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Friendship network composition and subjective well-being

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  • Sefa Awaworyi Churchill
  • Russell Smyth

Abstract

Using data from the UK’s Community Life Survey, we present the first study to examine the relationship between heterogeneity in one’s friendship network and subjective well-being. We measure network heterogeneity by the extent to which one’s friends are similar to oneself with regard to ethnicity and religion. We find that people who have friendship networks with characteristics dissimilar to themselves have lower levels of subjective well-being. Specifically, our two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimates, using measures of ethnic and religious diversity based on the Herfindahl-type fractionalization index that are flipped between adjoining rural/urban areas as instruments, suggest that a standard deviation increase in the proportion of one’s friends from different ethnic (religious) groups is associated with a decrease of 0.276 (0.451) standard deviations in subjective well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Sefa Awaworyi Churchill & Russell Smyth, 2020. "Friendship network composition and subjective well-being," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 72(1), pages 191-215.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:72:y:2020:i:1:p:191-215.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpz019
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    Cited by:

    1. Martinson Ankrah Twumasi & Gloria Essilfie & Bright Senyo Dogbe & Ernest Kwarko Ankrah & Charles Hackman Kwamena Essel, 2024. "Does access to financial services improve nutritional intake among rural residents? Assessing potential action mechanism pathways," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 1131-1151, August.
    2. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Munyanyi, Musharavati Ephraim & Prakash, Kushneel & Smyth, Russell, 2020. "Locus of control and the gender gap in mental health," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 740-758.
    3. Francisia S. S. E. Seda & Kevin Nobel Kurniawan & Yosef Hilarius Timu Pera, 2023. "Social Inclusion Challenges and the Future of Relational Wellbeing: The Case of Indonesia and South-Korea," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 165(1), pages 309-332, January.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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