Counter-Effects of Ethnic and Racial Identity (ERI) as a Buffer against Perceived Racial Discrimination among Asian Immigrants

ABSTRACT

This study explores the moderating role of Ethnic and Racial Identity (ERI) in the relations between perceived racial discrimination and Asian immigrants’ psychological distress. Using survey data from 2,059 Asian immigrants in the United States, we found that perceived racial discrimination significantly predicted higher psychological distress. In addition, ethnic and racial identity (ERI) moderated the relations between perceived racial discrimination and psychological distress. 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. Implications for practice is discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnic identity
• racial identity
• racial discrimination
• psychological wellbeing
• Asian immigrants

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

IRB was exempted for the given study since data was extracted from a publicly available secondary data set.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Shinwoo Choi

Dr. Shinwoo Choi received a PhD in social work from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She earned the MSSW from Columbia University with a concentration of policy practice.

Dr. Choi has a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from McGill University in Canada. Dr. Choi’s research and teaching interests are on diversity, inclusion, and cultural competency in social work. She is interested in the effects of perceived racial discrimination including racial microaggressions on racial minority immigrants’ psychological well-being and their coping strategies.

Dr. Choi joined the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work at the University of North Florida as an Assistant Professor in August, 2017.

Suzie Weng

Dr. Suzie Weng joined the School of Social Work faculty as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in fall 2017. Her research focuses on access to and utilization of social services through a cultural lens both in terms of barriers and interventions. Prior to joining the CSULB faculty, Dr. Weng taught in the BSW program at the University of North Florida. While in Florida, Dr. Weng served as a consultant for Asian American organizations and was a board member for Project for Healing, an organization that provides mental health services for refugees.

Hyejoon Park

Hyejoon Park is an Assistant Professor in the Pittsburg State University Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences. She received her PhD in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her M.A. in Social Work from the University of Michigan, as well as an M.A. in Education (Human Development & Psychology) from Harvard University. Her research interests include child health (psychosocial health and obesity) and the educational needs of children from low-income ethnic-minority families, evaluation of school and community services and programs (e.g., mentoring programs, childcare services, head start programs, After- school programs), welfare and social policies for immigrant families, and Relative/Kinship-care.

Jooyoung Hong

Dr. Jooyoung Hong earned a PhD in Special Education at the University of Kansas. Dr. Hong’s research and teaching focus on family quality of life and family-professional partnerships for immigrants and CLD (culturally and linguistically diverse) families. Prior to joining the University of North Florida as an Adjunct Faculty of Exceptional Deaf and Interpreter Department in 2019, Dr. Hong served as an Assistant Professor of Education at Houghton College, NY.