Cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in Malaysian multicultural communities
Taking a positive psychology perspective, this paper focuses on cultural tolerance values, positive relationships, and well-being within multicultural and pluralistic local communities in Malaysia. Participants were (n=163) undergraduates from a Malaysian public university. Eighty-three (83) wer...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia
2020
|
| Online Access: | http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17043/1/44466-143358-1-PB.pdf http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17043/ https://ejournals.ukm.my/gmjss/issue/view/1357 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | Taking a positive psychology perspective, this paper focuses on cultural tolerance values,
positive relationships, and well-being within multicultural and pluralistic local communities in
Malaysia. Participants were (n=163) undergraduates from a Malaysian public university. Eighty-three (83) were of ethnic Malay, (69) ethnic Chinese, nine ethnic Indian, and two were ethnic
‘others.’ Participants were predominantly females (122/74.8%). Participants answered an online
survey comprising of open-ended qualitative questions on cultural tolerance values, positive
relationships, and well-being as part of their experience living in multicultural communities.
Findings indicated that participants described themselves as highly tolerant; they generally
agreed that people should be allowed to practice their culture. They reported open and positive
emotions (e.g. curiosity, interest, and gratefulness) and positive reactions (e.g. acceptance and
respect) about others who practice different cultures. They also reported positive relationships in
their communities, whereby they described the people in the community as well-connected.
Using the PERMA model of well-being as the basis of analysis, participants reported a high level
of wellbeing across aspects of positive emotions, engagement, relationship, meaning, and
accomplishment. This study sheds some lights regarding Malaysians’ cultural tolerance values,
people’s relationships within multicultural communities and community well-being. |
|---|