Comparing Life Satisfaction of Immigrants and Natives Across Europe: The Role of Social Contacts

Abstract

Research on immigrants’ assimilation is widespread both in the U.S. and Europe. While it has been extensively studied how immigrants fare compared to natives on socio-economic indicators, few studies have focussed on immigrants’ perception of their position. In this paper we focus on comparing life satisfaction of immigrants and natives across Europe and on the role of social embeddedness. Using data from the first six rounds (2002–2012) of the European Social Survey, a repeated cross-sectional survey, we find that life satisfaction among immigrants is lower than among natives even though differences diminish over generations. For first generation immigrants part of the life satisfaction gap is explained by the lower level of social embeddedness they have compared to natives. We also find that social embeddedness is a key explanatory factor for life satisfaction for both immigrants and natives. For two out of the three indicators of social embeddedness that we consider we however find different patterns of association with life satisfaction for immigrants compared to natives.

Immigration and Multiculturalism in Context: A Framework for Psychological Research

“…Moreover, majority Whites in the United States, but not the United Kingdom, perceive normative multicultural ideology to be stronger than do minorities (Ward, Stuart, & Watters, ). With respect to social and psychological outcomes, national surveys have shown that there are often asymmetries in intergroup perceptions with majorities tending to be viewed more positively by minorities than the reverse (Sibley & Ward, ), and life satisfaction has been found to be lower in immigrants than in native‐borns (Arpino & de Valk, ).…”

Childcare arrangements and working mothers’ satisfaction with work‒family balance

“…The two extreme solutions are associated with statistically indistinguishable levels of satisfaction. Although the magnitude of the association between the unpaid childcare ratio and satisfaction with work-family balance at first sight does not seem to be strong, comparing the satisfaction levels at the pick and at the extremes gives a difference of about 0.2 points, which corresponds to the typical magnitude of important effects found in other studies on the same or similar outcomes (e.g., Arpino and de Valk 2018;Matysiak, Mencarini, and Vignoli 2016). Notes: * p = .05; ** p = .01; ***; p = .001.…”

Moving to a Continuing Care Retirement Community or Staying in the Community? A Comparison Between American and Israeli Older Adults

“…Thus, the environmental context of Israel, as a society between traditional values of family relations and support and modern values of individualization and separation (Clarfield et al, 2018), provides a context for this finding. It seems that Israeli older adults are seeking social contacts and social activities that reflect the value of collectivism (Arpino & de Valk, 2018). Indeed, it was found that many Israeli residents and their adult children were quite enthusiastic about the opportunity for residents to reengage in social relations and activities, arguing that the CCRC fulfills their expectations for social interaction (Ayalon & Green, 2013).…”