants compared to non-immigrants when balancing the two groups for confounding factors. This may be due to immigrants possessing certain personality traits, such as "psychological hardiness", that the migration process may select for.

EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FERTILITY OUTCOMES OF WOMEN IN BRITAIN USING COUNT DATA MODELS

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the completed fertility behaviour of ethnic minority women migrating into Britain before reaching adulthood and compares it to the fertility of British-born women, in order to understand the level of socio-economic integration. After the Second World War, shortages of labour resulted in mass migration and it was the beginning of a new era after the arrival of immigrants that were ethnically different as opposed to the white population. Ethnic minority immigrants entering the host country at young ages are likely to adapt to the culture and exhibit a pattern closer to the native population. Alternatively, immigrants may also be influenced by the cultural heritage of their parents, following the behaviour of their ancestors. Ultimately it is an empirical issue as to which pattern of fertility behaviour they follow. Hence, the following questions are addressed: To what extent do white-natives and British-born ethnic minority women differ in their fertility, given that they face the same institutions and constraints of the host country? Furthermore, are women arriving before reaching adulthood exhibiting a different fertility pattern than their British-born counterparts? In particular, are the fertility outcomes of women arriving aged 0 to 5 and those migrating aged 6 to 16 different from British-born non-white women? To answer these questions, count data models are used on the Understanding Society dataset. The results show that non-whites born in Britain tend to have larger families than the white natives, although both are faced with the same constraints. Furthermore, variations are also seen in the two immigrant groups and there are quantitative differences in the fertility behaviour of child immigrants arriving in the age range 0 to 5 and 6 to 16. While the former group exhibits higher fertility than their native-born counterparts, the results for the latter suggest disruption as per their norm. Two potential channels explored to understand such differences are the marriage counts and ethnic composition of the women. It was concluded that differing wedding counts among first and second-generation ethnic minority women provide a plausible explanation for variations in fertility. Analysing further, the ethnic composition of women in each of the categories shows the concentration of a particular origin in each, reflecting cultural effects also playing a role in explaining the results. Keywords population, ethnicity and age at migration

The effects of language bias and cultural bias estimated using the method of correlated vectors on a large database of IQ comparisons between native Dutch and ethnic minority immigrants from non-Western countries

Cultural factors and language bias are often used to explain the large differences in mean intelligence test scores between ethnic groups, for instance majority Dutch compared to ethnic minorities. A competing explanation comes from Spearman's hypothesis, which states that these group differences in intelligence scores are a function of the cognitive complexity of the intelligence tasks, and that the regression of group differences on IQ subtests (d) on g loadings of subtests (g) leads to a regression line with only a modest amount of scatter. However, when testing Spearman's hypothesis there are two findings that have to be taken into consideration. First, subtests of an IQ battery with a substantial language component partially measure the extent of proficiency of ethnic minorities in the Dutch language, therefore underestimate the level of g of the tested nonnative speakers, which negatively influences the hypothesized correlation between d and g. Second, ethnic minorities score relatively lower on subtests of spatial visualization and relatively better on subtests of short-term memory, and having these ‘outliers’ in an IQ battery also attenuates the outcome of tests of Spearman's hypothesis, and additionally tilts the regression line of d on g. Spearman's hypothesis was tested using 40 datasets, comparing native Dutch to Turkish, Moroccan, Netherlands Antillean, and Surinamese immigrants. We expected to find a strong positive correlation between group differences on the subtests of an IQ battery on the one hand, and the vector of g loadings on the other hand. We then estimated the influence of language bias and the influence of cultural bias, expecting at most small effects.First, we applied bare-bones psychometric meta-analytical techniques to all Dutch datasets in our non-meta-analytical database to test Spearman's hypothesis. Second, the effect of language bias was estimated by measuring the difference of subtests with a substantial language component to the regression line of d on g. Third, the effect of cultural bias was estimated by leaving out both language-biased subtests and the two kinds of ‘outliers’, computing the regression line of d on g on the remaining subtests, and checking where that more stable regression line intersected the y-axis. Fourth, we checked for the presence of publication bias, among others, by comparing the outcomes of published studies with the outcomes of unpublished studies, and by using standard publication bias analyses.First, Spearman's hypothesis is not so strongly supported in the present study with a sample size-weighted mean of only r=.32 (K=40, total N=5504). Leaving out the language-biased subtests substantially increased the value of the correlation between group differences and g loadings to r=.43. Second, a mean underestimation was found of 1.63 IQ points for all studies due to language-biased subtests. This is a small effect. Third, there was no effect of cultural bias as measured by examining the distance of the regression line from the zero point before and after removing subtests on which ethnic minorities tend to perform relatively higher or lower than native Dutch. Fourth, there is no clear proof of publication bias concerning confirmation of Spearman's hypothesis.It is concluded that mean differences in intelligence between native Dutch and ethnic minority immigrants from non-Western/non-Westernized countries in the Netherlands can be very strongly explained by the complexity of the subtests in an IQ battery, with a small effect of language bias, and very little place left for cultural bias.