World Values Survey (Canada) Immigrant and native born respondent comparisons
June, 2008
Neil Nevitte
Nevitte Research Inc.
How do immigrants differ from those born in Canada? And are these differences attributable to such social factors as culture, or are structural explanations more plausible? Since 2000, two waves of the World Values Survey in Canada have included a boosted immigrant sample which allows researchers to compare more reliably the similarities and differences in the values of immigrants and non-immigrants. This report summarizes these differences which are organized around five dimensions: the socio-economic profile; religious outlooks; views about immigration and citizenship; trust; and voluntary association membership.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. Basic demographics
- 2. Socio-economic profile
- 3. Religion
- 4. Immigration and citizenship
- 5. Trust
- 6. Voluntary associations
- Appendix A: Survey questionnaire
- Bibliography
List of tables
- Table 1-1: Canadian born and immigrant populations
- Table 1-2: Groups by gender (WVS)
- Table 1-3: Groups by gender (2001 Census)
- Table 1-4: Groups by age (WVS)
- Table 1-5: Groups by age (2001 Census)
- Table 1-6: Groups by education (WVS)
- Table 1-7: Groups by education (2001 Census)
- Table 2-1: Ethnicity
- Table 2-2: Language spoken at home
- Table 2-3: Marital status
- Table 2-4: Religious denomination
- Table 2-5: Class self-identification
- Table 2-6: Household income
- Table 2-7: Occupation
- Table 2-8: Employment status
- Table 2-9: Employment sector
- Table 2-10: Supervisory role
- Table 2-11: State of health
- Table 2-12: Happiness
- Table 2-13: National pride
- Table 3-1: Religious identification
- Table 3-2: Church attendance
- Table 3-3: Importance of religion
- Table 3-4: Taking spare moments of prayer, meditation, contemplation
- Table 3-5: Thinking about the meaning of life
- Table 3-6: Churches and Moral problems
- Table 3-7: Churches and Family problems
- Table 3-8: Churches and Spiritual needs
- Table 3-9: Churches and Social problems facing society
- Table 3-10: Politicians and belief in God
- Table 3-11: Religious leaders and vote influence
- Table 3-12: Religious leaders for Canada
- Table 3-13: Religious leaders and government decisions
- Table 3-14: Determinants of religious identification
- Table 4-1: Having relatives in Canada as requirement for citizenship
- Table 4-2: Abiding by Canadian laws as requirement for citizenship
- Table 4-3: Adopting Canada's customs as requirement for citizenship
- Table 4-4: How are immigrants treated
- Table 4-5: Government policy for foreign workers
- Table 4-6: Undesirable neighbours
- Table 4-7: Determinants of support for cultural diversity
- Table 4-8: I see myself as a…member of my local community
- Table 4-9: I see myself as a…citizen of my province
- Table 4-10: I see myself as a…citizen of Canada as a whole
- Table 4-11: I see myself as a citizen of…North America
- Table 4-12: I see myself as a…world citizen
- Table 5-1: Trust in your family
- Table 5-2: Trust in people you know personally
- Table 5-3: Trust in your neighbourhood
- Table 5-4: Trust in Canadian people in general
- Table 5-5: Trust in French Canadians
- Table 5-6: Trust in recent immigrants
- Table 5-7: Trust in Americans
- Table 5-8: Trust in people you meet for the first time
- Table 5-9: Factor analysis: the dimensions of trust
- Table 5-10: Levels of interpersonal trust
- Table 5-11: Levels of generalized trust
- Table 6-1: Active membership in organizations
- Table 6-2: Active membership in voluntary associations
- Table 6-3: Determinants of voluntary association membership
List of figures
- Figure 2-1: Average number of children
- Figure 2-2: Class self-identification
- Figure 2-3: Household income
- Figure 2-4: Satisfaction with life
- Figure 2-5: National pride
- Figure 3-1: Percentage identifying as religious
- Figure 3-2: Religious attendance rates
- Figure 3-3: Weekly church attendance: 2001 and 2006
- Figure 3-4: Importance of religion
- Figure 3-5: The importance of God in life: 2001 and 2006
- Figure 3-6: Taking spare moments of prayer, meditation, contemplation
- Figure 3-7: Respondents who "Often" think about meaning of life: 2001 and 2006
- Figure 3-8: Group scores on the moral authority of the church index
- Figure 3-9: Secular outlooks
- Figure 4-1: Having relatives in Canada as requirement for citizenship
- Figure 4-2: Abiding by Canadian laws as requirement for citizenship
- Figure 4-3: Adopting Canada's customs as requirement for citizenship
- Figure 4-4: Cultural diversity enriches life in Canada
- Figure 4-5: How are immigrants treated
- Figure 4-6: Strongly agree with communal identities.
- Figure 5-1: Levels of trust
- Figure 6-1: Reporting active membership in voluntary associations
Introduction
How do immigrants differ from those born in Canada? And are these differences attributable to such social factors as culture, or are structural explanations more plausible? Since 2000, two waves of the World Values Survey in Canada have included a boosted immigrant sample which allows researchers to compare more reliably the similarities and differences in the values of immigrants and non-immigrants. This report summarizes these differences which are organized around five dimensions: the socio-economic profile; religious outlooks; views about immigration and citizenship; trust; and voluntary association membership.
The World Values Survey
The 2006 wave of the World Values Survey (WVS) is a national representative sample of adult Canadians, 18 years of age and olderFootnote 1. A boosted New Immigrant Survey (NIS), which targets new immigrants (10 years in the country or less) in Vancouver (N=151), Toronto (N=157), and Montreal (N=192) supplements the core survey (N=1,765). Households were randomly selected and survey respondents were interviewed in person by trained interviewers between the dates of January 18 and March 30, 2006. The survey questionnaires contained 279 items.
Data from the core WVS sample and the boosted NIS sample were combined into a single dataset, and then the cases for analysis were sorted into three groups: Those born in Canada are identified throughout the report as "Canadian born" (N=1,766). The "recent immigrant" group comprises those immigrants who have lived in the country for less than 10 years (N=570). "Earlier immigrants" are those immigrants who have been in Canada for ten years or longer (N=298). And for each question, the reported results exclude respondents who did not, or refused to, answer the question.
This report mainly focuses on a descriptive analysis of the data; the focus on the presentation is on the key differences and similarities between the three groups. Section 1 summarizes the demographic differences between Canadian born, recent immigrant, and earlier immigrant respondents. The point of comparison is data from the 2001 Canadian Census. Section 2 describes the structural characteristics of 'recent' and 'earlier' immigrants and Canadian born respondents. Section 3 focuses on religious outlooks: how religious are the three different groups? And what role do they think churches should play in society? Section 4 examines outlooks towards immigration, citizenship, and cultural diversity within Canada. Section 5 examines levels of trust, both interpersonal and generalized trust. Section 6 considers involvement in voluntary associations.
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