Ethnic Inequality between Arabs and Jews in Israel in Global Life Satisfaction: A Social Determinants Examination Among Young Adults

Background and Purpose: Inequality in global life satisfaction (GLS) across minority versus majority groups is a public health concern. Yet research evidence on the minority–majority gap in GLS and the factors that generate this gap among representative samples of young adults is scarce. Drawing on the social determinants approach to health and minority stress theory this study examined: (1) the association of multiple forms of economic (NEET status, subjective socioeconomic status indicators), social-relational (trust, discrimination, loneliness), and environmental (neighborhood) determinants with GLS among young adults from a minority–majority (Israeli Arabs–Israeli Jews) perspective; (2) whether minority–majority disparity in GLS persist when controlling for these determinants, suggesting the effect of ethnicity per se; (3) whether minority–majority disparity in GLS can be explained by differential health returns for the determinants considered across participants from the two groups.

Methods: Data were drawn from the 2019 Israeli Social Survey, conducted by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics. The survey population comprises representative sample of the population of Israe. Inclusion criteria were age (20 -34) and membership in one of the two ethnocultural groups (N= 2,405, Israeli Arabs, 24%; Israeli Jews, 76%).

Factor analyses were performed for economic determinants (4 items, one factor solution yielded: eigenvalue = 1.77, loadings = .72–.74, cumulative explained variance = 57%); and for environmental determinants (7 items, two factor solutions yielded: eigenvalue = 2.79, loadings = .56–.80; eigenvalue = 1.12, loadings = .75–.79, cumulative explained variance = 55%). Bivariate analyses examined the association between social determinants and GLS. Hierarchical binary logistic regression was used to predict GLS.

Results: The rate of Israeli Arabs being satisfied or very satisfied with their lives was far lower than that of Israeli-Jews (78% vs. 94%, χ²₍₁₎ =126.66, p < .001). Hierarchical binary logistic regression indicated that NEET status (OR = .64), economic stressors (OR = .79), experiences of discrimination (OR = .84) and loneliness (OR =. 42) were associated with decreased GLS. Social trust (OR =2.46), improved neighborhood physical attributes and safety increased GLS (OR = 1.18). Controlling for these social determinants, Israeli Arabs were at far higher risk for poor GLS compared to Jews (OR = .40). Social-relational and environmental factors uniformly affect GLS across minority and majority participants. Economic stressors were less influential among the Arab minority, suggesting lower health returns for economic resources among young Arab adults.

Conclusions and Implications: Young adults’ GLS is shaped by their multifaceted positions within demographic, economic, social, and environmental stratification systems, with those at the bottom of the ladder across the various domains demonstrating poor GLS. While social determinants from these domains drive inequality in GLS, they do not eliminate the adverse effect of ethnicity, suggesting that ethnicity per se affects GLS. Disparities in GLS can be narrowed only by addressing multiple forms of disadvantage. Inequality in GLS is, to a great extent, the result of broader forms of inequality that exist in society and thus should be the focus of governments and policymakers in various fields.