The COVID-19 pandemic provoked a spike in racial discrimination and hate crimes against Asians in the U.S. Although research substantiates the harmful impact of discrimination on health and mental health, limited research has examined how it influences civic engagement among Asian American young adults. Using cross-sectional data from the Midwestern U.S., this study investigated how the experience of anti-Asian racism was associated with civic engagement among Filipino Americans (n = 260; Mage = 22) and Korean Americans (n = 340; Mage = 21) during the pandemic. Results showed that Filipino American women reported more COVID-19 related racial discrimination than Filipino American men. Women, regardless of ethnicity, exhibited more civic engagement than men. Various forms of COVID-19 discrimination were associated with more civic engagement in both groups, except that assault was associated with less civic engagement among Korean Americans. The study results underscore the importance of providing tailored resources for targeted Asian American subgroups to promote continued civic engagement.
AldanaA.BañalesJ.Richards-SchusterK. (2019). Youth anti-racist engagement: Conceptualization, development, and validation of an anti-racism action scale. Adolescent Research Review, 4(4), 369–381. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-019-00113-1
BennerA. D.WangY.ShenY.BoyleA. E.PolkR.ChengY. P. (2018). Racial/ethnic discrimination and well-being during adolescence: A meta-analytic review. American Psychologist, 73(7), 855–883. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000204
BuiC. N.KimK.SongQ.JangY. (2023). Political participation among middle-aged and older Asian Americans. Research on Aging, 45(1), 104–114. https://doi.org/10.1177/01640275221113036
9.
ChaeD. H.YipT.MartzC. D.ChungK.RichesonJ. A.HajatA.CurtisD. S.RogersL. O.LaVeistT. A. (2021). Vicarious racism and vigilance during the COVID-19 pandemic: Mental health implications among Asian and black Americans. Public Health Reports, 136(4), 508–517. https://doi.org/10.1177/00333549211018675
10.
ChangM. J.ParkJ. J.LinM. H.PoonO. A.NakanishiD. T. (2007). Beyond myths: The growth and diversity of Asian American college freshmen, 1971-2005. Higher Education Research Institute.
11.
ChenJ. A.ZhangE.LiuC. 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
12.
ChoiY.KimT. Y.NohS.LeeJ. P.TakeuchiD. T. (2018). Culture and family process: Measures of familism for Filipino and Korean American parents. Family Process, 57(4), 1029–1048. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12322
13.
ChoiY.ParkM.NohS.LeeJ. P.TakeuchiD. T. (2020). Asian American mental health: Longitudinal trend and explanatory factors among Filipino and Korean Americans. Social Science & Medicine: Population Health, 10(100542), 100711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100542
14.
ChristensB. D. (2012). Targeting empowerment in community development: A community psychology approach to enhancing local power and well-being. Community Development Journal, 47(4), 538–554. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bss031
15.
CofféH.BolzendahlC. (2010). Same game, different rules? Gender differences in political participation. Sex Roles, 62(5-6), 318–333. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-009-9729-y
CominoleM.RiccobonoJ.SiegelP.CavesL. (2007). 08 national postsecondary student aid study (NPSAS: 08): Full-scale methodology report (NCES 2011-188). National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education.
18.
CoocN.KimG. M. (2021). The roles of racial discrimination and English in civic outcomes for asian Americans and pacific Islanders. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 27(3), 483–494. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000443
EhrlichT. (2000). Civic responsibility and higher education, Greenwood Publishing Group.
21.
EichelbergerL. (2007). SARS and New York's chinatown: The politics of risk and blame during an epidemic of fear. Social Science & Medicine, 65(6), 1284–1295. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.04.022
22.
EscobedoL. A.MoreyB. N.Sabado-LiwagM. D.PonceN. A. (2022). Lost on the frontline, and lost in the data: COVID-19 deaths among filipinx healthcare workers in the United States. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 958530. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.958530
FinlayA. K.Wray-LakeL.FlanaganC. A. (2010). Civic engagement during the transition to adulthood: Developmental opportunities and social policies at a critical juncture. In SherrodL.Torney-PurtaJ.FlanaganC. (eds), Handbook of research on civic engagement in youth (pp. 277–305), John Wiley & Sons.
26.
FlanaganC.LevineP. (2010). Civic engagement and the transition to adulthood. The Future of Children, 20(1), 159–179. https://doi.org/10.1353/foc.0.0043
27.
FlanaganC. A.SyvertsenA. K.GillS.GallayL. S.CumsilleP. (2009). Ethnic awareness, prejudice, and civic commitments in four ethnic groups of American adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(4), 500–518. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-009-9394-z
28.
GeeG. C.SpencerM.ChenJ.YipT.TakeuchiD. T. (2007). The association between self-reported racial discrimination and 12-month DSM-IV mental disorders among Asian Americans nationwide. Social Science & Medicine, 64(10), 1984–1996. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.02.013
GoverA. R.HarperS. B.LangtonL. (2020). Anti-asian hate crime during the COVID-19 pandemic: Exploring the reproduction of inequality. American Journal of Criminal Justice: AJCJ, 45(4), 647–667. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09545-1
31.
HahmH. C.Xavier HallC. D.GarciaK. T.CavallinoA.HaY.CozierY. C.LiuC. (2021). Experiences of COVID-19-related anti-Asian discrimination and affective reactions in a multiple race sample of U.S. young adults. BMC Public Health, 21(1), 1563. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-021-11559-1
32.
HartD.DonnellyT. M.YounissJ.AtkinsR. (2007). High school community service as a predictor of adult voting and volunteering. American Educational Research Journal, 44(1), 197–219. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831206298173
33.
HimmelsteinM. S.YoungD. M.SanchezD. T.JacksonJ. S. (2015). Vigilance in the discrimination-stress model for Black Americans. Psychology and Health, 30(3), 253–267. https://doi.org/10.1080/08870446.2014.966104
34.
HoogheM.StolleD. (2004). Good girls go to the polling booth, bad boys go everywhere: Gender differences in anticipated political participation among American fourteen-year-olds. Women & Politics, 26(3-4), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1300/J014v26n03_01
35.
HopeE. C.JagersR. J. (2014). The role of sociopolitical attitudes and civic education in the civic engagement of black youth. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 24(3), 460–470. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12117
36.
HsuM. Y. (2000). Dreaming of gold, dreaming of home : Transnationalism and migration between the United States and South China, 1882-1943, Stanford University Press.
37.
IshizawaH. (2015). Civic participation through volunteerism among youth across immigrant generations. Sociological Perspectives, 58(2), 264-285. https://doi.org/10.1177/0731121414556843
38.
JunJ.KimJ. K.WooB. (2021). Fight the virus and fight the bias: Asian Americans' engagement in activism to combat anti-asian COVID-19 racism race and justice 0. https://doi.org/10.1177/2153368721105
39.
JunJ.WooB.KimJ. K.KimP. D.ZhangN. (2021). Asian Americans' communicative responses to COVID-19 discrimination in application of Co-cultural theory. Howard Journal of Communications, 32(3), 309–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/10646175.2021.1922103
40.
KasinitzP.MollenkopfJ. H.WatersM. C.HoldawayJ. (2009). Inheriting the city: The children of immigrants come of age, Russell Sage Foundation.
41.
KiangL.ChanM.LassiterR. A.ChristopheN. K.SteinG. L.JonesS. C.StevensonH. C.AndersonR. E. (2022). The silver linings of COVID-19 and racism pandemics?Asian American Journal of Psychology, 13(4), 364–374. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000289
LernerR. M.DowlingE. M.AndersonP. M. (2003). Positive youth development: Thriving as the basis of personhood and civil society. Applied Developmental Science, 7(3), 172–180. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532480XADS0703_8
46.
LienP. (2004). Asian Americans and voting participation: Comparing racial and ethnic differences in recent US elections. International Migration Review, 38(2), 493-517. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00207.x
LozadaF. T.JagersR. J.SmithC. D.BañalesJ.HopeE. C. (2017). Prosocial behaviors of Black adolescent boys: An application of a sociopolitical development theory. Journal of Black Psychology, 43(5), 493–516. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798416652021
49.
LuiP. P.ParikhK.KatediaS.JourilesE. N. (2022). Anti-Asian discrimination and antiracist bystander behaviors amid the COVID-19 outbreak. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 13(3), 295–304. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000258
50.
ManalangA. T. (2016). Religion and the “blessing” of American citizenship: Political and civic implications for post-1965 Filipino immigrants. Implicit Religion, 19(2), 283–306. https://doi.org/10.1558/imre.v19i2.28243
51.
MattisJ. S.HearnK. D.JagersR. J. (2002). Factors predicting communal attitudes among African American men. Journal of Black Psychology, 28(3), 197–214. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798402028003002
52.
MinP. G. (1996). Caught in the middle, University of California Press.
53.
MirandaR.Polanco-RomanL.TsypesA.ValderramaJ. (2013). Perceived discrimination, ruminative subtypes, and risk for depressive symptoms in emerging adulthood. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 19(4), 395–403. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033504
54.
MishraS. (2011). AAPI nexus: Policy, practice and community(1-2). Rights at Risk: South Asians in the Post-9/11 United States. AAPI. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3kx8w3kz
55.
MoreyB. N.GeeG. C.Shariff-MarcoS.YangJ.AllenL.GomezS. L. (2020). Ethnic enclaves, discrimination, and stress among Asian American women: Differences by nativity and time in the United States. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 26(4), 460–471. https://doi.org/10.1037/cdp0000322
56.
NadalK. L.Vigilia EscobarK. M.PradoG. T.DavidE. J. R.HaynesK. (2012). Racial microaggressions and the Filipino American experience: Recommendations for counseling and development. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 40(3), 156–173. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2161-1912.2012.00015.x
57.
NasolK.Francisco-MenchavezV. (2021). Filipino home care workers: Invisible frontline workers in the COVID-19 crisis in the United States. American Behavioral Scientist, 65(10), 1365–1383. https://doi.org/10.1177/00027642211000410
NazarenoJ.YoshiokaE.AdiaA. C.RestarA.OperarioD.ChoyC. C. (2021). From imperialism to inpatient care: Work differences of Filipino and White registered nurses in the United States and implications for COVID-19 through an intersectional lens. Gender, Work and Organization, 28(4), 1426–1446. https://doi.org/10.1111/gwao.12657
60.
NohS.KasparV.WickramaK. (2007). Overt and subtle racial discrimination and mental health: Preliminary findings for Korean immigrants. American Journal of Public Health, 97(7), 1269–1274. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2005.085316
61.
OkamotoD. G.TroppL. R.MarrowH. B.Jones-CorreaM. (2020). Welcoming, trust, and civic engagement: Immigrant integration in metropolitan America. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 690(1), 61–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716220927661
62.
PadillaA. M. (2008). Social cognition, ethnic identity, and ethnic specific strategies for coping with threat due to prejudice and discrimination. In Willis-EsquedaC. (Ed.), Motivational aspects of prejudice and racism (pp. 7–42), Springer.
63.
ParkE. J. W. (2003). The Los Angeles civil unrest transforms Korean American politics. In KurashigeL.MurrayA. Y. (eds), Major problems in asian American history (pp. 381–386), Houghton Mifflin.
64.
ParkJ. J.LinM. H.PoonO. A.ChangM. J. (2008). Asian American college students and civic engagement. In OngP. M. (Ed.), The state of Asian America: Trajectory of civic and political engagement (pp. 75–97), LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute.
65.
ParkM.ChoiY.YasuiM.HedekerD.Specificity, Commonality, and Generalizability in Social-Emotional Development Special Section Editors. (2021). Racial discrimination and the moderating effects of racial and ethnic socialization on the mental health of Asian American youth. Child Development, 92(6), 2284–2298. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13638
66.
PersonB.SyF.HoltonK.GovertB.LiangA.National Center for Inectious Diseases/SARS Community Outreach Team. (2004). Fear and stigma: The epidemic within the SARS outbreak. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 10(2), 358–363. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1002.030750
PhinneyJ. S.MaddenT.SantosL. J. (1998). Psychological variables as predictors of perceived ethnic discrimination among minority and immigrant adolescents. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 28(11), 937–953. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1998.tb01661.x
70.
PortesA.RumbautR. G. (2005). Introduction: The second generation and the children of immigrants longitudinal study. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 28(6), 983–999. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870500224109
71.
PutnamR. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community, Simon & Schuster.
72.
RamakrishnanS. K.BloemraadI. (2008). Civic hopes and political realities: Immigrants, community organizations, and political engagement, Russell Sage Foundation.
73.
RodríguezN. N. (2018). From margins to center: Developing cultural citizenship education through the teaching of asian American history. Theory & Research in Social Education, 46(4), 528–573. https://doi.org/10.1080/00933104.2018.1432432
SangalangC. C. (2022). I'm sick of being called a hero - I want to get paid like one”: Filipino American frontline workers' health under conditions of COVID-19 and racial capitalism. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 977955. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.977955
76.
SaundersJ. B.AaslandO. G.BaborT. F.De la FuenteJ. R.GrantM. (1993). Development of the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT): WHO collaborative project on early detection of persons with harmful alcohol consumption‐II. Addiction, 88(6), 791–804. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.1993.tb02093.x
77.
SchildL.LingC.BlackburnJ.StringhiniG.ZhangY.ZannettouS. (2020). Go eat a bat, chang. An early look on the emergence of sinophobic behavior on web communities in the face of Covid-19. arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.04046
78.
ShrestaL. B.HeislerE. J. (2011). The changing demographic profile of the United States. https://www.crs.gov
79.
StepickA.StepickC. D.LabissiereY. (2008). South Florida's immigrant youth and civic engagement: Major engagement: Minor differences. Applied Developmental Science, 12(2), 57–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888690801997036
80.
SteplerR.IshizawaH. (2018). Immigrant voices: How do patterns of expressive forms of civic engagement differ across immigrant generations?Societies Without Borders, 12(2). https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/swb/vol12/iss2/11
SueD. W.BucceriJ.LinA. I.NadalK. L.TorinoG. C. (2007). Racial microaggressions and the Asian American experience. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13(1), 72–81. https://doi.org/10.1037/1099-9809.13.1.72
83.
TannerJ. L.ArnettJ. J. (2016). Emerging adult clinical psychology. In NorcrossJ. C.VandenBrosG. R.FreedheimD. K.Domenech RodriguezM. M. (eds), APA handbook of clinical psychology: Roots and branches (pp. 127–138), American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14772-007
84.
TesslerH.ChoiM.KaoG. (2020). The anxiety of being asian American: Hate crimes and negative biases during the COVID-19 pandemic. American Journal of Criminal Justice: AJCJ, 45(4), 636–646. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-020-09541-5
85.
WattsR. J.WilliamsN. C.JagersR. J. (2003). Sociopolitical development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 31(1-2), 185–194. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1023091024140
86.
White-JohnsonR. L. (2012). Prosocial involvement among African American young adults: Considering racial discrimination and racial identity. Journal of Black Psychology, 38(3), 313–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0095798411420429
87.
WongJ. S.LienP.-T.ConwayM. M. (2005). Group-based resources and political participation among asian Americans. American Politics Research, 33(4), 545–576. https://doi.org/10.1177/1532673x04270521
88.
WongJ. S.RamakrishnanS. K.LeeT.JunnJ.WongJ. (2011). Asian American political participation: Emerging constituents and their political identities, Russell Sage Foundation.
89.
WooB.JunJ. (2022). COVID-19 racial discrimination and depressive symptoms among asian Americans: Does communication about the incident matter?Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 24(1), 78–85. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-021-01167-x
90.
Wray-LakeL.RoteW. M.GuptaT.GodfreyE.SirinS. (2015). Examining correlates of civic engagement among immigrant adolescents in the United States. Research in Human Development, 12(1-2), 10–27. https://doi.org/10.1080/15427609.2015.1010343
91.
Wray-LakeL.TangJ.VictorinoC. (2017). Are they political? Examining asian American college students’ civic engagement. Asian American Journal of Psychology, 8(1), 31–42. https://doi.org/10.1037/aap0000061
92.
WuC.QianY.WilkesR. (2020). Anti-Asian discrimination and the Asian-white mental health gap during COVID-19. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 44(5), 819–835. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2020.1851739
YipT. (2015). The effects of ethnic/racial discrimination and sleep quality on depressive symptoms and self-esteem trajectories among diverse adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 44(2), 419–430. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-014-0123-x
96.
YipT.GeeG. C.TakeuchiD. T. (2008). Racial discrimination and psychological distress: The impact of ethnic identity and age among immigrant and United States-born Asian adults. Developmental Psychology, 44(3), 787–800. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.44.3.787
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
