Psychological Implications of a Silent Reality

The growth of the Asian American community in the United States has been paralleled by an alarming increase in documented incidents of anti-Asian harassment and ethnoviolence. Although logic sugests that racism may have mental health implications for Asian Americans, the psychological literature has yet to investigate the topic in any systematic manner. As a result, seemingly critical questions such as the types of racism that Asian Americans encounter, the manner in which Asian Americans cope with racism, and the psychological impact of racism remain lartely unanswered.

To bridge the empirical gaps in the lterature, the primary goal of the current project is to investigate:

1. Asian Americans' experiences with various forms of racism (individual, institutional, cultural, vicarious);
2. The manner in which they cope with racism;
3. The mental health outcomes of experiencing racism (collective self-esteem, depression), and;
4. The demographic and psychological variables that may moderate one's experiences with racism (racial identity, generational status, ethnicity).

This project involves two studies, one qualitative and another quantitative, over a period of four years.

The quantitative study will involve administering measures of racial identity, perceptions of racism, race-related stress, coping, depression and collective self esteem to a community-based sampled (N=315) of Chinese-Americans, Pilipino-Americans, and Vietnamese Americans.

The qualitative study will consist of in-depth, semi-structured interviews with participants recruited from the quantitative study in a 3x2 factorial design balanced by ethnicity (Chinese, Pilipino, Vietnamese) and generational status (first generation and second generation or higher).

It is anticipated that the results of the project will illuminate the racial experiences of a community that has generally been overlooked as well as sensitize practitioners, researchers and professionas-in-training to the manner in which racism influences the psychological functioning of Asian Americans.