Predicting interethnic bridging social capital in youth ethnic-diversity engagement: the role of interethnic interaction and intercultural sensitivity

Figures & data

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of variables.

Variable	Alln = 447	Malayn = 193	Chinesen = 165	Indiann = 72
Age (year)
Mean	21.22	21.09	21.13	21.81
SD	1.431	1.45	1.311	1.429
Range	18–27	19–26	19–27	20–27
Gender
Male	33.80%	33.10%	35.70%	26.40%
Female	66.20%	64.90%	64.30%	73.70%
No of semester
Mean	4.18	4.09	4.08	4.63
SD	1.73	1.659	1.741	1.821
Range	2–8	02-Aug	02-Aug	02-Aug
Self-identification orientation…
As member of ethnic group first	44.60%	56.90%	38.20%	26.40%
As Malaysian first	55.40%	43.10%	61.80%	73.60%
Frequency of interethnic interaction
Mean	4.58	4.29	4.7	5.13
SD	1.25	1.211	1.224	1.203
Range	1–6	1–6	1–6	1–6
Intercultural sensitivity
Mean	3.77	3.77	3.7	3.95
SD	0.518	0.479	4.77	0.608
Range	2.6–5.0	2.7–5.0	2.6–5.0	2.7–5.0
Interethnic bridging social capital
Mean	3.61	3.63	3.45	3.89
SD	0.72	0.689	0.749	0.641
Range	1–5	1.5–5	01-May	2.1–5

Note: Higher means indicate more frequent interethnic interaction and high level of intercultural sensitivity and interethnic bridging social capital.

Table 2 Zero-oder correlations (overall sample).

Variable	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
(1) Age	0.025 (0.299)	0.586 (0.000)	− 0.018 (0.350)	0.104 (0.014)	0.081 (0.043)	0.104 (0.014)
(2) Gender (1 = Male)	–	− 0.015 (0.379)	0.017 (0.360)	0.011 (.406)	− 0.064 (0.088)	0.015 (0.379)
(3) No of semester		–	0.012 (0.404)	0.058 (0.110)	0.038 (0.214)	0.063 (0.094)
(4) Self-identification (1 = Ethnic group first)			–	− 0.159 (0.000)	− 0.099 (0.019)	− 0.102 (0.015)
(5) Frequency of interethnic interaction				–	0.284 (0.000)	0.219 (0.000)
(6) Intercultural sensitivity					–	0.473 (0.000)
(7) Interethnic bridging social capital						–

Note: Figures in bracket are p values.

Table 3 Stepwise hierarchical regression predicting interethnic bridging social capital.

	Malay		Chinese		Indian
Variable	β	t-value	B	t-value	β	t-value
Intercultural sensitivity	0.483	7.631^*	0.411	5.760^*	0.444	4.141^*
R^2	0.234		0.169		0.197
F	58.237		33.175		17.150
df	1, 191		1, 163		1, 70
P	0.000		0.000		0.000

Note: ^*p < 0.01; Frequency of interethnic interaction, self-identification orientation and age are excluded variables.