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...

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Main Authors: Mitshel Lino, Intan Hashimah Mohd Hashim
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17043/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17043/1/44466-143358-1-PB.pdf
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author Mitshel Lino,
Intan Hashimah Mohd Hashim,
author_facet Mitshel Lino,
Intan Hashimah Mohd Hashim,
author_sort Mitshel Lino,
building UKM Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description 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.
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spelling oai:generic.eprints.org:170432021-07-13T01:49:33Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17043/ Cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in Malaysian multicultural communities Mitshel Lino, Intan Hashimah Mohd Hashim, 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. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia 2020 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17043/1/44466-143358-1-PB.pdf Mitshel Lino, and Intan Hashimah Mohd Hashim, (2020) Cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in Malaysian multicultural communities. Geografia : Malaysian Journal of Society and Space, 16 (4). pp. 235-249. ISSN 2180-2491 https://ejournals.ukm.my/gmjss/issue/view/1357
spellingShingle Mitshel Lino,
Intan Hashimah Mohd Hashim,
Cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in Malaysian multicultural communities
title Cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in Malaysian multicultural communities
title_full Cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in Malaysian multicultural communities
title_fullStr Cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in Malaysian multicultural communities
title_full_unstemmed Cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in Malaysian multicultural communities
title_short Cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in Malaysian multicultural communities
title_sort cultural tolerance, positive relationships and well-being in malaysian multicultural communities
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17043/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17043/
http://journalarticle.ukm.my/17043/1/44466-143358-1-PB.pdf