Young people's attitudes to immigration: findings from the Young People in Scotland Survey 2017

5. Perceived impact of immigration on Scotland's culture and identity

Participants were asked whether they agreed or disagreed that Scotland would begin to lose its identity if more Muslims, people from Eastern Europe and Black and Asian people came to live in Scotland.

Across the whole sample, over four in ten of respondents disagreed with the statement. The young people were most likely to disagree with the statement when it related to Black and Asian people. However, over a quarter agreed that Scotland would begin to lose its identity as a result of greater diversity, particular when they were asked to consider more Muslims coming to live in Scotland (Table 5.1).

Table 5.1: Perceptions of Scotland's identity (%) (N=1,781)

Scotland would begin to lose its identity if:		TOTAL
More Muslims came to live in Scotland	Agree	28
	Neither agree nor disagree	19
	Disagree	42
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	11
More people from Eastern Europe (for example, Poland and Latvia) came to live in Scotland	Agree	27
	Neither agree nor disagree	21
	Disagree	41
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	11
More Black and Asian people came to live in Scotland	Agree	25
	Neither agree nor disagree	20
	Disagree	45
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	10

Source: Young People in Scotland Survey 2017, Ipsos MORI.

Variations in attitudes between sub-groups

Year group

Young people in each year group were relatively positive about the prospect of greater diversity in Scotland. The most popular option for each year group, and in relation to each immigrant group, was disagreement with the statement about Scotland's possible loss of identity. Those in the oldest group (S6) were the least negative of all the year groups: 53%, 52% and 57% of respondents in S6 disagreed with the statement that Scotland would begin to lose its identity if more Muslims, people from Eastern Europe and Black and Asian people (respectively) came to live in Scotland.

The older the respondents were, the less likely they were to say they didn't know, or preferred not to say, when asked about the impact of more immigrants on Scotland's identity (Table 5.2).

Table 5.2: Perceptions of Scotland's identity (%), by year group (N=1,755)

Do you agree or disagree that Scotland would begin to lose its identity if:		S1	S2	S3	S4	S5	S6
More Muslims came to live in Scotland	Agree	22	28	28	28	31	29
	Neither agree nor disagree	23	21	19	21	15	16
	Disagree	40	37	43	41	45	53
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	15	14	11	11	8	2
More people from Eastern Europe (for example, Poland and Latvia) came to live in Scotland	Agree	24	25	25	29	28	27
	Neither agree nor disagree	24	25	22	23	16	18
	Disagree	38	36	43	36	48	52
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	13	14	10	12	8	2
More Black and Asian people came to live in Scotland	Agree	23	25	23	25	26	23
	Neither agree nor disagree	18	19	23	26	17	19
	Disagree	43	43	46	39	50	57
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	16	13	8	11	7	1

Source: Young People in Scotland Survey 2017, Ipsos MORI.

Gender

Boys were more likely than girls to agree that Scotland might lose its identity if more Muslims, people from Eastern Europe and Black and Asian people came to live here (Table 5.3).

Table 5.3: Perceptions of Scotland's identity (%), by gender (N=1,715)

Scotland would begin to lose its identity if:		Boys	Girls
More Muslims came to live in Scotland	Agree	32	23
	Neither agree nor disagree	20	19
	Disagree	39	46
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	9	13
More people from Eastern Europe (for example, Poland and Latvia) came to live in Scotland	Agree	30	22
	Neither agree nor disagree	22	22
	Disagree	38	44
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	10	12
More Black and Asian people came to live in Scotland	Agree	27	21
	Neither agree nor disagree	22	19
	Disagree	42	49
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	10	10

Source: Young People in Scotland Survey 2017, Ipsos MORI.

Socio-economic background

Young people in the most deprived socio-economic group ( SIMD 1) appeared to be the most concerned about the prospect of greater diversity in Scotland. Respondents in SIMD 1 were more likely than other groups to agree with the statement that Scotland would begin to lose its identity if more Muslims, people from Eastern Europe and Black and Asian people came to live here. The key significant differences were between young people in SIMD 1 and SIMD 5, the least deprived socio-economic group (Table 5.4).

Table 5.4: Perceptions of Scotland's identity (%), by SIMD (N=1,781)

Do you agree or disagree that Scotland would begin to lose its identity if:		1	2	3	4	5
More Muslims came to live in Scotland	Agree	33	27	27	27	24
	Neither agree nor disagree	18	23	21	17	18
	Disagree	36	40	40	46	49
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	13	10	12	10	10
More people from Eastern Europe (for example, Poland and Latvia) came to live in Scotland	Agree	34	26	26	24	25
	Neither agree nor disagree	21	22	24	21	19
	Disagree	31	40	39	47	47
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	14	12	10	8	10
More Black and Asian people came to live in Scotland	Agree	33	25	24	20	22
	Neither agree nor disagree	18	22	21	21	18
	Disagree	37	43	45	50	51
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	12	11	9	9	10

Source: Young People in Scotland Survey 2017, Ipsos MORI.

Ethnicity

Respondents in BME groups were more likely than White young people to disagree with the statement that Scotland would lose its identity if more Muslims, people from Eastern Europe and Black and Asian people came to live here (Table 5.5).

Table 5.5: Perceptions of Scotland's identity (%), by ethnicity (N=1,672)

Scotland would begin to lose its identity if:		White	BME
More Muslims came to live in Scotland	Agree	28	22
	Neither agree nor disagree	20	14
	Disagree	42	55
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	10	10
More people from Eastern Europe (for example, Poland and Latvia) came to live in Scotland	Agree	27	25
	Neither agree nor disagree	22	17
	Disagree	41	50
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	10	8
More Black and Asian people came to live in Scotland	Agree	25	22
	Neither agree nor disagree	21	14
	Disagree	45	56
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	9	8

Source: Young People in Scotland Survey 2017, Ipsos MORI.

Physical/mental health condition

Young people who said they had a physical or mental health condition were more likely to agree that Scotland would lose its identity if there was greater diversity in the country. Young people who did not have a health condition were more likely to disagree with the statement (Table 5.6).

Table 5.6: Perceptions of Scotland's identity (%), by physical/mental health condition (N=1,412)

Scotland would begin to lose its identity if:		Health condition	No health condition
More Muslims came to live in Scotland	Agree	34	27
	Neither agree nor disagree	17	19
	Disagree	37	45
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	12	9
More people from Eastern Europe (for example, Poland and Latvia) came to live in Scotland	Agree	32	25
	Neither agree nor disagree	19	22
	Disagree	38	44
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	10	9
More Black and Asian people came to live in Scotland	Agree	32	22
	Neither agree nor disagree	18	21
	Disagree	40	48
	Don't know/Prefer not to say	10	9

Source: Young People in Scotland Survey 2017, Ipsos MORI.