I Am Not A Virus: Status-Based Rejection Sensitivity and Sleep Among East Asian People in the United States During COVID-19

Abstract

As COVID-19 spread in the United States, anti-East Asian bias increased. This article aimed to (1) show that thinking about COVID-19 heightened East Asian individuals’ anxious expectations of discrimination and (2) explore these expectations’ health correlates. Specifically, the paper focused on COVID-19-triggered race-based rejection sensitivity, defined as (1) East Asian individuals’ expectations of rejection due to the stereotype that they spread the virus and (2) high levels of anxiety about this possibility. Study 1 (N = 412) showed that reminders of COVID-19 increased COVID-19-triggered race-based rejection sensitivity among Chinese citizens living in the United States and East Asian Americans, but not Americans of other races. Study 2 (N = 473) demonstrated that East Asian people who habitually focused on COVID-19 experienced greater COVID-19-triggered race-based rejection sensitivity and, in turn, greater sleep difficulties. Thus, societal-level shifts that target minoritized groups may increase minoritized group members’ concerns about discrimination in ways that undermine their health.

Keywords

minority stress East Asians sleep race-based rejection sensitivity

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

, & (2020, April 22). Asian Americans already face a mental health crisis. Coronavirus racism could make it worse. The Philadelphia Inquirer. https://www.inquirer.com/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-racism-asian-americans-remental-health-20200422.html

Barnes

C. M.

Drake

C. L.

(2015). Prioritizing sleep health: Public health policy recommendations. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(6), 733–737. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691615598509

Buysse

D. J.

Reynolds

C. F.

Monk

T. H.

Berman

S. R.

Kupfer

D. J.

(1989). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: A new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Research, 28(2), 193–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-1781(89)90047-4

Carnethon

M. R.

De Chavez

P. J.

Zee

P. C.

Kim

K.-Y. A.

Liu

Goldberger

J. J.

Knutson

K. L.

(2016). Disparities in sleep characteristics by race/ethnicity in a population-based sample: Chicago Area Sleep Study. Sleep Medicine, 18, 50–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2015.07.005

Chan

Mendoza-Denton

(2008). Status-based rejection sensitivity among Asian Americans: Implications for psychological distress. Journal of Personality, 76(5), 1317–1346. https://doi.org.off/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00522.x

Chen

J. A.

Zhang

Liu

C. H.

(2020). Potential impact of COVID-19–related racial discrimination on the health of Asian Americans. American Journal of Public Health, 110(11), 1624–1627. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305858

Chen

Wang

Zee

Lutsey

P. L.

Javaheri

Alcántara

Jackson

C. L.

Williams

M. A.

Redline

(2015). Racial/ethnic differences in sleep disturbances: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). Sleep, 38(6), 877–888. https://doi.org/10.5665/sleep.4732

Cohen

(2020). Psychosocial vulnerabilities to upper respiratory infectious illness: Implications for susceptibility to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16(1), 161–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691620942516

Curcio

Ferrara

Gennaro

L. G.

(2006). Sleep loss, learning capacity and academic performance. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 10(5), 232–337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2005.11.001

10.

Darling-Hammond

Flook

Cook-Harvey

Barron

Osher

(2020). Implications for educational practice of the science of learning and development. Applied Developmental Science, 24(2), 97–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888691.2018.1537791

11.

Dietch

J. R.

Taylor

D. J.

Sethi

Kelly

Bramoweth

A. D.

Roane

B. M.

(2016). Psychometric evaluation of the PSQI in U.S. college students. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 12(8), 1121–1129. https://doi.org/10.5664/jcsm.6050

12.

Disha

Cavendish

J. C.

King

R. D.

(2011). Historical events and spaces of hate: Hate crimes against Arabs and Muslims in post-9/11 America. Social Problems, 58(1), 21–46. https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.2011.58.1.21

13.

Dyar

Feinstein

B. A.

Eaton

N. R.

London

(2016). Development and initial validation of the sexual minority women rejection sensitivity scale. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 40(1), 120–137. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684315608843

14.

Ellerbeck

(April 28, 2020). Over 30 percent of Americans have witnessed COVID-19 bias against Asians, poll says. NBC. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian.https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mzNEU2ebTF_5OZUon-ovrt36x22nXcuE/viewamerica/over-30-americans-have-witnessed-covid-19-bias-against-asians-n

15.

Express Scripts. (Apr 16, 2020). America’s State of Mind Report. https://www.express-scripts.com/corporate/americas-state-of-mind-report

16.

Faul

Erdfelder

Buchner

Lang

A. G.

(2009). Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior Research Methods, 41, 1149–1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149

17.

Garrison

S. M.

Doane

M. J.

Elliott

(2018). Gay and lesbian experiences of discrimination, health, and well-being: Surrounding the presidential election. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 9(2), 131–142. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550617732391

18.

Gonzalez

K. A.

Ramirez

J. L.

Galupo

M. P.

(2018). Increase in GLBTQ minority stress following the 2016 US presidential election. Journal of GLBT Family Studies, 14(1–2), 130–151. https://doi.org/10.1080/1550428X.2017.1420849

19.

Gordon

A. M.

Prather

A. A.

Dover

Espino-Pérez

Small

Major

(2020). Anticipated and experienced ethnic/racial discrimination and sleep: A longitudinal study. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(12), 1724–1735. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167220928859

20.

Hahm

H. C.

Scott

J. C.

Wongchai

Chen

J. A.

Liu

C. H.

(2021). Perceived COVID-19-related anti-Asian discrimination predicts post traumatic stress disorder symptoms among Asian and Asian American young adults. Psychiatry Research, 303, 114084. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114084

21.

Ipsos. (April 28, 2020). New Center for Public Integrity/Ipsos poll finds most Americans say the coronavirus pandemic is a natural disaster. https://www.ipsos.com/en-us/news-polls/center-for-public-integrity-poll-2020

22.

Itkowitz

(June 23, 2020). Trump again uses racially insensitive term to describe coronavirus. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-again-uses-kung-flu-to-describe-coronavirus/2020/06/23/0ab5a8d8-b5a9-11ea-aca5-ebb63d27e1ff_story.html

23.

Jeung

(2020). Incidents of coronavirus discrimination, March 19-25, 2020: A report for A3PCON and CAA. http://www.asianpacificpolicyandplanningcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/A3PCON_Public_Weekly_Report_3.pdf

24.

Jeung

Gowing

Takasaki

(2020, March 2). News accounts of COVID—19 xenophobia types of xenophobic reactions, January 28—February 24, 2020: A report for A3PCON and CAA. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gkrjw4tfOQLoF_T2YztgExtzexGi0jNX/view

25.

Johnson

D. A.

Jackson

C. L.

Williams

N. J.

Alcantara

(2019). Are sleep patterns influenced by race/ethnicity—A marker of relative advantage or disadvantage? Evidence to date. Nature and Science of Sleep, 11, 79–95. https://doi.org/10.2147/NSS.S169312

26.

Kaiser

H. F.

(1960). The application of electronic computers to factor analysis. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 20, 141–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/001316446002000116

27.

Kawai

(2005). Stereotyping Asian Americans: The dialectic of the Model Minority and the Yellow Peril. Howard Journal of Communications, 16(2), 109–130. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646170590948974

28.

Kupferschmidt

(May. 11, 2015). Discovered a disease? WHO has new rules for avoiding offensive names. American Association for the Advancement of Science. https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/05/discovered-disease-who-has-new-rules-avoiding-offensive-names

29.

Lauderdale

D. S.

(2006). Birth outcomes for Arabic-named women in California before and afterSeptember 11. Demography, 43(1), 185–201. https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2006.0008

30.

Lemmer

Gollwitzer

(2017). The “true” indirect effect won’t (always) stand up: When and why reverse mediation testing fails. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 69, 144–149. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2016.05.002

31.

Lempinen

(May 15, 2020). Most Californians blame China for COVID-19, reject “racialized” labels, poll finds. Berkeley Research. https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/news/most-californians-blame-china-covid-19-reject-racialized-labels-poll-finds

32.

Lewis

T. T.

Lampert

Charles

Katz

(2019). Expectations of racism and carotid intima-media thickness in African American women. Psychosomatic Medicine, 81(8), 759–768. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000684

33.

London

Downey

Romero-Canyas

Rattan

Tyson

(2012). Gender-based rejection sensitivity and academic self-silencing in women. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(5), 961–979. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026615

34.

Lou

N. M.

Noels

K. A.

Kurl

Zhang

Y. S. D.

Young-Leslie

(2022). COVID discrimination experience: Chinese Canadians’ social identities moderate the effect of personal and group discrimination on well-being. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000519

35.

Mansfield-Richardson

(2000). Asian Americans and the mass media. Routledge.

36.

Mendoza-Denton

Downey

Purdie

V. J.

Davis

Pietrzak

(2002). Sensitivity to status-based rejection: Implications for African American students’ college experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(4), 896–918. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.4.896

37.

Meyer

I. H.

(1995). Minority stress and mental health in gay men. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 36(1), 38–56. https://doi.org/10.2307/2137286

38.

Meyer

I. H.

(2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: Conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674–697. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674

39.

Nakamura

(June 24, 2020). With “kung flu,” Trump sparks backlash over racist language — and a rallying cry for supporters. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/with-kung-flu-trump-sparks-backlash-over-racist-language-and-a-rallying-cry-for-supporters/2020/06/24/485d151e-b620-11ea-aca5-ebb63d27e1ff_story.html

40.

National Sleep Foundation. (n.d.). Sleep guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-guidelines-covid-19-isolation

41.

Ong

A. D.

Cerrada

Lee

R. A.

Williams

D. R.

(2017). Stigma consciousness, racial microaggressions, and sleep disturbance among Asian Americans. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 8(1), 72–81. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000062

42.

Page-Gould

Mendoza

D. R.

Mendes

W. B.

(2014). Stress and coping in interracial contexts: The influence of race-based rejection sensitivity and cross-group friendship in daily experiences of health. Journal of Social Issues, 70(2), 256–278. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12059

43.

Perry

G. S.

Patil

S. P.

Presley-Cantrell

L. R.

(2013). Raising awareness of sleep as a healthy behavior. Preventing Chronic Disease, 10, 130081. https://doi.org/10.5888/pcd10.130081

44.

Pittman

D. M.

Cho Kim

Hunter

C. D.

Obasi

E. M.

(2017). The role of minority stress in second-generation Black emerging adult college students’ high-risk drinking behaviors. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 23(3), 445–455. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000135

45.

Pomfret

(Feb. 5, 2020). The coronavirus reawakens old racist tropes against Chinese people. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/02/05/coronavirus-reawakens-old-racist-tropes-against-chinese-people/

46.

Posner

(2020, April 15). Webcast: COVID-19, how to avoid chronic sleep problems before they get started [Video file]. https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/coronavirus-disease-covid-19/advice-for-sleeping-well-during-the-covid-19-outbreak

47.

Rheinschmidt

M. L.

Mendoza-Denton

(2014). Social class and academic achievement in college: The interplay of rejection sensitivity and entity beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(1), 101–121. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0036553

48.

Rheinschmidt-Same

John-Henderson

N. A.

Mendoza-Denton

(2017). Ethnically-based theme house residency and expected discrimination predict downstream markers of inflammation among college students. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 8(1), 102–111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550616662130

49.

Richard

F. D.

Bond

C. F.

Jr. Stokes-Zoota

J. J.

(2003). One hundred years of social psychology quantitatively described. Review of General Psychology, 7(4), 331–363. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.7.4.331

50.

Ruel

Campbell

R. T.

(2006). Homophobia and HIV/AIDS: Attitude change in the face of an epidemic. Social Forces, 84(4), 2167–2178. https://doi.org/10.1353/sof.2006.0110

51.

Sadeghi

(2018). Racial boundaries, stigma, and the re-emergence of “always being foreigners”: Iranians and the refugee crisis in Germany. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 42(10), 1613–1631. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2018.1506145

52.

Samari

Catalano

Alcalá

H. E.

Gemmill

(2020). The Muslim Ban and preterm birth: Analysis of U.S. vital statistics data from 2009 to 2018. Social Science & Medicine, 265, 113544. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.113544

53.

Slimowicz

Siev

Brochu

P. M.

(2020). Impact of status-based rejection sensitivity on depression and anxiety symptoms in gay men. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 1546. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051546

54.

Slopen

Lewis

T. T.

Williams

D. R.

(2016). Discrimination and sleep: A systematic review. Sleep Medicine, 18, 88–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2015.01.012

55.

Thoits

P. A.

(1995). Stress, coping, and social support processes: Where are we? What next? Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 35, 53–79. https://doi.org/10.2307/2626957

56.

Woo

(2000). Glass ceilings and Asian Americans: The new face of workplace barriers. AltaMira Press.

57.

Qian

Wilkes

(2021). Anti-Asian discrimination and the Asian-white mental health gap during COVID-19. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 44, 819–835. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2020.1851739

58.

F. H.

(2002). Yellow: Race in America beyond Black and White. Basic Books.

59.

Yip

Chung

Chae

D. H.

(2022). Vicarious racism, ethnic/racial identity, and sleep among Asian Americans. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000534

60.

Zou

L. X.

Cheryan

(2017). Two axes of subordination: A new model of racial position. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112(5), 696–717. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000080