Assessing the Association between Trust and Concentration Area of Migrant Ethnic Minority in Sydney

Abstract

There is ongoing concern that concentrations of migrant ethnic minority groups could increase distrust within Australian communities. This article assesses whether the existence of an area of high migrant ethnic minority concentration associates with low propensity to trust. After identification using Local Spatial Autocorrelation Statistics and controlling for other variables, a regression technique indicated significantly low trust associated with this area in 2006. Further investigation shows that the association of low level of trust and the concentration area was not as severe in 2010 and had even smaller and insignificant association in 2005.