Category: Updates

For more information on this presentation, please contact Aakriti Prasai.

For more information on the presentation, please contact our PIs.

https://www.cityandstateny.com/power-lists/2022/03/higher-education-power-100-driving-diversity-campus/363756/

Our CARA project is recognized in @CityAndStateNY ’s spotlight on innovative initiatives emphasizing DEI at NY colleges & universities!

Presentation summary:
In this presentation we will describe the NYU CARA research study (Covid-19, Asian Americans, Resiliency, and Allyship), a survey of 689 diverse Asian Americans about their experiences of anti-Asian discrimination, mental health, and coping in the time of Covid-19. First, we will describe the study methods and report the frequency of different experiences of anti-Asian discrimination and variation by gender, subethnic group, immigration status, and age. Second, we discuss the mental health impact of anti-Asian discrimination and common coping responses across different Asian subgroups. Finally, guided by French et al.’s (2019) Psychological Framework for Radical Healing for People of Color, we explore the implications of going beyond individual-level approaches to coping with racial trauma to target the root causes of racial oppression. We present an empirical test of a conceptual model describing how discrimination experiences can lead to greater racial awareness, empowerment, and participation in collective action (civic engagement and political activism) as a route to healing, transformation, and social change. The clinical implications of these findings will be discussed.

https://www.pearlny.org/event-details/the-4th-annual-pearl-conference-opportunities-and-challenges

Project title – Asian American Responses to Racism in the time of COVID-19: Macro-Contextual and Individual Predictors of Discrimination, Intergroup Attitudes, and Collective Action to Address Racial Inequality

Principal Investigator: Dr. Doris F. Chang, Associate Professor, NYU Silver School of Social Work.

Collaborators: Dr. Sumie Okazaki, Dr. Thu T. Nguyen, Dr. Maureen Craig

Dates of award: 9/1/2021 – 8/31/2022

Amount of award: $56,000

Study description: Anti-Asian violence and harassment have escalated during the Covid-19 pandemic, catalyzed by the racial framing of the virus, and converging with a national awakening to systematic racism following the death of George Floyd. Consistent with prior research on racism and mental health, Covid-related discrimination is associated with poorer mental health outcomes in diverse Asian American samples (Cheah et al., 2021; Stop AAPI Hate Mental Health Report, 2021). However, studies rarely consider how macro-contextual factors such as ambient racial climate (including negative views of other racial groups) and community characteristics affect racialized individuals’ psychosocial experiences, intergroup relations, and collective actions aimed at addressing racial inequality.

The main aim of this study is to examine how regional variations in racial climate (as indicated by sentiment analysis of geocoded Twitter data of anti-Asian and anti-Black bias as well as solidarity and allyship across racial groups) are associated with three sets of outcomes: a) racial discrimination and mental health, b) intergroup attitudes (structural awareness, sense of belonging, political commonality/coalitional attitudes), and c) collective action and coalitional support (own-group benevolent support and political activism, Asian-Black allyship behaviors).

Taking into account the diverse immigration histories and discrimination experiences of these groups, analyses will determine how regional public discourse about race affects well-being, intergroup attitudes, and collective action.

The study will also examine how regional variations in residential segregation/integration and income inequality reflect community contexts for intergroup conflict, cooperation, and competition (Tajfel, 1982), and may be associated with the same three sets of outcomes.

Understanding the multi-level factors that shape Asian Americans’ individual and intergroup responses to racism, and subsequent civic and political engagement has important implications for community well-being and intergroup solidarity and shaping a more inclusive, equitable, and democratic society.

Links

https://socialwork.nyu.edu/news/2021/silver-center-on-data-science-and-social-equity-awards-inaugural.html

https://socialwork.nyu.edu/faculty-and-research/centers-and-institutes/c-m-silver-center.html

While the term “Asian American” encompasses multiple ethnicities, conversations about Asians in the U.S. tend to center East Asians, leaving little understanding about how different Asian American groups are comparatively racialized.

Method. An English-speaking sample of 689 Asian Americans was recruited through a Qualtrics panel in December 2020. 49.6% identified as East Asian, 22.5% as Southeast Asian, 18.6% as South Asian, 6.5% as multiracial, and 3.1% as multiethnic Asian. We asked participants to select the census-designated racial category that most Americans would assume they are when on the street. Participants also indicated if they had ever been mistaken for another race/ethnicity and named the three most common misperceptions.

Results. 97% of East Asian, 79% of South Asian, 80% of Southeast Asian, 81% of multiracial, and 77% of multiethnic participants reported that most Americans perceive their race as Asian based on census-designated categories. Additionally, over half of South Asians (60%) and multiethnic Asians (63%) reported having been mistaken for a non-Asian race/ethnicity. As race is a social construct based on shared understandings of physical characteristics, additional analyses will explore how these ambiguities of Asian Americans’ street race impact racial/ethnic identity, group belonging, and discrimination. 

Prasai. A.K., Song, H, Lee, C.S., Yoo, G, Liang, B., Okazaki, S., Chang, D.F., (2021, June). Asian or Ambiguous?: Street Race Experiences of Different Asian American Subgroups. Poster presentation at the American Psychological Association Division 45 Research Conference, Virtual.