MiSoC’s Nandi and Luthra have uncovered new patterns in vulnerability to ethnic and racial harassment, demonstrating that advantaged ethnic minorities (that is, men, highly educated, participating in leisure activities) are more likely to experience this. They further demonstrate evidence of an integration paradox in reports of ethnic and racial harassment: ethnic minorities with more white British neighbours, that is, living in less segregated neighbourhoods are more likely to experience ethnic and racial harassment. Nandi, Luthra and Benzeval also estimate a high mental health cost of ethnic and racial harassment, higher than that experienced by the unemployed. They find a generational story in these experiences and consequences. Specifically, they find UK-born ethnic minorities report worse mental health and exhibit worse health behaviours than their foreign-born counterparts. Nandi, Luthra and Benzeval examine a host of factors to identify resilience factors, that is, factors that reduce the mental health cost of ethnic and racial harassment: for UK-born it is the strength of their ethnic identity and the proportion of co-ethnic friends while for foreign-born ethnic minorities it is the number of close or best friends and proportion of co-ethnic neighbours.
