COVID-19 racism, anxiety, and racial/ethnic attitudes among Asian American college students

Abstract

ABSTRACT COVID-19 represents a unique psychosocial challenge for Asian Americans, because they have been scapegoated for the virus. Accordingly, this study examined: (a) the types of racism related to COVID-19, particularly scapegoating (verbal blaming, physical shunning), reported by Asian American college students (N = 120); (b) the consequences of COVID-19 racism, particularly mental health (i.e. anxiety symptoms) and attitudes about their race/ethnicity (i.e. internalized racism and racial/ethnic pride); and (c) whether ethnic identity commitment moderated the effects of COVID-19 racism on the outcomes examined. A directed content analysis revealed the most prevalent types of COVID-19 racism being: derogatory non-verbal treatment; verbal blaming; and physical shunning. The top three most prevalent types of impact of COVID-19 racism on participants’ racial/ethnic attitudes were: racial/ethnic pride; heightened vigilance about one’s race/ethnicity; and no change. Further, regression analyses indicated that physical shunning was significantly and positively associated with anxiety symptoms; this relationship was buffered by high levels of ethnic identity commitment. The perpetual foreigner stereotype significantly predicted higher odds of internalized racism. However, verbal blaming significantly predicted higher odds of racial/ethnic pride when high levels of ethnic identity commitment were present. These results highlight the importance of studying COVID-19 racism and associated psychological concerns.