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Life Satisfaction and Happiness Among the Roma in Central and Southeastern Europe

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Abstract

This study examines general life satisfaction and happiness as two indicators of subjective well-being among Roma and non-Roma populations in Central and Southeastern Europe. Using a sample of 11,997 participants (Roma N = 8,399, non-Roma N = 3,598) from the Regional Roma Survey in 2011 we test a structural equation model which considers self-rated health, income, education, quality of housing, perceived (ethnic) discrimination, and ethnic group identification as mediators of the relationship between Roma/non-Roma group membership and subjective well-being. Well-being was found to be lower among Roma compared to non-Roma and this was fully due to Roma’s lower health status, lower income, lower education, lower quality of housing, lower ethnic identification, and higher perceived discrimination. The findings confirm that Roma have fewer resources for the attainment of need-gratification which negatively affects their happiness and life satisfaction, thereby, refuting the romanticized image of the Roma as ‘poor but happy people’.

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Notes

  1. The Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015 is an international initiative working towards the improvement of the socio-economic status and social inclusion of Roma across Central and Southeastern Europe. It operates in the countries included in our study, with the exception of Moldova, and commits the governments in these countries to take action toward improving the status of Roma in four priority areas: education, employment, health, and housing.

  2. Based on the information obtained on the methodology of the survey, we cannot determine whether this classification from the census covered members of all the different Romani subgroups, such as Ashkali or Egyptians.

  3. The participants who identified themselves as Ashkalis or Egyptians were also included in the ‘Roma’ category.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. ERCOMER, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Ermira Kamberi, Borja Martinovic & Maykel Verkuyten

Authors
  1. Ermira Kamberi
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  2. Borja Martinovic
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  3. Maykel Verkuyten
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Borja Martinovic.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3 and 4.

Table 3 Country descriptive statistics with mean levels of happiness and life satisfaction
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Table 4 Unstandardized parameter estimates obtained with SEM with mediation effects for each country
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Kamberi, E., Martinovic, B. & Verkuyten, M. Life Satisfaction and Happiness Among the Roma in Central and Southeastern Europe. Soc Indic Res 124, 199–220 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-014-0783-7

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