Responses to Racial Discrimination in Asian American Parents and Youth

项目摘要

PROJECT ABSTRACT Asian Americans are the fastest growing racial group in the U.S., yet the pressing need to address mental health has been woefully underrecognized, with little resources designated to address these concerns. Asian American adolescents report the highest level of racial discrimination by peers relative to other racial groups, a major issue given the robust relationship between discrimination and mental health. Critically, Anti-Asian discrimination and assaults have increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic with blame cast on Asians for bringing about the pandemic. Despite the urgent needs and the concerns expressed by parents about discrimination, few studies have examined how Asian American parents and adolescents recognize and respond to anti-Asian racial discrimination. Through survey and virtual videotaped observations that take place in their homes, our project will examine how Chinese American parents and adolescents determine whether an incident is discriminatory and problematic. Through the sample of 116 dyads, we will also study how Chinese American parents and their adolescent children (16-18 years) talk about racial bias. Parents and children are asked to discuss what they would do when confronted by a hypothetical scenario with which they are the target of an act of racial bias (e.g., being blamed for the COVID-19 pandemic in a public space). Our objective is to describe the ability to recognize and the means in which parents and adolescents respond emotionally and behaviorally to such a situation. Both non-verbal and verbal content obtained from the observational sessions will be captured. These include analysis of emotional expressions as well as what parents and adolescents state they would do in such a situation (e.g., explain to the perpetrator that they are wrong, use humor). We will also examine any suggestions or expectations that parents and adolescents would have for one another if such an encounter were to occur. We will examine how parent and youth characteristics (their report of discrimination, ethnic identity) and the parent-child communication style accounts for observed behaviors. How these behaviors relate to self-reported parent and youth mental health and adjustment (depression and anxiety symptoms, and self-esteem) will be determined. Observational studies on parent-child conversations about encountering racial bias against their own group is rare and has not been conducted with Asian American families. This project is novel as the observational approach lays the groundwork for understanding specific features in the response to racial bias.