The character and satisfaction with life of Chinese and other Canadians

The Chinese are a growing segment of the Canadian population, one that enriches the national culture in many ways. Until recently national surveys could not yield information on their character, though now their numbers are large enough that reliable data can be provided on such characteristics as religious commitment, health status and satisfaction with life. This study provides a profile of Chinese and other Canadians, plus a detailed look at the satisfaction with life of various sub-populations of Chinese. The information pertains to adults aged 15 and over living in households in the ten provinces for 1997 and 2000 ¹ .

Satisfaction with life and religious characteristics receive some emphasis because of the importance of such information for a national culture, and the tendency to ignore such traits in most studies that appear. One normally thinks of the educational and economic contribution of dedicated groups like the Chinese, though their religious commitment and happiness is also important. The two dimensions of a people are linked in the Christian tradition, along with reward, as the following quotes suggest:

There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.
Jesus, Mark 10: 28-29

Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
John 16:24

The Christian's hope of possessing an infinite good is mingled with actual enjoyment as well as with fear, for, unlike people hoping for a kingdom of which they will have no part, because they are subjects, Christians hope for holiness, and to be freed from unrighteousness, and some part of this is already theirs.
Pascal, Pensées, #540

If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us.
C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and other Addresses

The survey sample of 334 represents a total of 585 thousand Chinese Canadians, out of a total population of 24 million. The largest religious group is Catholic, about 22% of Chinese and other Canadians. Other Christians comprise 10% of the Chinese and 27% of other Canadians. The non-Christian group comprising non-Christians and the religiously unaffiliated comprise 65% of the Chinese and 27% of other Canadians. Census results for 2001, expected in May of 2003, will provide more accurate estimates of religious affiliation and other characteristics like education, income and marital status noted below.

Weekly worshippers number 68 thousand Chinese, or 12%, while 19% of other Canadians worship weekly. Some 141 thousand Chinese (24%) worship less often but at least once during the year, compared with 27% of other Canadians. Some 64% of the Chinese did not worship at all in the preceding year. Some 39% say they are very or somewhat religious, compared with 54% of other Canadians. Another 21% of Chinese are not very religious (25% of other Canadians), while 39% are not religious at all (16% of other Canadians). Only 12% of Chinese were religious when young, compared with 28% of other Canadians. Turning to physical health, 45% of the Chinese say their health is very good, compared with 55% of other Canadians.

Regarding education, income and volunteering, the Chinese are slightly more likely than other Canadians to have a university degree (18% versus 15%), while the income distributions are somewhat similar. Secular organization volunteering is less popular among the Chinese than other Canadians (16% versus 26%), while religion organization volunteering is equally popular (5% and 6%).

Most of the Chinese population resides in Ontario (44%), followed by British Columbia (36%), the Prairie provinces (14%), and Quebec and the Atlantic provinces (5%). Compared with other Canadians, they are over-represented in the Ontario and British Columbia, and under-represented in Quebec and the Atlantic Provinces.

The population satisfied with life (Refer to Table 2 for the populations and Table 3 for the satisfaction rates - percentages)

In response to the question "How satisfied are you with your life in general?" most Chinese and other Canadians say they are "either very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied". Other Canadians are more likely than the Chinese to be very satisfied (44% versus 30%). This result appears in most of the sub-populations examined, though the differences in likelihood of being very satisfied with life is not great in the following groups: non-Catholic Christians (48% of Chinese are very satisfied compared with 52% of other Canadians), those religious when young (55% Chinese, 52% others), the formal volunteers (48% Chinese, 55% others), and secular organization volunteers (49% Chinese, 55% others). The groups of Chinese with the highest percentages who are very satisfied with life are those religious when young, 55%, secular volunteers 49%, other Christians, 48%, and formal volunteers, also 48%. The groups of other Canadians with the highest percentages who are very satisfied with life are the religion sector volunteers, 63%, those with $80,000 plus household income, 59%, those with a university degree, 57%, and those with very good health, 56%.

We were expecting the Christians and religiously committed to be more likely to be satisfied with life than the non-Christians and less committed, and this appears to be the case. For example, Chinese non-Catholic Christians are more likely to be very satisfied with their lives than their non-Christian counterparts, and this is also true among other Canadians. In addition, the very or somewhat religious Chinese and other Canadians are more inclined to be very satisfied than those who say they are not religious. A similar result appears among those with a religious background: both Chinese and other Christians are more satisfied with their life than their counterparts without a religious background. Though the small sample prevents other comparisons for the Chinese, the data for all Canadians provide additional evidence supportive of our expectation. For example, weekly worshippers are more likely to be satisfied with life than less frequent or non-worshippers, and religion sector volunteers are more likely to be satisfied than either secular volunteers, or their counterparts who do not volunteer in either religious or secular voluntary organizations. The only anomaly is that Catholics are similar to non-Christians in their tendency to be satisfied with life.

Regarding other population groups studied, we first observe a big difference in the percentage very satisfied with life according to whether or not they consider themselves to have very good health. Both the healthy Chinese and other Canadians are much more likely to say they are very satisfied with life than their counterparts who are less positive about their health. The margin of difference is great among both the non-Chinese (56% versus 29%) and the Chinese (42% versus 20%). Men and women in total are about equally inclined to be very satisfied with life. Married persons, though, are more likely to be very satisfied than the unmarried (32% versus 27% among the Chinese, and 49% versus 38% among other Canadians). University educated Canadians, both Chinese and other Canadians, are more likely to say they are satisfied with life than those with less education. The association of household income with life satisfaction appears to be strong for other Canadians - the higher the income, the greater the likelihood of being very satisfied with life. Finally, satisfaction varies greatly by region among the Chinese (only 26% are very satisfied in British Columbia, and 40% in the Prairie region). The regional variation in satisfaction is much less marked among the non-Chinese Canadians.

The main conclusion is that both religious commitment factors and several other factors seem to be related to satisfaction with life. An attempt is made in some analytical work, reported in detail in Appendix 2, to assess the relative importance of some of these factors. Among the Chinese population, satisfaction with life is higher among those who perceive their health to be very good, the married, younger people, the more religious, and those volunteering more hours. Among non-Chinese Canadians, satisfaction with life is higher among those with very good health, the married, those volunteering more hours, the more religious, those with a religious background, those with a university degree, and, when compared with non-Christians, the liberal Protestants, non-French Catholics, conservative Christians, and the religiously unaffiliated. The sex of the respondent and being a French Catholic are two unimportant (statistically, 0.01 level of significance) factors in both sets of results. We conclude from these results that religious commitment is an important factor in satisfaction with life.

But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.
Psalm 5:11, AV, 1769 I saw more clearly than ever, that the first and primary business to which I ought to attend every day, was to have my soul happy in the Lord. ...I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God, and to meditation on it.
Autobiography of George Mueller, 1805-1898

All men seek happiness. This is without exception. Whatever different means they employ, they all tend to this end. The cause of some going to war, and of others avoiding it, is the same desire in both, attended with different views. The will never takes the least step but to this object. This is the motive of every action of every man, even of those who hang themselves.
Pascal, Pensées, #425

Note: three tables follow, plus an appendix table showing the sample size of various sub-populations of Chinese and other Canadians - 28 Chinese in the two survey years, for example, reported that they were weekly worshippers and very satisfied with life. A second appendix reports regression results predicting the level of satisfaction with life for the Chinese and other Canadians. Charts showing the main factors associated with life satisfaction follow the tables.

Frank Jones, Director of Research, Christian Commitment Research Institute, Ottawa. I thank Dr. Edward Ng of Statistics Canada for suggesting this study. I accept full responsibility for the quality of the estimates and the interpretations of the results.

endnotes

1: Survey results were pooled for this study to enable more reliable information to be published. The reliability standards of Statistics Canada are followed - estimates based on reporting by fewer than 30 respondents are suppressed.

2: For another study on happiness see Frank Jones, "Satisfaction with life in Canada, 1997 and 2000", Religious Commitment Note #9, Christian Commitment Research Institute, February 2002.

3: This is certainly the case in the case of the economics of happiness; religion receives no mention in a recent survey article: Bruno S. Frey and Alois Stutzer, "What can Economists learn from happiness research?", Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. XL (June 2002) pp. 402-435.