A triple trust penalty? The majority-minority gap in subjective wellbeing

Abstract

This study introduces a social capital perspective to the majority-minority gap in wellbeing. We explore the role of social trust and test specifically whether racial and ethnic minorities may experience a triple trust penalty. First is a level penalty, where minorities exhibit lower levels of trust, potentially adversely affecting their wellbeing. Second, there may be a return penalty, where minorities may experience a diminished return from being trustful. Third, there may be a protection penalty, where minorities experience reduced benefits from residing in a high-trust context. Our empirical analyses are based on data from multiple waves of the European Social Survey (Round 4–10, 2008–2020) with over 300,000 individuals from 38 European countries. Our analyses indicate support for the level penalty, but we found no evidence for the return or protection penalties. Specifically, we show that racial and ethnic minorities’ lower levels of trust can have harmful impacts on their happiness and life satisfaction. However, an increase in trust yields greater wellbeing among racial and ethnic minorities, and residing in a high-trust context also appears to have a more substantial impact on the well-being of racial and ethnic minorities as compared to their counterparts. The results suggest that promoting trust can effectively narrow the wellbeing gap among various racial groups.