Low-income Asians living in the United States: a scoping review on challenges, factors, strength, and social work implication

ABSTRACT

Despite model minority stereotypes, low-income U.S. Asians experience difficulties derived from poverty and their racial positionality. We conducted scoping review to systematically understand and synthesize the current literature on young low-income U.S. Asians. From 22 studies, five categories of challenges emerged including perceived discrimination. Factors associated with current challenges and strengths of young low-income U.S. Asians, and implications for social work are also examined. This work disputes model minority stereotypes and highlights the heterogeneity of the group. Fragmented scholarly understanding on U.S. Asians is also discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Asian American
• low-income
• model minority stereotypes
• young adulthood
• Youth

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).