Young ethnic minorities more positive about UK life

Those born outside the UK also tend to have more positive views about community cohesion than young people born in the UK, the Department for Education report said.

The study found that both ethnicity and country of birth were important influences on community cohesion, the extent to which people from different backgrounds have similar life opportunities, know their rights and responsibilities, trust one another and share a future vision and sense of belonging.

”A young person’s perception of community cohesion is, first and foremost, a product of their individual characteristics and circumstance,” the report’s authors said.

”Young people from minority ethnic backgrounds tend to have more positive views about local and societal cohesion than white young people.”

Young people of Indian ethnicity were 50% less likely than white British or Irish young people to have low cohesion, they said.

But the study also found that Black-Caribbean young people were most likely to report negative perceptions of fairness, belonging and opportunity.

”Young people not born in the UK are also more likely to have positive views about cohesion than young people born in the UK, despite the fact that this group are likely to be poorer and may not be British citizens,” the study found.

It also found that the level of national and international migration into an area was “not a significant predictor of community cohesion among young people”, nor was the ethnic mix of an area.

But disadvantage “consistently undermines cohesion”, it said.

It concluded: “The findings suggest that tackling deprivation and disadvantage is likely to have the most profound effect on levels of community cohesion among young people.

”Particular groups of young people appear more prone to experience low levels of cohesion.

”In response, efforts aimed at promoting cohesion might be targeted at these groups (or the areas where concentrations of these groups are apparent).”