Symposia
Culture / Ethnicity / Race
Quyen A. Do, M.Ed.
Project Director | Graduate Research Assistant | Ph.D. Student
University of Texas at San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
Emily R. Nhan, PhD
Graduate Research Assistant
University of San Francisco
Brighton, Massachusetts
Jessica A. Chen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
VA Puget Sound Health Care System; University of Washington
Seattle, Washington
Joyce P. Yang, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
University of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
Objectives. COVID-19 led to a proliferation of anti-Asian racism around the globe, ranging from reported and prosecuted hate crimes, discrimination in daily life, and harmful rhetoric in the media and from governmental sources. Empirical research on the effects of anti-Asian racism during COVID-19 on Asian Americans is in its infancy, and the collective ongoing psychological impact is not yet fully understood. The current study sought to investigate experiences of race-based traumatic stress in Asian Americans during the pandemic.
Methods. A mixed-methods approach was used to survey the experiences of discrimination and trauma symptoms in a convenience sample of 215 U.S.-based Asian-identified individuals. We used conventional qualitative content analysis to identify themes related to hate incidents and their associated psychological impact. For quantitative data analysis, nonparametric Mann-Whitney U tests were used to evaluate the difference in measures of racial microaggressions and trauma symptoms between individuals who reported experiencing discrimination and those who did not.
Results. Themes that emerged from our qualitative analysis highlighted that participants experienced anti-Asian racism from a range of individuals (friends, coworkers, strangers, and public figures) and experienced COVID-specific discrimination in daily life such as getting coughed on and being blamed for the pandemic. A few examples include "[A stranger] coughed on me saying ‘if you didn't already have COVID, I hope you do now’” and “I've been called a bat eater on social media”. Such experiences negatively impacted participants’ emotional, cognitive, and behavioral health (e.g., “I started to fear going outside”, “It’s made me more self-conscious/ashamed of my identity”). Meanwhile, these experiences also promoted positive coping such as activism and seeking support (e.g., “I have committed to spending time to create a POC startup” and “I do recall letting it out to friends or people willing to listen”). Mann-Whitney U Tests results revealed that those who experienced discrimination scored significantly higher on measures of racial microaggressions and traumatic stress symptoms.
Conclusions. Convergent findings from the study highlighted the significant and multifaceted effects of COVID-related discrimination on Asian-identified individuals. Results may inform the implementation of support programs to provide culturally-appropriate services and resources for Asian Americans impacted by discrimination during COVID-19.