Neighbourhood Ethnic Composition and Social Participation of Young People in England

We analyse how neighbourhood ethnic diversity and segregation affect adolescents’ social participation in England. We distinguish between participation in ‘purposeful activities’—such as sports and volunteering—and hanging around with friends. We suggest a novel identification strategy to address the problem of endogeneity of ethnic diversity and segregation. We find that ethnic diversity decreases hanging around, while ethnic segregation increases it. No effects on participation in purposeful activities are found.