Discrimination in the United States: Experiences of Asian Americans

Abstract

Objective To examine experiences of racial discrimination among Asian Americans, which broadly contribute to poor health outcomes. Data Source and Study Design Data come from a nationally representative, probability‐based telephone survey, including 500 Asian and a comparison group of 902 white US adults, conducted January to April 2017. Methods We calculated the percent of Asian Americans reporting discrimination in several domains, including health care. We used logistic regression to compare the Asian‐white difference in odds of discrimination, and among Asians only to examine variation by geographic heritage group (South Asian versus East Asian) and gender. Principal Findings 13 percent of Asians reported discrimination in healthcare encounters. At least one in four adults reported experiencing discrimination in employment (27 percent job applications, 25 percent equal pay/promotions); housing (25 percent); and interpersonal interactions (35 percent microaggressions, 32 percent racial slurs). In unadjusted models, East and South Asians were more likely than whites to report experiences of institutional discrimination, and South Asians were more likely than whites to report microaggressions. In adjusted models, Asians had higher odds than whites of reporting avoiding health care due to discrimination concerns and also when obtaining housing. Conclusions Asians in the United States experience discrimination interpersonally and across many institutional settings, including housing and health care. South Asians may be especially vulnerable to forms of institutional discrimination and microaggressions. These results illustrate a need for greater investigation into the unique experiences of Asian subgroups and greater protections for groups at higher risk of discrimination, within health care and beyond.

Increased Self-Reported Discrimination and Concern for Physical Assault Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic in Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, and Filipino Americans

“…The disparities in prevalence and magnitude of these experiences among different Asian American ethnic subgroups, would be expected given the heterogeneous socioeconomic and cultural characteristics and history of discrimination among Asian Americans. [18][19][20] The differences among Asian American subgroups in this study illustrates the need for better approaches to studying Asian American populations throughout research, such as disaggregation of data on Asian Americans, especially in studies focusing on the diverse Asian American population in the US. 12,21,22 Future studies should further explore this approach in order to assess the impact of the pandemic on the Asian American population.…”

Hypocognition and the Invisibility of Social Privilege

“…In contemporary terms, why do members of dominant social groups see less privilege in their lives than that perceived by subordinate groups? To be sure, discrimination and prejudice still exist in contemporary society, and is observable and measurable (Bleich et al, 2019;McMurtry et al, 2019;, so why do people differ in their belief of its extent, or whether it exists at all?…”

“…Although the concept of social privilege dates back to the 19th century, a resurgence of interest emerged in the 1980s among feminist scholarship. In her seminal work on White Privilege, women's studies scholar Peggy McIntosh (1989) likened privilege to an invisible knapsack of "special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks".…”

“…Key to our analysis, advantages related to one's social privilege are as much about the absence of everyday burdens as they are the presence of conveniences. Many advantages included in the invisible knapsack of White Privilege (Mcintosh, 1989), for example, point to the lack of hassles Whites have to worry about, such as not being followed when shopping and not being asked to speak for people of their race. This absence of inconveniences is a fundamental part of what makes privilege invisible, what dominant social groups fail to perceive, and what makes dominant groups hypocognitive of their advantaged circumstance.…”

Joint Effects of Ethnic Enclave Residence and Air Pollution Exposure on Risk of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus Among Asian/Pacific Islander Women in the United States

“…However, the potentially healthy effect of residence in an ethnic enclave may not be uniform, and may differ by ancestry of the API population, evidenced by studies of low birth weight, preterm birth and gestational diabetes mellitus (11,17,18) among API women residing in ethnic enclaves. The potentially healthy effect observed among residents of ethnic enclaves, compared to residents in non-enclave areas is hypothesized to be due to low exposure to discrimination (19,20) and stress (19), which are among the key determinants of health (21)(22)(23).…”