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Much of the public discourse as well as research regarding the negative impact of COVID-19-related anti-Asian discrimination has been conducted at the broad racial group level, yet data aggregation masks critical points of diversity among Asian Americans. We conducted an online survey of 620 Asian American adults in December 2020 and examined whether there were any demographic differences–including by ethnic subgroup and Chinese street race (being Chinese or being mistaken as Chinese)–in their experiences of COVID-19-related stress, direct and vicarious discrimination, and psychological outcomes. Our analyses found that younger age was correlated with higher reports of pandemic stress, discrimination, distress, and worry. Female and U.S.-born participants reported higher levels of pandemic stress and vicarious discrimination, but there were no gender or nativity differences in levels of direct discrimination. Being uninsured was also related to higher levels of pandemic stress, discrimination, and distress. East Asian Americans reported significantly lower frequencies of direct anti-Asian discrimination than did South Asian or Southeast Asian Americans, but the ethnic subgroups did not differ in their reports of vicarious discrimination. Of note, Chinese street race was not associated with either direct or vicarious discrimination. Separate hierarchical regression analyses for East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian participants revealed that, regardless of ethnicity, racial discrimination significantly contributed to psychological distress and worry beyond the effects of pandemic stress. However, the three groups varied in the demographic indicators and COVID-19 stressors that were associated with psychological outcomes. Pandemic stress was more strongly associated with negative outcomes among South Asian Americans than East Asian and Southeast Asian Americans, and neither direct nor vicarious discrimination were associated with mental health among South Asian Americans. Direct discrimination, compared to vicarious discrimination, was a particularly robust predictor of both distress and worry among East Asian Americans. For Southeast Asian Americans, direct discrimination significantly predicted higher levels of distress, whereas vicarious discrimination predicted higher levels of worry. Vicarious discrimination was not significantly related to distress across ethnic subgroups. Results suggest that practitioners and policy makers would benefit from attending to these within-group differences in Asian Americans' experiences during the pandemic.

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BACKGROUND The use of digital technology is an important component of social inclusion for migrant and refugee populations because it can help them adapt to their host country. However, researchers have yet to empirically examine how digital technology use may affect life satisfaction in migrant populations and how these populations make use of digital technology. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare life satisfaction among North Korean migrants and the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic; examine the factors associated with life satisfaction with a focus on changes in digital technology use due to COVID-19; and test the moderating effect of technological self-efficacy on the relationship between changes in digital technology use and life satisfaction. METHODS This study analyzed secondary, cross-sectional survey data from the 2020 Digital Divide Survey conducted in South Korea. We included people aged 18 years and older from the North Korean migrants (n=699) and the general population (n=6,520) subsamples of the survey. The relationship between changes in digital technology use and life satisfaction in these two groups was examined using ordinary least squares regression. We also examined the moderating effect between the change in the use of each type of digital technology (five types: social media, life services, information sharing services, civic engagement, and consumption services) and technological self-efficacy. RESULTS There were no statistically significant differences in average scores for life satisfaction and technological self-efficacy between North Korean migrants and the general population. Technological self-efficacy had a positive effect on life satisfaction in both North Korean migrants (β=0.248, standard deviation=0.036) and the general population (β=0.283, standard deviation=0.009) when socio-demographic factors were not controlled (p<0.05). The increase in the use of online civic engagement among North Korean migrants during the COVID-19 pandemic (compared with pre-COVID-19 pandemic) had a positive impact on life satisfaction. The increase in the use of online life services and social media in the general population (compared with pre-COVID-19 pandemic) had a negative impact on life satisfaction. CONCLUSIONS Policy intervention is necessary to promote technological self-efficacy in North Korean migrants and improve their digital technology use. North Korean migrants should receive periodic and systematic digital technology use training in community-based organizations. The use of digital technology is likely to lead to positive psychosocial adaptation outcomes for North Korean migrants. Considering the potential benefits of TSE for North Korean migrants, as well as what the current information-focused education programs have to offer, added psychological factors are even more critical.

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