Social integration practices among multi-ethnic youths

Abstract

     This study identified the level of social integration practices among multi-ethnic youth in Malaysia. Social integration in this paper refers to 20 elements of social integration that were extracted from four main constructs, namely social acceptance, compromization cultural adaptation and appreciation. This study utilized a survey research design with a questionnaire to collect data from 1,600 multi-ethnic youths aged between 19 and 29 years. They were selected using a stratified random sampling technique from four zones of Malaysia. Data collected were then analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) by focusing on the frequency ranking. The results showed that most respondents often practice social acceptance and cultural appreciation but practiced less compromization and cultural adaptation. Cultural adaptation was found to be the most challenging action among multi-ethnic youth. This informs the importance of strategic action plans for promoting unity among multi-ethnic youths.