Does Active Civic Participation Lead to Better Mental Health of Visible Minorities in Canada? The Role of Perceived Discrimination

As Canada is welcoming newcomers into the country, reintegration for people across various ethno-cultural backgrounds is critical to their success, and to the prosperity of the society. Social capital has long been considered as one of the important predictors to individuals’ well-being, including their mental health, especially for the visible minorities. Civic participation, as a way to increase one’s social capital, is thought to be beneficial to the well-being of the visible minorities across various cultures. However, the underlying dynamics of this relationship awaits careful exploration. It is hypothesized that perceived discrimination may play a significant role in this relationship. This on-going research project consists of two studies, and the findings of Study 1 were reported here. Study 1 used data from Statistics Canada’s 2013 General Social Survey (GSS), a nationally representative household study that included 3,743 visible minorities in Canada at the age of 15 years and older. The findings indicated that both the perceived discrimination because of 1) ethnicity/culture and 2) race/skin color damaged the beneficial effect of civic engagement on mental health of the ethnic minorities. The results from Study 1 provide a theoretical ground for the next step of the project, which includes a qualitative study (Study 2) to focus on understanding the underlying process for visible minorities in Canada. Through the in-depth interviews, the nature of perceived discrimination confronted by the visible minorities and its role in the relationship between civic participation and their well-being will be further examined qualitatively.