Racial Discrimination and Anti-Racist Action: The Mediating Effects of Cultural Identities in Asian American Young Adult

Background and Purpose: According to the Sociopolitical Development theory, the experiences of racial discrimination motivate anti-racism actions. However, extant research has limited understanding of the mechanisms linking the experience of racial discrimination and anti-racism action among Asian American (AA) young adults. One prominent mechanism may be a bicultural identity (i.e., ethnic and American identities) – for example, experiencing racism may compromise a sense of Americanness, while it awakens or strengthens ethnic awareness. Bicultural identity is particularly relevant as most AA young adults are children of immigrants and undergo a bicultural and multidimensional cultural adaptation process including developing a bicultural identity. This study investigates whether a bicultural identity, respectively ethnic and American identities, serves as a mediator that in turn shapes the ways in which AA young adults engage in different forms of anti-racist civic actions in response to racial discrimination.

Methods: Data are from the fourth wave of the Midwest Longitudinal Study of Asian American Families project that surveyed 265 Filipino Americans (FAs; Mage=21.54) and 347 Korean Americans (KAs; Mage=21.23) between 2021 and 2022 during which the COVID pandemic provoked a surge of anti-Asian racism. Three aspects of anti-racism action were measured as outcomes, including interpersonal, communal, and political change actions. Discrimination related to the COVID-19 pandemic was measured through specific indicators: blame, assault, avoidance, and vicarious. In addition, general racial discrimination was assessed to gauge the overall experience of discrimination perpetrated by other racial groups. Path analyses were used to examine whether the relationships between different types of discrimination and three anti-racism actions were mediated by ethnic and American identities for each ethnic group.

Results: In both ethnic groups, experiencing COVID-19 and general discrimination correlated with increased anti-racism actions. In addition, for FAs, both types of racial discrimination were related to lower American identity, while ethnic identity was associated with more anti-racism actions. For KAs, general discrimination was associated with higher American identity, whereas ethnic identity was associated with more political actions. However, neither American identity nor ethnic identity significantly mediated the effects of discrimination on anti-racism actions in either group.

Conclusions/Implications: The finding indicates that both general and COVID-19 related discrimination directly encourage anti-racism actions among young Asian Americans. Although we did not observe significant mediating roles for ethnic and American identities in this process, ethnic identity emerges as a significant predictor of anti-racism actions in both studied groups. It is possible that various demographic factors, such as gender or birthplace, could differently affect these relationships. Alternatively, ethnic and American identities might act as moderators in the dynamics between racial discrimination and anti-racism actions. Further analysis on moderating effects revealed that individuals with weaker ethnic and American identities are potentially more driven to engage in anti-racism actions following experiences of racism. This study underscores the necessity to further explore the varied mechanisms by which AA young adults engage in anti-racism activities and provide clinical implication for social worker working with Asian American young adults.