Together and Apart: the Dynamics of Ethnic Diversity, Segregation and Social Cohesion among Young People and Adults, 2011-2021

The project generated several key findings, in line with the original project themes: 1) The project demonstrates that ethnic diversity alone does not appear to be a key driver of Brexit support, despite much of the public/political narrative in the area. Instead, we demonstrate that it is patterns of segregation which determine when diversity drove Brexit support. Thus, how increasing ethnic diversity of society appears to trigger tensions is in more segregated forms. Where diverse communities are integrated relations actually appear to improve. 2) The project uniquely demonstrates that residential segregation is a significant negative driver of mental health among ethnic minority groups in the UK. Mental health policy in the UK acknowledges that ethnic minorities often suffer worse mental health than their majority group counterparts. This work demonstrates that community characteristics need to be considered in mental health policy; in particular, how patterns of residential segregation are a key determinant of minority group mental health. 3) We demonstrate that, as expected, the ethnic mix of a community is a strong predictor of patterns of interethnic harassment. However, we also demonstrate that, even controlling for this, how residentially segregated an area is a stronger and consistent predictor of greater harassment. This will help societies better identify potential drivers of harassment and areas where focus should be on minimising hate crime. 4) The project demonstrates the key role sites of youth engagement can play in building positive intergroup relations among young people. In particular, their efficacy for overcoming key obstacles to integration such as residential segregation. The project has generated several other impacts related to the project themes of social capital/social cohesion and mental health, as relates to the Covid-19 pandemic: 1) The paper explores the potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on people’s perceptions of cohesion in their local communities; particularly for vulnerable groups/communities, such as ethnic minorities or those living in highly deprived neighbourhoods. To this end, we examine both trends over time in overall levels of cohesion as well as patterns of positive and negative changes experienced by individuals using nationally representative data from Understanding Society Study. We test whether rates of positive-/negative-change in cohesion over the pandemic-period differed across socio-demographic groups and neighbourhood characteristics. These trends are then compared to patterns of positive-/negative-change over time experienced in earlier periods to test whether the pandemic was uniquely harmful. We show that the overall levels of social cohesion are lower in June 2020 compared to all of the examined pre-pandemic periods. The decline of perceived-cohesion is particularly high in the most deprived communities, among certain ethnic minority groups and among the lower-skilled. Our findings suggest that the pandemic put higher strain on social-resources among vulnerable groups and communities, who also experienced more negative changes in other areas of life. 2) The study examines the impact of coronavirus-related restrictions on mental health among American adults, and how this relationship varies as a function of time and two measures of vulnerability (preexisting physical symptoms and job insecurity). We draw on data from two waves of Corona Impact Survey, which were fielded in late April and early of May 2020. Multilevel models were used to analyze the hierarchically nested data. Experiencing coronavirus disease-2019 restrictions significantly raise mental distress. This association is stronger for individuals with preexisting health conditions and those who worry about job prospects. These findings hold with the inclusion of region-wave covariates (number of deaths, wave dummy and aggregate measure of restrictions). Finally, there is a cross-level interaction: the restriction-distress connection is more pronounced in the second wave of data. Our research indicates that people who are more physically and/or financially vulnerable suffer more from the imposed restrictions, i.e. ‘social isolation’. The mental health impact of coronavirus pandemic is not constant but conditional on the level of vulnerability.

Rising ethnic diversity across countries is becoming a highly-charged issue. This is leading to intense academic, policy, and public debate, amid concerns that diversity may pose a threat to social cohesion. Within these debates, residential communities are increasingly seen as key sites across which both fractures may emerge, but also where opportunities for building cohesion exist. In light of this, research showing diverse communities weaken cohesion is worrying. Yet, there is a potentially key omission from this work: the role of residential segregation. While studies largely focus on the size of ethnic groups in an area they rarely explore whether the level of segregation in the area matters; that is, how (un)evenly ethnic groups are spread across it. This project aims to advance our understanding of the role segregation plays for cohesion alongside diversity; in particular, exploring what occurs at the intersection of the two: is it only in 'diverse and segregated' areas (where groups tend to live in separate neighbourhoods) in which cohesion is threatened? Can 'diverse and integrated' areas actually build more cohesion? We posit that how segregated a community is may form a 'missing link', helping to explain when diversity may build or undermine cohesion. This project draws on an interdisciplinary framework (geography, demography, and developmental fields); marshals longitudinal panel/cohort data linked to multiple censuses; applies advanced statistical methods; and measures multiple inter-ethnic, intra-community and wider cohesion outcomes and mechanisms. Through this it will conduct the most complete investigation to date into how both diversity and segregation across communities affects cohesion, among majority and minority young people and adults, contemporaneously and across their lives. This will include: *Performing some of the first robust 'causal' tests of how changes in community diversity and segregation affect cohesion over time, including asking: what happens to residents' cohesion when the levels of diversity and segregation in their communities change around them? Does moving into/out of communities with different levels of diversity and segregation affect peoples' cohesion? *Producing crucial insights into processes of residential selection in the diversity-segregation-cohesion relationship, including: do levels of diversity and segregation affect beliefs and decisions to move into/out of certain communities? How far are such decisions driven by inter-ethnic attitudes? Or, are they driven instead by processes such as life cycle or disadvantage? *Exploring the role of communities in young people's cohesion, asking: does community diversity and segregation affect youth cohesion? What role do familial attitudes, schools environments, and civic activities, play in youth cohesion, and can these domains help understand the pathways through which communities impact young people? And, do the levels of diversity and segregation in the communities we grow up in exert enduring impacts on cohesion over people's lives? *Investigating how diversity and segregation across communities affect both minority and majority groups. For example: do minority-group residents respond in the same way as majority-group residents when they are more or less segregated from one another? How does the size of, and level of segregation from, other ethnic minority groups affect minority residents' cohesion? In particular, what occurs when newly-arrived immigrant-groups increasingly live among more established minority groups? Through partnering with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and building an advisory panel of experts and key youth and community stakeholders, this project will contribute to academic debates while engaging in high-impact knowledge exchange, generating a crucial evidence-base for practical policy solutions to directly feed into the government's developing integration strategy.

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