More than ‘minority’: Social tolerance and youth wellbeing at the intersection of ethnicity and neighbourhood segregation

Abstract

Social tolerance is an indicator of healthy diverse societies, and is associated with individual well-being. However, previous studies have found that social tolerance varies between groups and is experienced differently through one's immediate social context. This lends to the plausibility of ethnicity and neighbourhood ethnic composition altering one's experience of living in their neighbourhood and the impact of well-being. Relying on 6 waves of nationally-representative panel data from young adults in Singapore, we investigate how ethnicity and neighbourhood ethnic composition influences the relationship between social tolerance and well-being. We find that this relationship is moderated by both factors in ways that deviates from the conventional majority-minority dichotomy found in literature. This indicates that efforts made to improve social tolerance may lead to varying outcomes, depending on one's ethnicity and social context.