Countereffects of Ethnic and Racial Identity (ERI) As a Buffer Against Perceived Racial Discrimination Among Asian Immigrants

Background and Purpose: Asian immigrants used to be a relatively small portion of the U.S. population (Pew Research Center, 2013). However, during the recent 10 years, the number of Asian immigrants has been growing steadily (Malik, May 21, 2015). Perceived racial discrimination is known to have detrimental effects on one’s well-being in terms of physical (Pascoe & Richman, 2009) and psychological health (Pieterse, Todd, Neville, & Carter, 2011). It is one of the significant stressors that racial minority individuals commonly experience (Pascoe & Richman, 2009). According to Stress and Coping theory (Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), individuals try to cope with stressful event by utilizing their resources. Ethnic and racial identity (ERI) has been studied as a coping strategy against the detrimental impact of racial discrimination. This study explores the moderating role of Ethnic and Racial Identity (ERI) in the relations between perceived racial discrimination and Asian immigrants' psychological well-being.

Methods:Using survey data from 2,059 Asian immigrants, we found that perceived racial discrimination significantly predicted poor psychological well-being. In addition, racial and ethnic identification moderated the relations between perceived racial discrimination and two indicators of psychological well-being, psychological distress and self-rated mental health respectively.

Results: Respondents’ individual characteristics, including gender, household income, and marital status were contributing factors to the level of psychological distress. Female immigrants were more likely to experience lower levels of psychological distress compared to male immigrants (B= .196, p ≤ .01; 95% CI [-1.035– -.246]). In terms of the household income, those who were earning more than $75,000 (B= -.726, p ≤ .05; 95% CI [-1.375 - -.077]) were more likely to experience low psychological distress compared to those whose income was below $15,000. Unexpectedly, ethnic and racial identity did not buffer Asian immigrants the negative mental health effects of perceived racial discrimination.The association was moderated, but in a negative way (OR= .488, p ≤ .1; 95% CI [-1.486 - .053]).

Conclusions and Implications: A heightened ethnic and racial identity might intensify the stress that comes from racial discrimination. If someone strongly identifies with their racial group, this identification may emphasize that they are different from the dominant group (Phinney, 1991). Since ethnic and racial identity is a complicated concept, it is important to unpack the process carefully. Future studies can adopt different methods to explore the complicated processes of ethnic and racial identity. For implications, mental health providers should be cautious when providing services related to this topic. Since having a high ethnic and racial identity can trigger heightened reaction towards racism, simply encouraging individuals to develop their racial and ethnic identification may not be a final solution.