Social Science Research 91 (2020) 102462

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Social Science Research

journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ssresearch

Income as a resilience factor for the impact of discrimination and

institutional unfairness on minorities’ emotional well-being
Rafael Youngmann a, *, Nonna Kushnirovich b
a
MA Program in Clinical Psychology & Department of Behavioral Sciences, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, 40250, Israel
b
Department of Economics and Management, Institute for Immigration and Social Integration, Ruppin Academic Center, Emek Hefer, 40250, Israel

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study investigated the impact of personal vs. institutional discrimination on the emotional
Immigrants well-being (EWB) of immigrant and ethnic minorities, and a possible protective mechanism of
Ethnic minority economic achievements that may buffer the negative effects of discrimination. Data were
Discrimination
collected from the Israeli 2015 Social Survey. Immigrant minorities were those who came to Israel
Income
Resilience
after 1980. Israeli Palestinians were regarded as an ethnic minority. The study showed that
perceived unfairness and discrimination in public institutions, which were not necessarily
directed towards individuals or their minority group, threatens EWB of minorities to an extent
similar to that of personally experienced discrimination. Income moderated the effects of com­
mon and personal discrimination on EWB of immigrant and ethnic minorities, but not in the same
way across the various groups. The study provides evidence that income may be a resilience
factor, which buffers and compensates for the negative effect of discrimination on minorities’
EWB.

1. Introduction

Determinants of happiness and emotional well-being (EWB) of immigrants and ethnic minorities have become one of the most
vigorously studied subjects in the literature in recent years (e.g. Bartram, 2011; Kushnirovich and Sherman, 2018; Molix and Bet­
tencourt, 2010; Schmitt et al., 2014; Senik, 2011). A vast range of studies investigating differences in EWB between ethnic and
immigrant minorities and majority populations found that minorities in countries with high general levels of well-being often have
lower EWB than natives, and sought explanations for these variances (Bartram, 2011; Sachs et al., 2018; Senik, 2011; Verkuyten,
2008). Economists attribute low EWB of minorities mostly to their poor economic resources (Bartram, 2011; de Vroome and Hooghe,
2014). Social scientists stress the importance of social support received from family and co-ethnic social ties (social bonding),
developing social ties with the majority population (bridging), and developing interactions with social and state institutions (linking)
(Beiser, 2014; Derose, 2008; Kim et al., 2006). Psychologists, on the other hand, explain the differences in EWB using subjective
factors, such as negative emotions related to hurdles met by minorities (Simpson, 2012), devaluation (Molix and Bettencourt, 2010),
and discrimination (Jasinskaja-Lahti et al., 2006).
Though discrimination towards minorities is widely discussed in the literature, most studies focused on either personal discrim­
ination (Neblett et al., 2008; Shankar and Hinds, 2017), or on group-based discrimination, system unfairness and injustice towards the
group to which a person belongs (Schmitt et al., 2014; Shin et al., 2011; Staggers-Hakim, 2016), but did not consider the burden of

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: rafiyoung@ruppin.ac.il (R. Youngmann), nonna@ruppin.ac.il (N. Kushnirovich).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2020.102462
Received 29 March 2020; Received in revised form 11 May 2020; Accepted 7 August 2020
Available online 22 August 2020
0049-089X/© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
R. Youngmann and N. Kushnirovich Social Science Research 91 (2020) 102462

personal discrimination versus perceptions of general unfairness and discrimination on minorities’ EWB.
Numerous studies, considering how personal and contextual factors might influence the extent to which perceptions of discrimi­
nation are harmful, found a number of moderators of the effects of perceived discrimination on EWB: group identification, social
support, and coping strategies (Pascoe and Richman, 2009; Schmitt et al., 2014). However, studies on income as a moderator or
resilience factor for the relationship between discrimination and EWB are scant. The link between discrimination and economic
achievements of minorities has not been thoroughly investigated to date. Economic and social inclusion testifies to a decline of blatant
prejudice, but still may acknowledge the existence of subtle prejudice and discrimination. Little is known about pecuniary factors that
may buffer the negative impact of discrimination on EWB of minorities. Most studies on resilience factors of EWB focus on social
networks, family support (Beiser, 2014), social integration and socialization (Neblett et al., 2008), and psychological features (Molix
and Bettencourt, 2010), but do not focus on income as a resilience factor for discrimination against minorities. This study sought to fill
this gap by investigating how self-reported personal discrimination and perceptions of general discrimination in public institutions
relate to one another and to minorities’ EWB, and whether income can buffer negative effects of discrimination.
The study contributes to the current knowledge by explaining how various dimensions of reported personal discrimination and
perceptions of general unfairness and discrimination in public institutions (which is not necessarily directed against the person’s own
group), are associated with EWB, focusing on the moderating role of income. We focused on perceptions of discrimination in public
institutions such as the health system, education, police, and courts, and the EWB effect of these perceptions, which is still poorly
understood (Beiser, 2014). An additional contribution to the literature is the revealed compensation mechanism, in which economic
resources in terms of income moderate the negative impacts of discrimination across minority groups.
Israeli society provides an appropriate setting for such a study since it is deeply stratified in national, ethnic, and religious domains
(Al-Haj, 2004), and has distinct ethnic and immigrant minorities, some of which suffer from social exclusion (Dagan-Buzaglo, 2008;
Schnell and Sofer, 2002) and discrimination (Kushnirovich and Sherman, 2018; Lissitsa &Chachashvili-Bolotin, 2020; Mizrachi and
Herzog, 2012). The Jewish majority in Israel controls most material and political resources, and determines the national character of
the country (Maoz, 2011). Israeli Palestinians, an ethnic minority, comprise about 20.5 percent of the total Israeli population. Israeli
Palestinians and the Jewish majority differ in ethnicity, religion, culture, and language. Formally included as citizens, they are socially
excluded in terms of residence, labor market participation, housing and political representation (Heilbrunn and Kushnirovich, 2015).
Discriminatory state policies toward this group led to their socio-spatial segregation (Schnell and Sofer, 2002).
Immigration to Israel is ethnically biased. According to Israel’s Law of Return, only Jews or members of their families can
immigrate to Israel, and obtain Israeli citizenship upon arrival. Although the religious and ethnic background of immigrants in Israel is
similar to that of the native majority, immigrants are divided into sub-ethnic groups by their culture of origin. Foreign-born persons
(immigrant minorities) comprise about 21 percent of the total Israeli population. Since 1990, about 1.241 million immigrants have
arrived in Israel. Eighty percent of all immigrants came from the countries of the Former Soviet Union (hereafter FSU), eight percent
came from Europe and the Americas (mostly from the USA, France, United Kingdom and Argentina), and six percent from Africa
(mostly from Ethiopia). Division of immigrants according to regions of their origin is accepted in Israeli statistics and based on their
cultural background (Kushnirovich and Youngmann, 2017). Western immigrants from Europe and America, called Ashkenazim,
arrived mostly from Christian countries, and are characterized by high levels of education and high incomes (Semyonov et al., 2015).
Although most FSU immigrants came from European states of the Former Soviet Union, they are usually considered a separate group
because of their cultural particularities and communist Soviet past in their countries of origin (Lissitsa, 2016). Despite being highly
skilled, they are disadvantaged in terms of income compared to native Israelis with the same education (Khattab and Lazarus, 2016;
Kushnirovich, 2018). This may be explained by subtle discrimination based on “soft” cultural differences (Remennick, 2013).
Immigrants from Ethiopia are a visible black minority, and therefore might experience more discrimination than other immigrant
groups (Mizrachi and Herzog, 2012; Youngmann et al., 1999). They are one of the poorest, relatively low-educated, and most
segregated communities in Israel, living primarily in disadvantaged neighborhoods (Dagan-Buzaglo, 2008; Heilbrunn and Kushnir­
ovich, 2015; Offer, 2007). An investigation of barriers met by immigrants from Ethiopia and the FSU in the Israeli labor market found
that discrimination was the main barrier reported by the Ethiopian immigrants. Understanding resilience factors for ethnic minorities
in a highly segregated and divided society, such as Israeli society, may be an essential step in the moderation of inter-group conflicts,
and improvement of EWB among minorities.

2. Theoretical background

2.1. Discrimination as a stressor of minorities’ EWB

In this study, well-being is defined as emotional well-being (EWB), namely, the emotional quality of an individual’s everyday
experience; the frequency and intensity of experiences of joy, stress, sadness, anger, and affection that make one’s life pleasant or
unpleasant (Kahneman and Deaton, 2010). Well-being is described in a variety of ways, when most studies focus on mental health
symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and other forms of psychological distress (Pascoe and Richman, 2009; Schmitt et al., 2014).
People’s emotional responses expressing pleasant and unpleasant affects are important domains of subjective well-being as Diener
et al. (1999) claimed. They considered emotions such as worries and anxiety, stress, and depression to be a part of the well-being
construct.
It is well documented that the EWB of immigrant and ethnic minorities is vulnerable, or even poor, because of various pre- and post-
migration stressors that affect the mental state of individuals in minority populations. The possible stressors mentioned in the literature
are acculturation stress (Berry, 2017), social adjustment difficulties (Beiser, 2014; Derose, 2008; Kim et al., 2006), poor economic

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resources (Bartram, 2011; de Vroome and Hooghe, 2014), low proficiency in the language spoken by the majority population (Beiser
and Hou, 2016; Pascoe and Richman, 2009), oppression, discrimination, and prejudice (Hayes et al., 2015; Mizrachi and Herzog,
2012).
According to the model of migration contingencies developed by Beiser (2014), adapted from a stress process theory (Beiser, 1999),
contingencies include pre-migration and post-migration stressors, and personal and social resources. Pre-migration and post-migration
stressors jeopardize EWB; however, personal resources and social resources, such as family and ethnic community support and lan­
guage fluency, have beneficial effects on mental health. Thus, personal and social resources may be resilience factors, which buffer the
negative effects of pre-migration and post-migration stressors on mental health and EWB of immigrants. Discrimination is an important
stressor that can be harmful to mental health and well-being outcomes (Pascoe and Richman, 2009; Williams and Mohammed, 2009).
In our study, discrimination is regarded as a further post-migration stressor of ethnic and immigrant minorities.
Discrimination may be conceptualized in various ways. It is usually described in the framework of the societal stigma theories
focusing on personal discrimination experiences based on personal characteristics such as gender, race, age, or sexual orientation
(Banks, Kohn-Wood and Spencer, 2006; Major et al., 2002; Neblett et al., 2008; Pascoe and Richman, 2009; Shankar and Hinds, 2017).
Since recognizing real cases of experienced discrimination is problematic, scholars usually consider self-reported experienced personal
discrimination (Fan, 2019); namely, discrimination attributions for a specific negative event (for review see Schmitt et al., 2014).
Personal experienced discrimination based on ethnicity may be conceptualized as a perception and interpretation of individual
stressful experiences such as discrimination due to belonging to a certain ethnic/immigrant minority.
Other studies discussed perceptions of general (so-called pervasive) discrimination, system unfairness and injustice (Shin et al.,
2011; Staggers-Hakim, 2016); pervasiveness reflects how frequent and widespread the discrimination is (Schmitt et al., 2014). Unfair
treatment of different population groups may be manifested on institutional levels (Jackson et al., 1998) via the health system, ed­
ucation system, police and courts (Pascoe and Richman, 2009). Perceptions of institutional unfairness and discrimination may be
measured through evaluation of unfair treatment in public institutions (Fan, 2019). In our study, we distinguish between self-reported
personal experienced discrimination based on ethnicity/origin, and generalized perceived institutional unfairness and discrimination,
which is not necessary directed against the in-group.
Both dimensions of discrimination – perceptions of experienced ethnic discrimination and perceptions of institutional unfairness
and discrimination – are interrelated. The individual’s perception of being discriminated against negatively influences perceptions of
fairness in public institutions and generalized trust (Dinesen and Hooghe, 2010; Fan, 2019; Rothstein and Stolle, 2008). Likewise,
those who minimize the extent to which they personally are the target of discrimination, are better able to maintain a belief that the
system, overall, is fair and legitimate. In Bandura’s Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1971), it might demonstrate generalization when
life experiences and observations shape the individuals’ generalized perceptions of unfairness and discrimination in society and its
public institutions. Those who interpreted their personal experience as discriminating because of their origin/ethnicity, generalized
these experiences/perceptions, or associated discrimination through modeling and vicarious reinforcement (Bandura, 1971). On the
other hand, perceptions of general unfairness and discrimination may be internalized when one perceives oneself as a target of
discrimination due to belonging to the discriminated group, what Goffman called ‘spoiled identity’ (Goffman, 1963) – spoiled by the
others’ views. Dalbert and Filke (2007) found that persons with just world beliefs were less likely to believe that they personally
experienced discrimination and, consequently, coped better with stress and had better EWB. Accordingly, we hypothesized that:
H1. Self-reported personal experienced discrimination will be positively associated with the perceptions of institutional unfairness
and discrimination.
Many studies on minorities indicate that perceptions of personal experienced discrimination are negatively associated with
emotional outcomes (Fleming and Ledogar, 2008; Lasalvia et al., 2013; Mossakowski et al., 2017). Other studies showed that
generalized perceptions of pervasive discrimination are also related to negative implications for the well-being of ethnic minorities
(Bobowik, Martinovic, Basabe, Barsties and Wachter, 2017; Suppes et al., 2019). Perceptions of general unfairness and discrimination
are associated with reduced EWB (Major et al., 2002; Pascoe and Richman, 2009; Schmitt et al., 2014). Williams and Mohammed
(2009), in their review of researches on discrimination’s consequences, stressed that most scholars reported a positive association
between both personal experienced discrimination and (not personally experienced) macro-level discrimination, and psychological
distress, anxiety, depressive symptoms, nervousness. Thus, either personal experienced discrimination against ethnic minorities or
generalized perceptions of institutional unfairness and discrimination are associated with adverse EWB (Pascoe and Richman, 2009;
Schmitt et al., 2014). Moreover, Schmitt et al. (2014) found evidence of a causal effect of perceived discrimination on well-being.
Consequently, we expected that:
H21. Self-reported personal experienced discrimination will be negatively associated with EWB.
H22. Perceptions of institutional unfairness and discrimination will be negatively associated with EWB.
It seems reasonable to assume that events that happened to the individual and were interpreted by him/her as discrimination have a
greater impact on EWB than generalized perceptions of unfairness and discrimination. It has been argued that perceptions of pervasive
discrimination suppress the negative consequence of perceived personal experience of discrimination, because group discrimination
conveys that one is not alone in one’s rejection and exclusion, and thus contributes to successful coping (Bourguignon et al., 2006).
However, Kessler et al. (1999) found that, in the United States, the effect of generalized discrimination on distress was higher than the
effect of discrimination based on stressful events in the person’s life. Similar findings were revealed by Fingerhut et al. (2010) for LGBT
individuals; they found that the perception of the group’s societal stigma was more strongly related to subjective wellbeing than

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personally experienced discrimination. In their meta-analytic review, Schmitt et al. (2014) found that the negative effect of
discrimination on well-being was more pronounced in studies that manipulated general perceptions of discrimination than when
discrimination was attributed to a specific negative event. They supported the idea that the pervasiveness of perceived discrimination
is fundamental to its harmful effects on psychological well-being.
The reason may be that discrimination implies not only the occurrence of a personal experience, but also attributes a reason to that
experience. The event of personally experienced discrimination may be interpreted as just occasional, with low chance of happening
again; but a perceived high level of discrimination in society facilitates negative expectations of future personal discriminatory events.
Thus, perceived high levels of unfairness and discrimination in public institutions can play an important role in construing personal
negative expectations and being depressed/worried because of the fear to be discriminated against in the future. Consequently, we
expect that:
H3. The effect of unfairness and discrimination perceptions in public institutions on EWB will be higher than the effect of the
perceptions personally experienced discrimination.

2.2. Income as a resilience factor

Resilience can be defined as relative resistance to psychosocial risk experiences (Rutter, 2000), which is created when protective
factors initiate several processes in the individual: building a positive self-image, reducing the effect of risk factors, and breaking a
negative cycle (Rutter, 1990). Most modern studies on resilience and protective factors were conducted by psychologists and psy­
chiatrists, which might explain why economic factors are usually under-investigated. However, the psychological effects of
displacement cannot be understood only as a result of stressors; they are closely connected to economic, social and cultural conditions
(Porter and Haslam, 2005).
The relationship between income and EWB has been widely investigated. Many scholars found that immigrants’ economic out­
comes, and particularly income, are positively associated with EWB (Bartram, 2011; Clark et al., 2008; Knight and Gunatilaka, 2010),
as income tends to be the focus in most evaluations of human well-being (Deaton, 2008). Indeed, people who are exposed to adverse
conditions such as poverty, dense and unsafe urban environments, tend to suffer from poorer EWB (Gelkopf, 2018; van Os et al., 2010).
Within the self-determination theory, the pursuit of a good economic situation and status are important extrinsic values of well-being
(Vansteenkiste et al., 2007).
Despite Easterlin’s (1995) famous paradox that average national happiness does not increase over long spans of time, at a certain
point in time, persons with more income are happier and experience greater EWB than those with less (Easterlin, 2001; Layard, 2005).
In line with this paradox, the World Happiness Report (Sachs et al., 2018) found that although immigrants have no happiness gain from
moving to a higher income country, income still significantly predicts the levels of happiness across the countries, wherein the
happiness of immigrants strongly depends on the happiness of the locals, and only partly on the happiness in their countries of origin,
and on the levels of immigrant acceptance (the reverse of discrimination) in the host country. Thus, income should be positively
associated with immigrants’ EWB. Bartram’s (2011) study showed that the correlation between pecuniary resources and well-being in
the US was even stronger for immigrants than for natives, which may support the assumption that “money buys happiness”. Income
may also provide immigrants with feelings of stability, and stability is the critical element when confronting stress (Beiser, 2014).
According to Kessler et al. (1999), income is significantly and inversely related to day-to-day discrimination, but not related to
major lifetime common discrimination, which was more commonly reported among highly educated persons. They also found that the
associations of low income with emotional outcomes were partly explained by differential exposure to discrimination. Hobfoll (1989,
2001), in his conservation of resources theory, explained how money moderates the discrimination-wellbeing association. In his
model, discrimination is considered a loss of resources, especially among immigrants and ethnic minorities (whose resources are
depleted and who are most vulnerable to additional losses). Income is considered a resource that compensates for loss, a “resource
replacement".

Fig. 1. Conceptual model of the study.

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R. Youngmann and N. Kushnirovich Social Science Research 91 (2020) 102462

In the literature, the three main types of resilience models are “compensatory,” “challenge”, and “protective” models (Fergus and
Zimmerman, 2005). According to the compensatory model, resilience factors and risk factors act in opposite direction. In the challenge
model, the relationship between a stressor and an outcome is non-linear; exposure to either low or high levels of a stressor is associated
with more negative outcomes, and moderate levels of a stressor are associated with less negative outcomes. According to a protective
model, assets or resources moderate the negative effect of a stressor on an outcome (Fergus and Zimmerman, 2005). Protective factors
may weaken the negative effect of the stressor (protective-stabilizing model), completely neutralize it (protective-reactive model), or
enhance the positive effect of another promotive factor on the outcome (Luthar et al., 2000). In this study, income is regarded as a
protective resilience factor. Consequently, we expect that:
H41. Income will moderate the association between perceptions of personal experienced discrimination and EWB: for high-income
persons, the effect of such discrimination and EWB will be lower than for low-income persons.
H42. Income will moderate the association between perceptions of institutional fairness and discrimination and EWB: for high-
income persons, the effect of institutional discrimination and EWB will be lower than for low-income persons.
A conceptual model of our study is presented in Fig. 1. Based on the literature review, the crucial factors that may predict EWB of
immigrant and ethnic minorities are their perceptions of personal experienced discrimination and perceptions of institutional fairness
and discrimination, which are positively related to one another. Income may be a protective resilience factor, which moderates the
effects of personal and institutional discrimination on EWB. Additional traditionally considered determinants of EWB of minorities are
their personal characteristics such as gender, age, and education (Bartram, 2011; Knight and Gunatilaka, 2010; Kushnirovich and
Youngmann, 2017). These characteristics may predict not only EWB, but also the chances of being exposed to stressful situations of
discrimination and the individual’s perceptions of general fairness and discrimination (Verkuyten, 2008). Therefore, the model
controlled for age, gender, and education, which predicted both EWB and perceptions of personal and institutional unfairness and
discrimination.
In this study, immigrants comprised the immigrant minority group and Israeli Palestinians (Israeli citizens) comprised the ethnic
minority group. Minorities’ EWB, levels of discrimination and economic outcomes vary between immigrants from different countries
of origin settling in the same host country (Jasinskaja-Lahti et al., 2006; Simpson, 2012). Perceptions of discrimination may have a
different effect on EWB for members of more and less disadvantaged groups (Schmitt et al., 2014). Therefore, we divided immigrants
into a few sub-ethnic groups according to country of origin.

3. Method

3.1. Data

This study is based on the data of the annual nationally representative 2015 Social Survey, administered by the Israeli Central
Bureau of Statistics (CBS). The survey sample is representative of the Israeli population aged 20 and older. Immigrants were included in
the survey population if they had lived in Israel for at least six months. Temporary migrant workers, asylum seekers and other non-
permanent residents were not included. Data were collected via a postal survey questionnaire, and online and telephone in­
terviews. The original survey questionnaire was published in Hebrew and translated into Russian, English and Arabic. The response
rate was 73.7 percent.
Immigrants who came to Israel after 1980 are regarded as an immigrant minority, and Israeli Palestinians as an ethnic minority.
The study sample included 1261 Israeli Palestinians and 2011 immigrants who immigrated since 1980, of them 1127 FSU immigrants,
530 immigrants from Europe & America, and 354 immigrants from Africa. Israeli legislation obliges people to cooperate in responding
to the official CBS surveys; all information provided is kept confidential.
Table 1 provides a breakdown of the descriptive statistics for the study participants. The gender distribution of immigrants was
similar across the groups. However, there were differences in age and education levels. Israeli Palestinians were younger than
immigrant groups, immigrants from Europe & America and FSU had the highest levels of education, and immigrants from Africa were
the least educated. It is important to note that the survey population is a representative sample of the Israeli population, and all
differences are consistent with national statistical data.

3.2. Measures

Emotional well-being (EWB). EWB is usually described in terms of emotional/mental health (Connor, 2012). Based on Diener
et al.’s (1999) construct of subjective well-being, which included emotional responses in terms of worries and anxiety, stress, and
depression, we measured EWB by three items describing the frequency of feeling stressed, depressed and worried (worries that
interfered with sleeping) in the last year and scaled as “1” = “always or often”, “2” = sometimes, “3” = rarely, “4” = never. Higher
values meant better EWB.
Perceived personal experienced discrimination was measured by the yes-no question “Have you felt discriminated against because
of your origin or ethnicity in the last 12 months?” This operationalization aligns with measuring personal discrimination by Williams
et al. (2008) and Gee (2002).
Perceptions of institutional unfairness and discrimination was measured based on three items, formulated as “To which extent do
you agree that the following institutions in Israel provide service equally to all population groups?” scaled 1–4, from “1" = to a great

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Table 1
Descriptive statistics for the sample.
Variable Full Across minority groups
sample

Israeli FSU Immigrants from Immigrants from Differences between

Palestinians immigrants Europe & America Africa the groups

N = 3272 N = 1261 N = 1127 N = 530 N = 354

Male 47.3% 49.7% 45.1% 44.7% 50.0% χ2 = 7.66, p = 0.054

Age 40.9 37.6 (11.8) 42.6 (10.3) 42.3 (9.9) 44.8 (11.3) F = 64.71, p < 0.001
(11.3)
Education (scaled 1–7) 3.41 2.63 (1.55) 3.87 (1.74) 4.34 (1.46) 2.57 (1.53) F = 292.18, p <
(1.75) 0.001
Income 8895 7625 (4417) 9600 (6538) 11,450 (6110) 9550 (6625) F = 55.83, p < 0.001
(5625)
EWB index, items scaled 1–4, Mean 2.71 2.69 (0.89) 2.73 (0.81) 2.72 (0.80) 2.68 (0.88) F = 0.58, p = 0.627
(SD): (0.85)
Felt stressed in the last year 2.41 2.54 (1.14) 2.34 (1.04) 2.27 (1.02) 2.38 (1.05) F = 10.60, p < 0.001
(1.08)
Felt depressed in the last year 3.14 3.12 (1.07) 3.18 (1.01) 3.13 (1.02) 3.06 (1.06) F = 1.24, p = 0.293
(1.04)
Worries that interfered with 2.58 2.41 (1.05) 2.66 (1.13) 2.78 (1.06) 2.60 (1.16) F = 18.05, p < 0.001
sleeping (1.10)
Personal discrimination, % 22.3% 33.0% 16.6% 9.1% 22.2% χ2 = 157.28, p <
0.001
Institutional discrimination index, 2.42 2.39 (0.58) 2.40 (0.55) 2.53 (0.60) 2.42 (0.65) F = 7.84, p < 0.001
items scaled 1–4, Mean (SD): (0.58)
in health system 2.04 1.91 (0.91) 2.06 (0.92) 2.24 (1.06) 2.21 (1.05) F = 18.12, p < 0.001
(0.96)
in education system 2.45 2.41 (0.96) 2.37 (0.96) 2.74 (0.98) 2.41 (1.05) F = 15.69, p < 0.001
(0.98)
in Israel Police 2.85 2.94 (1.00) 2.78 (0.97) 2.83 (0.98) 2.77 (1.11) F = 5.12, p = 0.002
(1.00)
in courts 2.27 2.25 (0.98) 2.28 (0.94) 2.33 (1.03) 2.23 (1.06) F = 0.71, p = 0.566
(0.98)

extent to “4" = not at all, and relating to a) the health system; b) the education system; c) the Israel Police; and d) the courts. This
operationalization is in line with Tyler (2001), who measured perceived fairness of institutions with the question whether people
thought that the institutions treated different groups fairly. Higher values indicated higher levels of unfairness and discrimination.
Using the constructs of EWB and perceptions of unfairness and discrimination in public institutions was justified by means of
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (see Results section).
Household income1 was measured in New Israeli Shekels. Afterwards, this variable was divided into two categories: those whose
income was higher than the mean income were categorized as high-income persons, and the rest as low-income persons.2
Control variables included gender (coded “1” = Male and “0” = Female), age in years, and education (1 = “less than high school”, 2
= “completed high school”, 3 = “vocational studies”, 4 = “studying for a Bachelor’s degree”, 5 = “Bachelor’s degree”, 6 = “Master’s
degree or higher”, 7 = “Doctor’s degree”).
The study used multi-group Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis, in which EWB and public discrimination were treated as
latent variables. SEM was estimated using AMOS software, version 22.

4. Results

4.1. Between group differences

To justify the factor structure of EWB and perceived institutional unfairness and discrimination, CFA was performed. Initially, the
CFA model was examined for each group separately, and the fit indices were found acceptable: χ2/df was in the range of 0.692–1.276,
RMSEA from 0.000 to 0.015, NFI from 0.987 to 0.995, CFI from 0.999 to 1.000, TLI from 0.996 to 1.015. Next, measurement
invariance was tested by means of multi-group CFA. The fit indices of the configural, metric, and scalar models were found acceptable
(CMIN/DF < 1.024, RMSEA < 0.006, CFI > 0.950, NFI > 0.980, TLI > 0.997), and the differences in Chi-square values between the
models were found to be non-significant (Δχ2 [15] = 12.031, p > 0.05 between the baseline and metric models, and Δχ2 [21] =
29.572, p > 0.05 between the metric and scalar models). Structural invariance was not found because of a significant difference

1
Since the sample included both employed and unemployed persons, the household income was used to assess the economic situation of
minorities.
2
There were no persons in the survey whose income was exactly equal to the mean income.

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between the scalar and structural models (Δχ2[9] = 277.387, p < 0.001). However, for measurement invariance at least three levels
are required: configural, metric and scalar invariance (Davidov et al., 2008). Thus, the constructs of the study can be legitimately used
and compared across the groups.
Between-group differences in income, discrimination and EWB are presented in Table 1. The study found differences in income (F
= 55.83, p < 0.001): immigrants from Europe & America had the highest income (μ = 11,450, SD = 6110) and Israeli Palestinians the
lowest (μ = 7,625, SD = 4417). This finding is consistent with previous studies in the field (Kushnirovich, 2018; Remennick, 2013;
Semyonov et al., 2015). The incomes of immigrants from Africa and FSU were similar.
Perceived personal discrimination based on origin or ethnicity varied between the groups (χ2 = 157.28, p < 0.001). About 33
percent of the Israeli Palestinians felt discriminated against in the last year, as did 22.2 percent of the immigrants from Africa (most
from Ethiopia, a visible minority in Israel), and 16.6 percent of the FSU immigrants. Surprisingly, 9.1 percent of the immigrants from
Europe and America felt discriminated against because of their origin or ethnicity.
Minorities believed that there was some discrimination in public institutions; they reported that the health and education systems,
police and courts provided services equally to all population groups only on a level between “2” to “3”, namely, between “to some
extent” and “not so much”. Immigrants from Europe and America, the group with the least personal discrimination, reported the
highest levels of unfairness and discrimination in almost all examined public institutions; therefore, their index of institutional un­
fairness and discrimination was also the highest (M = 2.53, SD = 0.60; F = 7.84, p < 0.001). Israeli Palestinians, like other minority
groups, reported the highest level of institutional unfairness and discrimination by Israeli police (M = 2.94, SD = 1.00), and the lowest
levels in the health system (M = 1.91, SD = 0.91).
Despite the differences in reported discrimination and income, there were no between group differences in EWB; the levels were
rather similar (F = 0.58, p = 0.627). For all groups, EWB was only slightly above average (M = 2.71, SD = 0.85 on a scale of 1–4,
between “sometimes” and “seldom” feeling stressed, depressed and worried). Nevertheless, there were differences in various di­
mensions of EWB. Israeli Palestinians reported the highest levels of being stressed (M = 2.54, SD = 1.14), FSU immigrants reported the
highest levels of being depressed (M = 3.18, SD = 1.01), and immigrants from Europe and America reported the highest levels of
worries that interfered with sleeping (M = 2.78, SD = 1.06). The EWB of the European and American immigrants, who reported being
the least discriminated against on the personal level but gave the highest ratings of perceived unfairness and discrimination in public
institutions, was similar to that of the Israeli Palestinians who reported the highest levels of personal discrimination.
The relationships between personal, perceived institutional unfairness and discrimination and EWB.
To examine relationships between personal perceived unfairness and discrimination and EWB, we used the Structural Equation
Model. The study found a direct positive relationship between personal and perceived unfairness and discrimination across all groups
(Table 2). For the entire sample, the effect was β = 0.128, p < 0.001. For Israeli Palestinians it was β = 0.355, p < 0.001, for FSU
immigrants β = 0.141, p = 0.002, for immigrants from Europe & America β = 0.270, p < 0.001, and for immigrants from Africa β =
0.175, p = 0.026. Thus, Hypothesis 1 was supported. Respondents who had felt discrimination because of their origin/ethnicity in the
past (not only in public institutions but in any situation) generalized this experience, and estimated a general level of discrimination
unfairness in public institutions in Israel higher than those who did not report personal discrimination. An opposite explanation is also
feasible: the higher the perceptions of unfairness and discrimination in Israeli institutions reported by minorities, the more likely they
were to explain different negative events in their own lives by discrimination.
The study found a negative relationship between personal discrimination and EWB; for the entire sample, the effect was β =
− 0.078, p < 0.001. That is, persons who felt discriminated against because of their origin/ethnicity in the last year, reported lower
levels of EWB than those who did not have such experiences. Hypothesis 2.1 was supported. Across minority groups, there were no
significant differences between effects (Δχ2[1] = 1.174, p = 0.759), although for Israeli Palestinians and FSU immigrants these effects

Table 2
Relationships between common discrimination, personal discrimination and EWBa.
Effects Standardized coefficients

All sampleb Multigroup Modelc

Israeli Palestinians FSU immigrants Immigrants from Immigrants from

Europe & Americas Africa

N = 3272 N = 1261 N = 1127 N = 530 N = 354

Correlation between personal 0.128*** 0.355*** 0.141** 0.270*** 0.175*

discrimination and common
discrimination
Effect of personal discrimination on EWB − 0.078*** − 0.081* − 0.118** − 0.067 − 0.114
Effect of institutional discrimination on − 0.155*** − 0.079 − 0.223*** − 0.267*** − 0.221**
EWB
Comparison of effects of personal and Δχ2[1] = 1.534, p Δχ2[1] = 0.00, p Δχ2[1] = 0.211, p Δχ2[1] = 1.308, p = Δχ2[1] = 0.113, p
institutional discrimination = 0.215 = 0.997 = 0.646 0.253 = 0.737

***Sig. < 0.001; **Sig. < 0.010; *Sig. < 0.05.

a
A structural equation model with latent variables was estimated using AMOS software, version 22.
b
CMIN/df = 2.529, RMSEA = 0.026, CFI = 0.988, NFI = 0.985, SRMR = 0.013.
c
CMIN/df = 2.741, RMSEA = 0.023, CFI = 0.950, NFI = 0.926, SRMR = 0.017.

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R. Youngmann and N. Kushnirovich Social Science Research 91 (2020) 102462

were significant (β = − 0.081, p = 0.025 and β = − 0.118, p = 0.002 correspondingly), and for immigrants from Europe and America
and immigrants from Africa they were non-significant (β = − 0.067, p = 0.228 and β = − 0.114, p = 0.090 correspondingly).
We also found a negative relationship between institutional unfairness and discrimination and EWB: the effect for the entire sample
was β = − 0.155, p < 0.001. The higher respondents assessed discrimination in public institutions, the lower the levels of EWB they
reported. Thus, hypothesis H2.2 was supported. Significant effects were found for three immigrant minorities (β = − 0.223, p < 0.001
for FSU immigrants, β = − 0.267, p < 0.001 for immigrants from Europe and America, and β = − 0.221, p = 0.005 for immigrants from
Africa), but for the Israeli Palestinians (β = − 0.079, p = 0.105) it was not significant. Nevertheless, there were no significant dif­
ferences in effects between the groups (Δχ2[1] = 2.771, p = 0.428).
Effects of institutional unfairness and discrimination were similar to the effects of personal discrimination for the entire sample
(Δχ2[1] = 1.534, p = 0.215), and across all minority groups (see comparison of effects in Table 2). Thus, general perceptions of
unfairness and discrimination in public institutions are important for reducing EWB to the same extent as the reported personally
experienced discrimination is. Hypothesis 3 was not supported.

4.2. Moderation by income

Effects of perceptions of institutional unfairness and discrimination and personal discrimination on EWB of immigrant and ethnic
minorities moderated by income are presented in Table 3. The results show that the effects of either institutional or personal
discrimination on EWB of the entire sample were moderated by the income of the respondents. Effects of institutional unfairness and
discrimination were β = − 0.246 (p < 0.001) and β = − 0.112 (p = 0.007) for low-income and high-income persons correspondingly,
Δχ2[1] = 4.84, p = 0.028. Effects of personal discrimination were β = − 0.148 (p < 0.001) and β = − 0.027 (p = 0.390) for low-income
and high-income persons correspondingly, Δχ2[1] = 6.94, p = 0.008. That is, for high-income persons, both institutional and personal
discrimination were associated with lesser decline in EWB than for low-income persons. Hypotheses H4.1 and H4.2 were supported.
The moderation of income was not equally pronounced for all groups. For FSU immigrants, income moderated the effect of personal
discrimination but not of institutional unfairness and discrimination. Namely, reported personal experience of discrimination
decreased the EWB of high-income FSU immigrants significantly less than of low-income group members (Δχ2[1] = 3.91, p = 0.048).
For immigrants from Europe and America, having a high income decreased the effect of perceived institutional and discrimination on
EWB: Δχ2[1] = 9.08, p = 0.003; however, the income of this group did not moderate the effect of personal discrimination. For Israeli
Palestinians and immigrants from Africa, the highly discriminated groups, income did not moderate the effects of either institutional or
personal discrimination.

5. Discussion and conclusions

The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it explained interrelations between reported personally experienced discrimination
and perceptions of general unfairness and discrimination in public institutions. Most previous studies focused on personal vs. group-
based discrimination, which were both directed against the person him/herself or his/her in-group. This study showed that the
negative effect of perceived general unfairness and discrimination in public institutions, which were not necessarily directed towards
individuals or their minority group, was similar to the effects of reported personally experienced discrimination. Thus, unfairness and
discrimination in public institutions threatens EWB of minorities regardless of whether they themselves were targets of discrimination.
Second, it identified income as a moderator of the relationships between two types of discrimination and EWB of minorities; such

Table 3
Standardized effects of personal discrimination (PD) and institutional discrimination (ID) on emotional well-being (EWB) of immigrant and ethnic
minority citizens, moderated by incomea.
Effects Full sample Israeli Palestinians FSU immigrants Immigrants from Europe & Immigrants from
America Africa

N = 3272 N = 1261 N = 1127 N = 530 N = 354

Effect of PD on EWB
Low-income − 0.148*** − 0.142** − 0.236*** − 0.064 − 0.118
persons
High-income − 0.027 − 0.062 − 0.082 − 0.081 − 0.152
persons
Effects Δχ2[1] = 6.94, p = Δχ2[1] = 1.13, p = Δχ2[1] = 3.91 p = Δχ2[1] 0.00, p = 0.975 Δχ2[1] 0.04, p =
comparison 0.008 0.288 0.048 0.847
Effect of ID on EWB
Low-income -.246*** − 0.099 − 0.282*** − 0.636*** − 0.241
persons
High-ncome − 0.112* − 0.002 − 0.120 − 0.211* − 0.236*
persons
Effects Δχ2[1] = 4.84,p = Δχ2[1] = 0.87,p = Δχ2[1] = 2.52,p = Δχ2[1] = 9.08,p = 0.003 Δχ2[1] = 0.02,p =
comparison 0.028 0.352 0.112 0.889

***Sig. < 0.001; **Sig. < 0.010; *Sig. < 0.05.

a
Fit indices of all models were acceptable: CFI >0.95, NFI >0.94, CMIN/DF < 3.0, RMSEA <0.064.

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moderation has not been examined previously. The study substantiated income as a protective resilience factor, and explained how the
possible protection mechanism works. The large data set that included a variety of groups (Israeli Palestinians, European & American
immigrants, African immigrants and immigrants from the Former Soviet Union) provided an appropriate basis for the findings.
The study revealed that Israeli Palestinians reported the highest levels of personal discrimination; about one third of them had
experienced personal discrimination during the year before the survey, but they assessed the levels of unfairness and discrimination in
public institutions as moderate, similar to immigrants from Africa and FSU. Immigrants from Europe and America, who reported the
lowest levels of personal discrimination (about one tenth of them reported having been personally discriminated), reported the highest
levels of unfairness and discrimination in public institutions. One possible explanation is that they came from countries where the
issues of human rights and equality are of great importance (Welzel et al., 2003); therefore, they may be more sensitive to discrim­
ination, irrespective of whether the discrimination was against their own or other groups. Immigrants from Europe and America re­
ported the highest income, and the Israeli Palestinians the lowest. In line with Schmitt’s (2014) division by groups’ status, the Israeli
Palestinians may be regarded as a disadvantaged minority group, and immigrants from Europe and America as a relatively advantaged
minority group.
People who reported personally experienced discrimination because of their origin/ethnicity in the past, reported lower levels of
EWB than those who had not experienced discrimination. Perceived unfairness and discrimination in public institutions was associated
with lower EWB of minority groups. No significant differences in these effects were found across minorities groups. Reported personal
discrimination was positively associated with perceived unfairness and discrimination in public institutions. This may be explained by
the concepts of generalization or internalization. In line with Bandura’s theory (1971) of observational learning, persons who felt they
had been personally discriminated because of their origin/ethnicity, generalized these experiences to their perceptions of common
experiences of unfairness and discrimination in public institutions. Alternatively, persons may internalize perceptions of general
unfairness and discrimination. Those who perceived common discrimination in Israeli institutions as high are more likely to interpret
different negative events in their own lives as evidence of discrimination. Such internalization is in line with Goffman (1963) and
Dalbert and Filke (2007).
We found that the effects of perceived general unfairness and discrimination in public institutions on EWB were similar to the
effects of reported personally experienced discrimination for all minority groups. Thus, general perceptions of unfairness and
discrimination that are not necessarily directed towards individuals or their minority group, harm EWB no less than traumatic events
in the past interpreted as discrimination, and that perceiving unfairness and discrimination in general has high costs as making at­
tributions to discrimination for single events. This may be explained by the fact that general perceptions of unfairness and discrim­
ination may serve as a prophecy, which facilitates negative expectations of future discriminatory events; this alone may reduce EWB. In
this situation, discrimination is not limited to a perception of personal life experience, but rather becomes a consciousness of certain
groups or society as a whole, accounting for lower EWB.
Income buffered the negative effect of discrimination, but only for certain groups of minorities. Among immigrants from Europe &
America, the group which reported the highest levels of perceived unfairness and discrimination in public institutions (but the lowest
levels of personal discrimination), the negative effect of institutional unfairness and discrimination on EWB was significantly lower
than for low-income persons. Income only weakened the effect of the perceived institutional discrimination on EWB: the negative
effect for high-income persons remained significant even after moderation. For FSU immigrants, a group with moderate levels of
perceived personal and institutional discrimination, income almost neutralized the negative effect of personal discrimination on EWB
− the negative effect of personal discrimination was significant for persons with low incomes, and non-significant for those with high
incomes. The pattern of perceptions of unfairness and discrimination was in line with the protective-reactive model of resilience, and
the pattern of personal discrimination was in line with the protective-stabilizing model (Fergus and Zimmerman, 2005; Luthar et al.,
2000). All these support the claim that income can serve as a resilience mechanism among members of immigrant groups.
For Israeli Palestinians, the group with the highest level of reported personal discrimination, income did not reduce the negative
effects of either institutional or personal discrimination. Also, for immigrants from Africa (mostly from Ethiopia), who reported
relatively high levels of both personal and institutional discrimination, income did not moderate their negative effects on EWB. It
seems that for highly discriminated disadvantaged groups, the impact of discrimination is so fierce that income is not sufficient to
buffer it.
Thus, income may be regarded as a resilience factor, which, for minorities, buffers the negative effects of discrimination on their
EWB. For institutional discrimination, income diminishes its effect only for minorities with the highest perceptions of such discrim­
ination, as is the case with immigrants from Europe & America, who reported the highest levels of general unfairness and discrimi­
nation in public institutions. For personal discrimination, the resilience pattern of income was more complicated. Among minorities
encountering medium levels of personal discrimination (FSU immigrants), income played a role of resilience and was a protective
factor. But income did not buffer the negative effects of personal discrimination for minorities that reported high or low levels of
discrimination stressors, as was the case with Israeli Palestinians and immigrants from Africa who experienced high discrimination,
and immigrants from Europe and America who reported low personal discrimination. Thus, income works as resilience factor only for
moderate levels of personal discrimination.
One possible explanation is that those who encounter high levels of discrimination may feel hopeless and incapable of overcoming
its effects. On the other hand, for low discriminated groups, low risk of discrimination stressors may not be enough to elicit a coping
response. However, a medium degree of stressors allows one to confront and to understand how to cope with them. This finding is
supported by the findings of Heilbrunn et al. (2010), who found that in comparison to immigrants from the FSU, immigrants from
Ethiopia in Israel coped worse with barriers. An alternative explanation is that both Israeli Palestinians and immigrants from Africa
(Ethiopia) are highly socially segregated groups in Israel with strong commitment to their cultural traditional values; therefore, they

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may perceive the importance of economic success differently than FSU immigrants. This is in line with the findings of Kushnirovich and
Youngmann (2017) that psychological well-being of Ethiopian immigrants, opposite to FSU immigrants, was not explained by their
economic resources, but was positively related to being in their ethnic niche (having ethnic friends and low Hebrew skills). For mi­
norities, which deal within an ethnic group of culturally similar and similarly stigmatized others, social support may be more
important for coping than income. Since this study did not examine social support, further studies are needed in this field.
This study contributes to the understanding of the resilience mechanism which helps to cope with the negative effect of
discrimination among immigrants and ethnic minorities. In light of the global migration challenge, this study may be useful for
immigration and labor market scholars also beyond the Israeli context.
Limitations. The study did not compare minorities and native-born majority populations that might also feel discrimination (on the
basis of gender, age and ancestral origin). The study was quantitative; thus, further qualitative research may contribute to deeper
understanding of income as a resilience and coping mechanism against discrimination. The survey did not contain information
whether public institutions provided unequal services based on racial/ethnic background. One additional limitation is that the per­
formed statistical analysis did not allow drawing causal conclusions. The study also did not explain why the effect of personal
discrimination on EWB was significant for Israeli Palestinians and FSU immigrants, but not for immigrants from Europe & America and
immigrants from Africa. Further studies are needed to explain that phenomenon.

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