Perceived discrimination and social exclusion in elderly immigrant and visible minorities in Canada

Daniel Wing Leung Lai*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference paperpeer-review

Abstract

This study examined the effects of perceived racial and ethnic discrimination of social exclusion in elderly immigrants and visible minorities. Secondary data analysis was used, based on the data from participants who were 65 years and older in the 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey. Ordinal and binominal logistic regression were performed, using the weighted data. Racial or ethnic discrimination was measured by the question “do you feel that you have experienced discrimination or been treated unfairly by others in Canada because of your ethnicity, race, skin color, language, accent, or religion?” Social exclusion was represented by participation in voting and social groups, sense of trust, sense of belonging, feeling out of place, and worrying being the victim of a hate crime. The findings indicated that elderly immigrants and visible minorities reported having higher rates of discrimination when compared with Canadian born or Caucasian elderly people. Having experienced discrimination correlated significantly with lower levels of trust toward people in many settings, higher levels of feeling out of place, and higher levels of worry about hate crimes for most of above elderly subgroups. The findings call for policies and programs that support immigrant and visible minority elderly, in order to deal with discrimination and related challenges.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 23 Oct 2009
Event38th Annual Scientific and Educational Meetings of the Canadian Association on Gerontology - The Fairmont Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Canada
Duration: 22 Oct 200924 Oct 2009
https://cagacg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CAG_2009_Conference_Program_English.pdf (Conference program)

Conference

Conference38th Annual Scientific and Educational Meetings of the Canadian Association on Gerontology
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityWinnipeg
Period22/10/0924/10/09
Internet address

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