Affiliation:
1. Department of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science , Houghton Street , London, WC2A 2AE, UK
Abstract
Abstract
Research suggests that migrants’ well-being varies with their lived environment. This variation’s potential but under-researched driver is non-migrants’ attitude towards immigrants (ATI). Using pooled European Social Survey data (2010–18) for twenty-two destination countries, I address the question, ‘Are more positive ATI in regions where migrants live associated with their higher life satisfaction?’. To answer it, I estimate models of life satisfaction regressed on a summed index of six measures of ATI aggregated to the regional level and control for individual-level predictors and country, year, and origin fixed effects. I find a significant association between more negative regional ATI and lower migrant well-being. Its strength is comparable with the most important known individual-level predictors of well-being (e.g., education). My descriptive results further show that the length of stay at the destination moderates the strength of association (only those more recently arrived are affected). Despite well-attested links between feelings of discrimination and well-being, I show that those who express greater discrimination are not more sensitive to ATI. This suggests that each measure speaks to a separate mechanism for experiencing discrimination. Showing that ATI is strongly related to migrants’ well-being implies that the lived environment should be at the forefront of the migration outcomes research.
Funder
Economic and Social Research Council
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Geography, Planning and Development,Demography