Written evidence submitted by the
Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex
1. Introduction
1.1 Over the last twenty years, there was no empirical evidence on the prevalence and consequences of ethnic and racial harassment among UK’s ethnic minorities. The recent rise in hate crimes since the Brexit referendum results has highlighted the urgency of understanding these issues. Researchers at the University of Essex were recently awarded a grant, by the ESRC under its Secondary Data Analysis Initiative scheme to research these issues: “The prevalence and persistence of ethnic and racial harassment and its impact on health: a longitudinal analysis”. We would like to submit evidence gathered during this ongoing project to shed light on (1) the prevalence of ethnic and racial harassment among ethnic minorities living in England over the period 2009-2014 and (2) the association of such experiences with mental health or mental distress and whether there are individual or community level resources that may ethnic minorities buffer against this.
1.2 Summary
2. Prevalence of ethnic and racial harassment
2.1 Nandi and Luthra (2016) [1] investigate prevalence rates of ethnic and racial harassment among ethnic minorities. An individual is identified as having experienced ethnic and racial harassment if that person reports being insulted, called names, threatened or shouted at or physically attacked in a public place such as streets, shops and public transport at least once in the past 12 months and they report that the reason was their ethnicity, religion or nationality. Over the period 2009-2014, around one in ten ethnic minorities living in England reported experiencing ethnic or racial harassment (ERH, hereafter). Prevalence rates are higher, at around 15%, for Chinese men and women, Pakistani men, Indian-Sikh men, Indian-Muslim men and Bangladeshi women. Men are more likely than women to report experiencing ERH with the exception of Bangladeshi and black Caribbean women. Taking into account area level deprivation and individual socio-economic factors, ethnic minorities living in areas with a higher proportion of people of their own ethnic group are less likely to report experiencing ERH than those living in other areas.
Table 1: Prevalence of ethnic and racial harassment | ||
| Men | Women |
Indian, Hindu and rest | 7.5% | 4.4% |
Indian, Muslim | 10.8% | 5.5% |
Indian, Sikh | 13.5% | 5.7% |
Pakistani | 11.4% | 6.7% |
Bangladeshi | 8.8% | 10.0% |
Chinese | 16.0% | 12.0% |
black Caribbean | 6.9% | 9.2% |
black African, Christian and rest | 9.8% | 7.3% |
black African, Muslim | 10.9% | 3.1% |
Mixed | 9.9% | 7.0% |
Data: Understanding Society, 2009-10; Sample: Ethnic minority residents of England" "Weighted estimates" | ||
Definition: Was physically or verbally attacked in the last 12 months in public transport, shops, street, other places and the reason was Ethnicity, Nationality, Religion | ||
2.2 This research also finds that almost twice the number of people who report experiencing ERH, report anticipating or being in fear of ERH. Individuals are identified as anticipating or being in fear of ERH if they report avoiding public places or find public places unsafe in the past 12 months because of their ethnicity, religion or nationality. Almost twice the number of people in most ethnic groups report anticipating or being in fear of ERH than experiencing ERH, with the exception of black African and black Caribbean groups. Women are less likely than men to report ERH but more likely than men to report anticipating or being in fear of ERH.
Table 2: Prevalence of anticipated or fear of ethnic and racial harassment | ||
| Men | Women |
Indian, Hindu and rest | 16.2% | 18.3% |
Indian, Muslim | 14.0% | 19.9% |
Indian, Sikh | 14.1% | 15.7% |
Pakistani | 14.1% | 14.2% |
Bangladeshi | 11.1% | 17.9% |
Chinese | 18.2% | 16.3% |
black Caribbean | 7.2% | 8.8% |
black African, Christian and rest | 8.8% | 11.4% |
black African, Muslim | 12.6% | 7.7% |
Mixed | 6.2% | 11.3% |
Data: Understanding Society, 2009-10; Sample: Ethnic minority residents of England" "Weighted estimates" | ||
Definition: Avoided or felt unsafe in the last 12 months in public transport, shops, street, other places and the reason was Ethnicity, Nationality or Religion | ||
3. Ethnic and racial harassment and mental health
3.1 Are there any consequences of ethnic and racial harassment on the health and wellbeing of ethnic minorities? Nandi, Luthra and Benzeval (2016) [2] examined the association of ethnic and racial harassment on mental health or mental distress among ethnic minorities living in England over the period 2009-2014. Mental health or mental distress is measured by the total score on a battery of 12 questions (General Household Questionnaire) which ranges from 0-36, higher score signifying worse mental health. A strong and robust association was found between experiencing ERH and worse mental health. Specifically, those who experience ERH report a GHQ score that is 2 points higher than those who have not experienced ERH. In comparison, those who are unemployed report a GHQ score that is 1.7 points higher than those who are employed and ethnic minorities whose household income is lower by 8% have a GHQ score that is 2.4 points higher.
3.2 Even anticipating or being in fear of ERH is also associated with mental health. Compared to those who neither experienced nor anticipated ERH, those who only anticipated ERH reported GHQ scores that were on average 1.1 points higher, those who experienced but did not anticipate reported GHQ scores that were 1.5 points higher and those who both experienced and anticipated ERH reported GHQ scores that were 2.9 points higher.
4. Sources of Resilience
4.1 Are there individual or community level resources that protect individuals against these mental health consequences of ERH? Nandi, Luthra and Benzeval (2016) examined a large number of such potentially protective or resilience factors. Community level resilience factors examined were (i) ethnic support networks measured by proportion of co-ethnics living in the neighbourhood, proportion of friends (not necessarily close friends) who are of the same ethnic group, number of close friends who are of the same ethnic group, (ii) religiosity or frequency of attending religious services, (iii) total number of close friends. Individual level resilience factors examined were (i) acculturation and (ii) personality traits.
4.2 While having more close friends, having more friends of the same ethnic group, living in areas with higher proportion of co-ethnics, attending religious services more frequently, having strong ethnic identity, having higher levels of Conscientiousness, Agreebleness and Emotional Stability were associated with better mental health very few of these factors were protective against the consequences of ERH. The only factors that were found to be protective are having close friends and two personality traits – Conscientiousness and Openness to Experience.
4.3 Rather than serving as a source of resilience, some of these potentially protective factors were found to be harmful for ethnic minorities experiencing ERH. Firstly, among UK born ethnic minorities experiencing ERH those who live in areas with a higher proportion of co-ethnic residence report worse mental health than those who live in areas with lower proportion of co-ethnics. Secondly, among ethnic minorities experiencing ERH, those who report attending religious services more often report worse mental health than those who attend religious services less frequently.
References
[1] Nandi, A., Luthra, R. (2016) “Who experiences ethnic and racial harassment?” Available at https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/projects/health-and-harassment
[2] Nandi, A., Luthra, R., Benzeval, M. (2016) Ethnic and racial harassment and mental health: Identifying sources of resilience, ISER working paper series no. 2016-14. Available at https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/iser/2016-14