Abstract
Anti-Asian xenophobia (AAX) spiked during Covid-19, exacerbating health disparities among affected groups. This study uses data from a national survey to identify predictors of AAX to enable targeting of audience segments and effective messaging to counteract Anti-Asian attitudes and behaviors. Using Intergroup Threat Theory (ITT) to pinpoint possible predictors, we find that situation specific variables such as favorability toward Trump and information seeking and avoidance behaviors consistently predict higher levels of AAX. Individual differences like being female, well-educated, and having a high tolerance for ambiguity are negatively related to AAX.
Highlights
As cases of Covid-19 spread in the United States early in 2020, so too did Anti-Asian xenophobia (AAX)
Existing health disparities are exacerbated by AAX, as fear of race-based mistreatment is added to the challenges for undocumented, non-English speaking, elderly, or low-income Asian Americans (Le, et al, 2020)
Mean scores of AAX are lower than the scale midpoint on all four measures reflecting relatively low to moderate levels of xenophobia
Summary
As cases of Covid-19 spread in the United States early in 2020, so too did Anti-Asian xenophobia (AAX). Asian American parents have created social media groups to share information about xenophobic incidents in their children’s schools (Sastry & Ban, 2020). These attitudes and behaviors and their effects are not due to prejudice or discrimination toward people as individuals, but toward people as representatives of a group (Esses & Hamilton, 2021; Tajfel & Turner, 1979). In September 2020 the U.S House of Representatives passed a resolution calling on public officials to denounce anti-Asian sentiment, to avoid spreading misinformation that puts Asians at increased risk, and for federal law enforcement agencies to do more to track and respond to cases of threats and hate crimes against Asian Americans (Yam, 2020).. As Asian elders have been regularly targeted by physical attacks, programs providing volunteers to accompany older people while they are in public have sprouted across the country (Smith, 2021)
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