Search

Bullying is a persistent yet overlooked problem facing Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth in California. In this report, we pinpoint, for the first time, AAPI groups at highest risk of bullying. Further, we identify which regions have the highest rates of anti-AAPI bullying. Finally, we examine ways to combat anti-AAPI bullying, focusing on what schools can do to improve their school climates and ways districts can strengthen their anti-bullying resources geared toward AAPI students and families. Our findings are based on statewide data from the California Healthy Kids Survey that includes over 300,000 AAPI youth in 9th and 11th grades who were surveyed between the 2015 and 2021 school years.

Examining racial-ethnic socialization (RES) during middle childhood and early adolescence (ages 6-12) is critical because, during this period, Asian American children are developing a sense of racial-ethnic identity (REI) and awareness of racial bias. This dissertation includes two studies that qualitatively examined children’s REI development and awareness of racial bias, and how Asian American parents’ RES efforts informed these developmental processes. Both studies draw from a diverse sample of 68 Asian American parents (Mage = 43.4 years, SD = 5.0, age range = 28-56) and 68 Asian American children (Mage = 8.9 years, SD = 1.9) who completed parent and child interviews. Data were analyzed using a thematic coding process.Study 1 examined how Asian American parents’ beliefs and motivations informed the way they engaged in conversations about race and racism with their children. Two-thirds of parents shared that they had engaged in conversations about race and racism, using approaches like preparation for bias, proactive racial socialization, and collective racial socialization. A third of parents shared that they were waiting to talk about race and racism with their children because they wanted to shield their children from knowing about racism or wanted to de-emphasize racism to protect their children’s well-being. Qualitative differences in approaches by generational status and family racial-ethnic make-up (i.e., monoracial, multiracial) are discussed. Study 2 focused on Asian American children’s developing REI and awareness of racial bias, and how parental RES supported these developmental processes. Children were making sense of their REI through both tangible and social meanings, and many were aware of racial bias. Parents’ RES approaches were reflective of their children’s proximal contexts and macro-level events. Concordance was common among children’s REI meaning-making and parents’ cultural socialization practices, and examples of concordance and discordanc

Using data from Vietnamese-origin older immigrants/refugees in the Houston, Texas area, we assessed their overall health, chronic conditions, disability, depressive symptoms, and cognitive impairment, and examined the association between their chronic conditions and disability by comorbidity clusters. The mean age of the sample was 76 years old. The majority were married in fair/poor health with several chronic conditions and disabilities and lived with families in low-income households. Hypertension and arthritis were the most common health conditions, but cognitive impairment had the most significant impact on their disability. They experienced similar health conditions to other older Americans but had higher rates of depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment possibly due to cultural factors that may have delayed mental health treatment. Culturally and linguistically tailored services created by policymakers, healthcare professionals, and local social service agencies are recommended for the well-being of immigrants/refugees who migrated to the U.S. for a better life.

Neoliberalism continues to exacerbate systemic racism and restricts efforts to address racial and social justice issues. Consequently, there has not only been an increase of public concern, but students are constantly driven to organize around their experiences. Asian American students are currently and have historically been one of these communities engaging in activism. Yet, there continues to be ongoing and pervasive misconceptions that they do not encounter any challenges related to race contributing the dismissal of their voices and experiences in postsecondary education. Consequently, scholarship surrounding Asian American student activists is still developing and there is still much to be explored in understanding their racialized experiences.Through a critical qualitative inquiry, this dissertation study aimed to understand how neoliberalism shapes the experiences of Asian American college student activists. Findings revealed two core categories 1) how aspects of neoliberal culture were experienced by activists and 2) how it shaped the ways students navigated their activist work. The first category contained five subsequent sub-themes: 1) profit motives over people, 2) a culture of precarity, 3) an ethos of self-interest, 4) normalized exploitation of People of Color, and 5) advanced hyper-surveillance systems. The second category revealed an additional five sub-themes: 1) contextualizing students’ activism and advocacy, 2) encompassing collectivist approaches to activism, 3) strategically engaging in the university, 4) dealing with activism pressures, and 5) prioritizing refusal and rest.By engaging neoliberal frameworks in a rigorous empirical project, it deepened our collective understanding of how racialization of Asian Americans and neoliberalism are not mutually exclusive. It also provided critical insight and essential knowledge about how neoliberalism can be detrimental to students so we can better support and foster their development. This topic als

This dissertation examines the role of Congress in the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. From 1941 until 1946, Congress was the most active and influential branch of the federal government in shaping government policies towards Japanese Americans and defining their public image. As this dissertation shows, it was members of Congress who submitted the first proposals for the forced removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast, and called for their indefinite detention. Along the way, my project offers a new history on Asian American lobbyists and their role in shaping immigration policy. While members in Congress called for the imprisonment of the West Coast Japanese American community, the halls of the House and Senate offered Japanese Americans a forum to present their viewpoint. Over the course of the war, members of the Japanese American Citizens League lobbied Congress to present the views of the Japanese American community and dispel anti-Japanese rumors of coddling in the camps, and supported the efforts of Japanese Americans leaving the camps.

The health of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) is uniquely impacted by structural and social determinants of health (SSDH) shaped by immigration policies and colonization practices, patterns of settlement, and racism. These SSDH also create vast heterogeneity in disease risks across the AANHPI population, with some ethnic groups having high disease burden, often masked with aggregated data. Longitudinal cohort studies are an invaluable tool to identify risk factors of disease, and epidemiologic cohort studies among AANHPI populations have led to seminal discoveries of disease risk factors. This review summarizes the limited but growing literature, with a focus on SSDH factors, from seven longitudinal cohort studies with substantial AANHPI samples. We also discuss key information gaps and recommendations for the next generation of AANHPI cohorts, including oversampling AANHPI ethnic groups; measuring and innovating on measurements of SSDH; emphasizing the involvement of scholars from diverse disciplines; and, most critically, engaging community members to ensure relevancy for public health, policy, and clinical impact.

Information communication technologies (ICTs) are increasingly vital for older adults, helping manage health, finances, services, and social connections. However, older Asian Americans exhibit disparities in technology use compared to non-Hispanic Whites. During the COVID pandemic, those without digital access faced additional health disparities. Factors such as ethnicity, limited English proficiency (LEP), self-rated health, and subjective cognitive decline have been shown to influence ICT use among older adults. Additionally, ICT use is associated with reduced loneliness among older adults. However, these relationships have not been investigated in the context of older Asian Americans, despite their heightened relevance given that older Asian Americans disproportionately report LEP, poor health, and limited social and emotional support.The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), focusing on perceived usefulness (PU) and ease of use (PEOU), is a key framework for studying technology adoption. While the TAM has been applied to various older adult demographic groups, it has not been applied to older Asian Americans. Integrating demographic and health factors into the TAM may improve predictions of ICT use and deepen understanding of the complex relationship between technology acceptance and loneliness among older Asian Americans. This dissertation adapts the TAM, with the aim of increasing understanding of the factors that influence ICT acceptance and use among low-income, Asian American older adults. Additionally, we examine the relationship between technology acceptance and loneliness. In all three chapters, we conducted secondary cross-sectional analyses of surveys collected from primarily Asian American residents living in affordable senior housing communities that participated in the Lighthouse Project for Older Adults. In Chapter 1, we examined the relationships of demographic factors, PU, PEOU, smartphone use (including experience and frequency), and broader ICT us

IntroductionThere is a dearth of research on cognitive aging and dementia in Asian Americans, particularly in Vietnamese Americans, the fourth largest Asian subgroup in the United States.MethodsThe Vietnamese Insights into Cognitive Aging Program (VIP) investigates early life adversity and war-related trauma and their associations with cognitive health in a community-based sample of older Vietnamese Americans in Northern California (i.e., Sacramento and Santa Clara counties). Baseline measurements include a comprehensive neuropsychological battery, including measures of global cognition along with executive function, semantic memory, and episodic memory. Data also include measures of functioning, early life adversity and trauma exposure, and psychosocial and traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors. Cognitive assessments will be repeated twice over the course of the data collection period, approximately 12- and 24- months post-baseline. Blood samples collected during Wave 2 will be assayed for biochemical risk factors.ResultsBaseline assessments were conducted from January 2022 to November 2023, with N = 548 Vietnamese Americans; mean age ± SD was 73 ± 5.31 years and 55% of participants were women. There were significant differences in social factors by site, with Santa Clara participants having higher education (some college or higher: Sacramento, ≈25%; Santa Clara: ≈48%) and marginally higher incomes compared to Sacramento participants. A higher percentage of Santa Clara participants reported speaking English well or very well (24%) compared to Sacramento participants (13%), although the majority of the entire sample (81%) reported speaking some to no English (response options: not at all; some/a little bit; well/very well).DiscussionThis longitudinal study providea a unique opportunity to more fully delineate psychosocial factors that contribute to dementia disparities in diverse and under-engaged populations. Future work will examine cognition

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to discover the lived experiences of choosing a non-STEM college major for Asian American students in the United States. The theory guiding this study was Bandura’s social cognitive theory, as it provided a foundation for understanding how cultural and environmental factors interact with internal motivations and interests to shape college and career choices. The study addressed the central research question: What are the lived experiences of Asian American students who have chosen non-STEM college majors? This phenomenological study used purposeful criterion sampling to select 12 Asian American participants who are pursuing a non-STEM college major or have graduated with a non-STEM degree within the past five years. The data collection methods were individual interviews, letter writing, and focus groups. The data analysis followed the steps described by Moustakas in the modification of van Kaam’s data analysis method. The findings revealed a complex interplay of Asian collectivistic cultures, familial expectations, institutional influences, social media, and personal motivation in shaping educational and career choices in non-STEM fields. Internal motivation is the key theme that highlights the participants' passions and interests. The participants have navigated through various cultural differences, language barriers, pressures and stereotypes to pursue their passions in non-STEM fields that align with their interests and values.

LGBTQ+ Asian Americans experience unique psychological health concerns at the intersection of multiple forms of marginalization. White supremacist, cisheteronormative, and colonial ideals and their structural and interpersonal manifestations may encourage family rejection of LGBTQ+ identities within Asian American family units. Family shame, conflicts in allegiances, and internalized anti-LGBTQ+ stigma were hypothesized as mediators in the association between family rejection and psychological distress and disordered eating. The current study examined family rejection and its impacts on psychological distress and disordered eating in a sample of LGBTQ+ Asian American adults (N = 155; MAge = 24.26; 30.3% Gender Diverse) using a cross-sectional survey design and path analysis. There was a significant serial mediation such that family rejection was positively associated with conflicts in allegiances, which was positively associated with familial shame, which was positively associated with psychological distress (B = .12, p = .01). The same serial mediation was nonsignificant for disordered eating (B = .04, p = .26). Results indicate the importance of considering conflicts in allegiances, family shame, and the interpersonal dynamics of LGBTQ+ Asian Americans in understanding experiences of psychological distress and disordered eating. Implications are drawn for further research, clinical work, and broader efforts addressing the larger sociocultural environment that encourages familial rejection of LGBTQ+ identity.

In 2021, Minneapolis-based Khmer artist, Kat Eng designed the “Abolish r(ICE)” t-shirt as part of a fundraiser for Southeast Asians and their families experiencing deportation. Inspired by the iconic Three Ladies Brand jasmine rice bag, Eng re-imagined the three ladies as freedom fighters in response to heightened immigration policing and detention of Southeast Asian communities. In this paper, I unpack and contextualize the Abolish r(ICE) t-shirt campaign within immigration debates, the contemporary abolitionist movement, and Asian American resistance. The Abolish r(ICE) shirts also function as a form of political education and an invitation specifically to Asian American youth to learn more about Southeast Asian issues and the larger movements towards abolition. Through a reading of the Abolish r(ICE) campaign I show how Kat Eng along with their collaborator Stephanie Shih draw upon food imagery and branding as part of their larger work to link Asian American cultural formations and urgent political issues. In doing so, the artists unapologetically center Southeast Asian American aesthetics, imagery, and voices as part of amplifying the Asian American community organizing against deportation. The design and imagery of the logo centers Southeast Asian and Asian American experiences and histories within the larger contemporary movement towards abolition and continued debates around immigration and detention policies within the United States. Applying a disability justice framework, I unpack how we might understand (dis)ability not just as an object of study but as an analytic. Drawing upon feminist-of-color disability studies, I argue for a disability justice approach to unpack immigration, deportation, and imperialism as discourses of state violence. What does disability justice reveal to us about “the refugee”, immigration and the carceral system? How are young contemporary Asian American artists using iconic household goods and foods as a critique of the U.S. Emp

PURPOSE: This study examined the epidemiology of self-harm emergency department (ED) visits among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) youth, and associated factors. METHODS: We used California ED visit records in 2010 and 2011 to calculate incidence rates of self-harm ED visits for AAPI versus non-Hispanic White (NHW) patients aged 10-29 years. Demographic and clinical characteristics were compared for AAPI versus NHW patients presenting with self-harm. We used modified Poisson regression models to estimate the relative risk of recurrent ED self-harm visits for AAPI versus NHW patients and examined the association of insurance type and gender with recurrent self-harm among AAPIs. RESULTS: Rates of self-harm ED visits for young AAPI patients were 38 and 26 per 100,000 among females and males, respectively. Although AAPI patients presenting with self-harm were equally or less likely than NHW patients to have comorbid psychological and substance use diagnoses at their index visit, they were 25% more likely to be admitted to hospital. However, they were 40% less likely to have a recurrent ED self-harm visit. Among AAPI patients, those who used Medicaid were significantly more likely than those with other insurance to be admitted as inpatients. DISCUSSION: Young AAPI patients presenting to EDs with deliberate self-harm have different sociodemographic and clinical profiles compared to NHW patients. Our study also demonstrates significant heterogeneity in risk of recurrent self-harm by gender and insurance type among AAPI patients. This information may be useful for future intervention programs among self-harming AAPI youth.

BackgroundAsian Americans (AAs) are experiencing increased rates of anti-Asian racism during COVID-19. Experiences of racism, whether personal or collective, constitute stress and psychosocial trauma that negatively impact mental and physical health.ObjectivesExamine subgroup differences in rates of personal experience of discrimination and COVID-related collective racism and how each is associated with mental and physical health for AAs.MethodsNationally representative data from the 2021 Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander COVID-19 Needs Assessment Project were used to estimate prevalence rates of discrimination and average COVID-related collective racism scores for AAs (unweighted N = 3478). We conducted logistic and linear regression models to examine subgroup differences by sociodemographic factors. We also conducted hierarchical logistic regression models to examine associations between racism and psychological distress and health decline.ResultsTwenty-four percent of AAs (95% CI: 21.6, 25.6) reported experiencing discrimination during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Subgroup analyses revealed that Chinese, younger adults, and AAs who completed the survey in an Asian language were significantly more likely to experience discrimination compared to their counterparts. For COVID-related collective racism, subgroup analyses revealed that Chinese, women, and adults ages 25-44 were more likely to report experiences of collective racism compared to their counterparts. Both discrimination and collective racism were independently associated with negative mental and physical health.ConclusionDiscrimination and COVID-related collective racism are associated with negative mental and physical health outcomes for AAs. Results point to vulnerable AA subgroups and the need for targeted public health efforts to address racism in the context of COVID-19.

There is scant research on how Asian American adolescents' resiliency relates to mental well-being in adulthood. The objective of this study was to determine the prospective associations between resiliency factors (individual, family, and school community) in adolescence and mental health outcomes in adulthood, among a national sample of Asian Americans. We analyzed data from 1020 Asian American adolescents who were followed for 14 years in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Of the resiliency factors, individual self-esteem (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 0.54, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 0.37-0.79) and family connectedness (AOR 0.78, 95% CI 0.65-0.93) in adolescence were found to be protective against adult mental health outcomes in logistic regression models adjusting for sociodemographic factors and baseline mental health. Our study identified individual and family resiliency factors which can be leveraged to help Asian American adolescents and families in cultivating better mental health.

Neoliberalism continues to plague higher education and shape how institutions operate day to day. Often, the adoption of such logics thwart racial justice efforts. In addition, one of the many functions of neoliberalism is how the political ideology leads to the commodification of labor. As a result, racially diverse populations, including Asian Americans experience significant challenges, including being reduced and extracted for their racialized labor for capitalistic gain.There is a dearth of research regarding Asian American advocacy initiatives in higher education, and even less scholarship examined through neoliberal logics. This case study seeks to understand how neoliberalism shapes Asian American advocacy initiatives at one large, public, higher education institution located in California. Findings from this study reveal insights towards how Asian American advocacy initiatives are shaped by neoliberalism, which include neoliberal racial gaslighting, labor extraction, and continuous instability. In addition, the findings of this study identify how Asian American advocacy initiatives navigate and respond to neoliberal logics, such as assembling support for Asian Americans with university parts, building capacity, and working to center coalition.

The purpose of this research is to understand how violence acts as a preceding event to a change in Asian adoptees' identities. I use the word 'violence' to encompass a wide range of experiences and events including 20th-century US-Asia wars, hate crimes, mass shootings, sexual violence, bullying, microaggressions, harassment, and more. This research includes violence that is experienced on not only an interpersonal level such as direct physical and psychological violence, but also on a cultural and collective level. In trying to understand this relationship between violence and identity, I use Identity Theory to analyze the contents of eleven interviews with Asian adoptees from Korea, China and Vietnam living in the US. I found that violence influenced identity changes in four major ways: vicarious victimhood, solidarity with other minorities, racial discrimination, and exclusion by other Asians.

This dissertation analyzes a selection of photomontages by contemporary artists Tomie Arai (b. 1949-), Yong Soon Min (b. 1953-), and Ann Le (b. 1981-) that reimagine 20th-century U.S. wars and militarism in the Asia Pacific Arena. These artists use forms of collage to look back on the Cold War and to disrupt U.S. Cold War historical narratives of U.S. rescue and liberation of Asia. Using feminist epistemological approaches, they reveal diasporic memories of survival, resistance, and futurity. Their artworks reinterpret and reclaim public and private photographs through the artistic strategy of photomontage, which entails the juxtaposition and reconfiguration of photographic materials. I argue that Arai’s, Min’s, and Le’s artworks serve as alternative sites of remembrance that critique the Japanese American incarceration during World War II and U.S. militarism in Asia during the Cold War, Korean War, and the Vietnam War. In this project, I offer the concept of “ethical memory works” to describe how such Asian diasporic cultural productions engage in the complex politics of memory and the ethics of care - for the past, one’s community, and other communities. I suggest ethical memory works are defined by ethical remembering, speculative storytelling, and feminist acts of care.

This dissertation examines Asian American tech workers as racialized and intersectional subjects within the high-tech industry. Although STEM fields and occupations are often considered Asian-concentrated domains, Asian immigrant and Asian American workers are rarely studied as workers who are impacted by racial discrimination or have strategies to mitigate potential racism. Through interviews with 59 Asian American tech workers, this research expands on and questions our current theoretical understanding of race, gender, and organizations for Asian American workers. First, I establish the ways in which Asian American tech workers discount anti-Asian discriminations in the workplace and offer a new theoretical framework, racial strategies, to understand how they mitigate or address racism. I find that Asian American tech workers employ four racial strategies to deflect or confront racism in the workplace. Three of the strategies: racial maneuvering, essentializing, and distancing intentionally discount the role of race and racism within Asian Americans’ professional lives. A fourth racial strategy, dissenting, acknowledges racism, but those who use this strategy are often so frustrated by the white-dominated racial organizations they work for that they leave mainstream organizations altogether. Next, I ask how competing gender and racial identities among Asian American women are realized in tech culture. I find that academic institutions, recruitment processes, and professional diversity initiatives reinforce the rhetoric that gender inequality is the highest priority inequality to address and that is the most directly relevant inequality to Asian American women tech workers’ experiences. Racial inequality, on the other hand, is an inequality reserved for “other” racial minorities and does not, for the most part, affect the professional careers of Asian American tech workers. As a result, Asian American women develop a strong gender and a weak racial identity. In th

Despite literature suggesting that socializing children of color regarding race and ethnicity is key to protect them against racism in America, little is known about how Asian American young children are ethnically and racially socialized by their parents. In the event of increased anti-Asian racism during COVID-19, it becomes urgent that we address this knowledge gap. The goal of the present study is to understand the parental ethnic-racial socialization processes with Asian American young children from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Fifty-seven low-income (n=36) and middle-and-upper-income (n=21) Chinese American mothers (Mage = 37.14, SD =4.99) of four-to-seven-year-old children (Mage =5.63, SD =0.82, female n=33, 58%) from Maryland and New York were interviewed. The participants shared the frequency and strategies of their ethnic-racial socialization processes and their perception of the effectiveness of these strategies. Using qualitative content analyses, results indicated that: (a) The two income groups shared the same frequency of using each ethnic-racial socialization dimension (cultural socialization, preparation for bias, promotion of mistrust, and egalitarianism and silence about race); (b) Different patterns emerged in the content of how they used preparation for bias and promotion of mistrust; (c) Mothers from the low-income group were more likely to experience discrimination and to share the discrimination experiences with their children to prepare them for bias; (d) Mothers from both of the income groups recognized that their children face model minority stereotypes in the society, but they held different attitudes towards the stereotypes; (e) The two income groups found cultural socialization helpful and promotion of mistrust harmful. More diversity and less consensus were found in their perception of the effectiveness of preparation for bias and egalitarianism and silence about race. The current study is the first study to reveal diversity of e

Music education is often synonymous with Western Music education, or more specifically, Classical music education. Music theory and analysis surrounding the styles of Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven have been central to the pedagogy of a collegiate musical background, while expertise in Carnatic, Gamelan, or African drumming—to name a few—is seen as nonessential. This research project aims to uncover the reasons why (higher) music education is so narrowly focused and provides the skeletal framework for a practical method to begin constructing diverse, holistic curricula. While the overarching goal is to diversify music education in all cultures, the project focuses on the Asian American and Korean diasporas. After a literature review that outlines the need to alter the state of music academia through these diasporas, the project provides an example course design that could be annexed into most degree plans, and assume little-to-no musical knowledge outside Western practices. A survey is also provided with a sample set of participants, detailing how faculty and other educational institutions could use data from relevant demographics (such as a student pool) to develop their own curricula. The implications of this project's survey data suggest that reeducation would have to develop slowly, for the sake of both educational institutions and students alike.

Since Hmong Americans are considered “Asians,” previous literature has often used them to dismantle the Model Minority Myth by focusing on their low educational attainment. This focus on Hmong American students’ (lack of) educational attainment does not adequately illustrate their assets and agency in navigating higher education. My dissertation intervenes in these deficit and damaging discourses on Hmong American students. Using critical ethnography, I position Hmong American undergraduates with assets that are crucial to equity and diversity in higher education. Specifically, I collected data at a U.S. public four-year university, which included academic student records, questionnaires, interviews, and participant observations of Hmong American undergraduates. My findings highlight Hmong American students as possessing assets to navigate and transform their educational experiences in higher education. Most notably, in an act of transformative resistance to their marginalization on campus and within the Asian American Studies Department, the Hmong American undergraduates created their own student-initiated and student-led course where Hmong history, culture, and knowledge was centered, legitimized, and affirmed. These efforts brought institutional awareness and actionable plans to imbue a sense of ethnic history, culture, and identity within their university. My study has relevant implications for scholars, educators, policymakers, and community members invested in serving diverse communities from critical perspectives so as to nurture their assets. Furthermore, my study also contributes to scholarship on race/ethnicity, education, and ethnic studies by illuminating the experiences of marginalized groups that are often invisible in the academic literature.

Since Hmong Americans are considered “Asians,” previous literature has often used them to dismantle the Model Minority Myth by focusing on their low educational attainment. This focus on Hmong American students’ (lack of) educational attainment does not adequately illustrate their assets and agency in navigating higher education. My dissertation intervenes in these deficit and damaging discourses on Hmong American students. Using critical ethnography, I position Hmong American undergraduates with assets that are crucial to equity and diversity in higher education. Specifically, I collected data at a U.S. public four-year university, which included academic student records, questionnaires, interviews, and participant observations of Hmong American undergraduates. My findings highlight Hmong American students as possessing assets to navigate and transform their educational experiences in higher education. Most notably, in an act of transformative resistance to their marginalization on campus and within the Asian American Studies Department, the Hmong American undergraduates created their own student-initiated and student-led course where Hmong history, culture, and knowledge was centered, legitimized, and affirmed. These efforts brought institutional awareness and actionable plans to imbue a sense of ethnic history, culture, and identity within their university. My study has relevant implications for scholars, educators, policymakers, and community members invested in serving diverse communities from critical perspectives so as to nurture their assets. Furthermore, my study also contributes to scholarship on race/ethnicity, education, and ethnic studies by illuminating the experiences of marginalized groups that are often invisible in the academic literature.

BackgroundThis study examines how neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES) and ethnic composition are associated with breast cancer risk for Asian American women.MethodsWe linked individual level data from a population-based case-control study of breast cancer among Asian American women with neighborhood level data in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area (cases: n = 118, controls: n = 390). Multivariable logistic regression models examined the association between nSES, ethnic composition, and odds of having breast cancer.ResultsAsian American women living in neighborhoods with high nSES and high ethnic composition had the highest odds of breast cancer, compared to those living in neighborhoods with high nSES and low ethnic composition (OR = 0.34, 95% CI [0.16-0.75]) or in neighborhoods with low nSES and high ethnic composition (OR = 0.37, 95% CI [0.17-0.83]).DiscussionNeighborhood socioeconomic and ethnic contexts are associated with breast cancer for Asian American women. We discuss explanations and avenues for future research.

PurposeCancer is the leading cause of death for Asian Americans. However, few studies have documented supportive care needs from the perspective of Asian American cancer patients. This study describes the needs reported by Asian American patients with colorectal, liver, or lung cancer over a 6-month period during their treatment.MethodsParticipants were recruited through the Greater Bay Area Cancer Registry and from cancer care providers in San Francisco. Participants self-identified as Asian or Asian American; were age 21 or older; spoke English, Chinese, or Vietnamese; and had stage I-III colon, rectum, liver, or lung cancer. Participants were matched with a language concordant patient navigator who provided support during a 6-month period. Needs were assessed by surveys at baseline, 3, and 6 months.ResultsAmong 24 participants, 58% were 65 years or older, 42% did not complete high school, and 75% had limited English proficiency (LEP). At baseline, the most prevalent needs were cancer information (79%), nutrition and physical activity (67%), language assistance (54%), and daily living (50%). At the 3- and 6-month follow-up surveys, there was a higher reported need for mental health resources and healthcare access among participants.ConclusionIn this pilot study of Asian American cancer patients who predominantly had LEP, participants reported many needs, with cancer information and language assistance as the most prominent. The findings highlight the importance of culturally and linguistically appropriate patient navigators in addressing supportive care needs among cancer patients with LEP.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03867916.

Racial-ethnic socialization (RES) has promotive and protective effects for Asian American children, but parental RES remains understudied among Asian American families with preadolescents. The current study draws from a sample of 404 Asian American parents (Mage = 38.4, SD = 7.0, 66% female) with 6- to 12-year-olds (Mage = 8.9, SD = 2.0, 56% boy; parent-report), and examines the role of child and parent factors on parents’ RES engagement. Results revealed that parent generational status predicted parental RES, whereas child age did not. Parents’ cultural maintenance practices were influenced both by their racial-ethnic and American identities in complex ways. Personal experiences of racial discrimination may differentially influence whether first vs. second+ generation parents discuss anti-Asian discrimination with their children. Parents’ racial socialization confidence may influence whether they minimize racism with their children. Findings highlight the importance of considering how Asian American parents’ background and beliefs shape their RES.

This article calls on ethnic studies scholars to question how the public university remains intact as an unproblematized social model of advancement by interrogating the necropolitics of the public university—the collateral damage that the academic industrial complex incurs in securing advantages for some. Bui reads Asian American studies and its scholars against neoliberal claims by the University of California to provide a “better life,” in so doing challenging the precarious privilege of Asian Americans and constructions of the “model minority.”

This article concerns Asian American queer masculinity and how the “coming out” process for gay Chinese men and their non-White immigrant families does not fit neatly within neat Western gender distinctions of public/private space. Using the film Ethan Mao as a primary text and case study, I argue for an intersectional approach to the coming out process for racialized sexual minorities. Ethan Mao is a film that tells the story of a Chinese American boy expunged from the home upon his family’s discovery of his homosexuality who returns to hold his family members hostage. The fictional story thematizes the indistinct spatial and symbolic boundaries of queer Asian American identity, masculinity, and domesticity. The film observes how gay men of color do not simply come out of the closet but break into it. Through an intersectional queer of color critique, I reconceptualize “the closet” as a synecdoche of the private home space, refiguring it as a contested site of belonging/exclusion to recognize the difficulties of “coming out” for certain queer racial male subjects.

Korean Americans are a major Asian subgroup in the U.S., and epidemiological data demonstrate that rates of mental health symptoms are higher among Korean American emerging adults compared to other Asian American counterparts. Seeking and receiving appropriate support are important ways to cope with mental health burden, but there is a dearth of literature on how Asian Americans seek help from friends and family members. Available studies suggest that various sociocultural factors influence the informal help-seeking process among Asian Americans. As family context has a significant impact on children’s sociocultural development, examining such contextual factors can help understand some of the mechanisms and correlates of informal help-seeking. In this dissertation study, I explored the characteristics and associations among family communication patterns, relevant sociocultural factors (i.e., perceived parental support, emotional self-control, relational concerns, face loss concerns), and informal help-seeking intentions using a sample of 201 Korean American emerging adults (ages 18 – 29) drawn from an online survey. In paper 1, factor analysis showed that different help sources can be grouped into three domains (i.e., formal sources, family members, and partner and friends), with intention to seek help being the highest towards partner and friends, followed by family members and formal sources. Characteristics of higher acculturation were positively associated with help-seeking intention towards partner and friends. In paper 2, mediation analyses revealed that participants with parents fostering unrestrained communications perceived receiving more informational support from parents, which in turn was associated with higher intention to seek parental support. Participants with parents emphasizing conformity in beliefs and values perceived receiving less emotional and implicit support from parents, which in turn was associated with lower intention to seek parental su

Anti-Asian racism has been a pervasive challenge for Asian American communities (Sue et al., 2007), which has increased by nearly 150% from 2019-2020 post the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic (Yam, 2021). An expansive body of research has found that racism is significantly related to an array of negative mental health outcomes among Asian Americans (Hahm et al., 2010). However, there remains a dearth of research specifically examining mental health outcomes among low-income Asian Americans, who may be at greater risk for stress due to exposure to both racism and classism. The present study examined the relation between racism and psychological outcomes amongst low-income Asian American adults. Critical consciousness and acculturative stress were examined as potential moderators in that relation. A sample of low-income Asian American adults (N = 365) participated in an online survey to respond to measures on demographic information, racism, psychological distress, psychological well-being, critical consciousness, and acculturative stress. Results showed that racism was a significant predictor of psychological distress and psychological well-being while controlling for age and subjective social status among low-income Asian Americans. The moderation analyses found that acculturative stress was a significant moderator in the association between racism and psychological well-being whereas critical consciousness was not a significant moderator in the association between racism and psychological well-being nor distress. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

Understanding how knowledge and attitudes about colorectal cancer (CRC) screening differs among Asian immigrants is important for informing targeted health interventions aimed at preventing and treating CRC in this diverse population. This study examines how Asian subgroup and acculturation are associated with CRC knowledge and attitudes among Chinese and Korean immigrants in the United States (U.S.). Data come from the baseline survey of a randomized controlled trial to increase CRC screening among Chinese and Korean American immigrants living in the Baltimore-Washington DC Metropolitan Area (n = 400). We use linear regression to examine how Asian subgroup, time in the U.S., English-speaking proficiency, and ethnic identity are associated with CRC knowledge and screening attitudes, accounting for demographic variables, socioeconomic status, and health insurance status. Results show that greater socioeconomic status was associated with higher CRC knowledge, and socioeconomic status explained more of the variance in CRC knowledge than acculturation factors. Additionally, attitudes varied by Asian subgroup, with Chinese reporting lower CRC screening salience, worry, response efficacy, and social influence compared to Koreans. Findings suggest that in-language interventions aimed at increasing CRC knowledge and capitalizing on attitudes about screening can help to bridge disparities in CRC screening by socioeconomic status and country of origin. We discuss implications for future interventions to increase CRC screening uptake among Chinese and Korean immigrants in the U.S.

The present study examined the effects of inducing the cognitive strategies of self or other-blame in response to a racist situation on situational mood with Asian American emerging adults. I manipulated responses to racism using a 2-group (randomized, between-subjects experimental design) to examine differences in self- versus other-blame. Participants watched a vignette about a common subtle racism event and were randomly assigned to the self or other-blame condition. Those in the self-blame condition were assigned a speech task to describe what they could have done to change the situation and those in the other-blame condition were asked to describe how the perpetrator is racist. After the manipulation check, there were 120 total Asian American emerging adults (Mage = 20.04, SD = 2.18; 60.8% female) in the sample; specifically, 100 participants in the other-blame condition and 20 participants in the self-blame condition successfully completed the experimental task. Multiple path analyses were used to examine the effects of the condition (self vs. other-blame) on vocal acoustics and language used during the speech task, and in turn their self-reported anger and depression, while controlling for critical consciousness and prior depression and anger. Vocal pitch mean and range were measured through the software Praat (Boersma & Weenink, 2005) and language words were assessed using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker et al., 2015), while anger and depression were measured through the Profile of Mood States-Short Form (POMS-SF; Shacham, 1983). Results indicated that those in the other-blame group had greater pitch mean and used more positive emotion words, cognitive mechanism words, and less tentative words. There were no differences in self-reported anger and depression between the two conditions. Implications touched on the importance of racism attributions on speech and language.

Objectives VERY brief history review of the AAPI community in the United States Discuss health disparities regarding COVID-19 Explore common cultural values and health beliefs Equip the PCP with tools to engage AAPI patients w/cultural humility Facilitate a thoughtful discussion and reflection around specific cases

Th e impact of the COVID- 19 global pandemic to American communities extends beyond physical health problems to include political, economic, education, business, mental health, and social relation impacts. This essay, based on a summer and fall 2020 place-based research project collaboration between Purdue Honors College students and the Purdue Asian American and Asian Resource and Cultural Center, examines impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic to the Asian and Asian American communities. Th e research asks what the impacts of COVID-19 are to Asian/American communities, how COVID-19 anti-Asian racism is unique or not unique, how the Asian American communities have collectively responded to the racism connected to the pandemic, and how Asian American communities displayed solidarity with other communities during this difficult time in public health and racial justice. Th e essay connects extensive media and archival research to detail COVID-19 impacts in the areas of health and wellness, job security, and social/racial justice. The essay then documents the persistent history of stereotyping and racism to Asian/American communities particularly in the midst of larger changes in political, national security, or public health situations. The next part of the essay provides an analysis of the rising number of reporting centers utilizing different platforms to counter the experience of racism. Finally, with the tragic deaths of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd that sparked forms of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, the essay examines specific online and offline eff orts in regard to Asian and Asian American solidarity.

Although discourse over Hawaiian statehood has increasingly been described by scholars as a racial conflict between Japanese Americans and Native Hawaiians, there existed a broad spectrum of interactions between the two groups. Both communities were forced to confront the prejudices they had against each other while recognizing their shared experiences with discrimination, creating a paradoxical political culture of competition and solidarity up until the conclusion of World War Two. From 1946 to 1950, however, the country’s collective understanding of Japanese American citizenship began to shift with recognition of the community’s military service record and an increased proportion of veterans elected to Congress. This shift prioritized Japanese American interests in statehood, marginalizing Native Hawaiians. From 1950 to 1959, the indigenous people were forced to frame their opinions before Congress in two ways: by conforming to harmful racial stereotypes, or arguing their opinions based on Japanese American interests rather than their own. These constraints—along with the Red Scare and pre-existing, intra-communal class tensions—eventually silenced Native Hawaiians in statehood discourse, be they in support or opposed. As such, statehood discourse was defined not by an explicit racial conflict between Japanese Americans and Native Hawaiians, but by the empowered assertion of Japanese American identity contrasted with Native Hawaiians’ careful navigation of mainland prejudices and, eventually, their political silencing.

“Meiguo '' is an installation consisting of sculptures and textiles based on memories from my grandmother’s archive. Attempts to grasp the past becomes a departure for new sensibilities of (be)longing. My conceptual framing is informed by racial melancholia theory, craft methods, Asian American literature and poetry. By blurring relationships between inside and outside, I hope to frame the in-between spaces that I occupy within culture, time, and place. Fabrics soaked with pomegranates, onion skins, lemon juice, and rice are joined through long durational sewing methods. Building up the textile with repetition and pattern engages with practices of writing, erasure, and remembering. I question how joining threads locates what cannot be easily translated in words yet acutely felt in the body.

This article concerns Asian American queer masculinity and how the “coming out” process for gay Chinese men and their non-White immigrant families does not fit neatly within neat Western gender distinctions of public/private space. Using the film Ethan Mao as a primary text and case study, I argue for an intersectional approach to the coming out process for racialized sexual minorities. Ethan Mao is a film that tells the story of a Chinese American boy expunged from the home upon his family’s discovery of his homosexuality who returns to hold his family members hostage. The fictional story thematizes the indistinct spatial and symbolic boundaries of queer Asian American identity, masculinity, and domesticity. The film observes how gay men of color do not simply come out of the closet but break into it. Through an intersectional queer of color critique, I reconceptualize “the closet” as a synecdoche of the private home space, refiguring it as a contested site of belonging/exclusion to recognize the difficulties of “coming out” for certain queer racial male subjects.

This article calls on ethnic studies scholars to question how the public university remains intact as an unproblematized social model of advancement by interrogating the necropolitics of the public university—the collateral damage that the academic industrial complex incurs in securing advantages for some. Bui reads Asian American studies and its scholars against neoliberal claims by the University of California to provide a “better life,” in so doing challenging the precarious privilege of Asian Americans and constructions of the “model minority.”

This research study investigates the perceptions, identities, and typecasting issues surrounding Asian American commercial dancers in Los Angeles through personal and historical contexts. My own experience as a commercial dancer in Los Angeles has led to questions about typecasting and how it relates to clichés in auditions and acquiring work and employment in the commercial dance industry. Interviews with professional dancers, a dance agent, a casting director, and a manager add perspective. Through a unique process during the COVID-19 global pandemic, I directed and created a short film exploring the need for connection to mixed heritage in the lives of five artists and performers. In this research study, I investigate my role as an Asian American artist, the importance of honoring the past, and the value of creating a future where the next generation finds space to do the same.

BackgroundThis study examines how neighborhood socioeconomic status (nSES) and ethnic composition are associated with breast cancer risk for Asian American women.MethodsWe linked individual level data from a population-based case-control study of breast cancer among Asian American women with neighborhood level data in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area (cases: n = 118, controls: n = 390). Multivariable logistic regression models examined the association between nSES, ethnic composition, and odds of having breast cancer.ResultsAsian American women living in neighborhoods with high nSES and high ethnic composition had the highest odds of breast cancer, compared to those living in neighborhoods with high nSES and low ethnic composition (OR = 0.34, 95% CI [0.16-0.75]) or in neighborhoods with low nSES and high ethnic composition (OR = 0.37, 95% CI [0.17-0.83]).DiscussionNeighborhood socioeconomic and ethnic contexts are associated with breast cancer for Asian American women. We discuss explanations and avenues for future research.

This paper examines how the films Spa Night (2016), The Tiger Hunter (2016), and Gook (2017) showcase a burgeoning diversity of ways Asian Americans can express masculinity. More specifically, the paper will delve into the depictions of strength through marginalized masculinity in Spa Night, resistance against remasculinization narratives in The Tiger Hunter, and toughness through soft masculinity in Gook. The aforementioned films are placed in analytical conversation with academic theories within the disciplines of Asian American Studies, Gender Studies, and Film Studies to highlight how each film’s respective characters demonstrate the described forms of progressive masculinity. In doing so, the films expose how cinema has historically shaped the public’s understanding of Asian American masculinity and uncover how a recent group of independent films from the Asian American film movement has showcased the variety of ways in which masculinity can be conceptualized and represented by Asian Americans to challenge traditional conceptions of gender.

BackgroundWhen coping with HIV-related challenges, family support is the first line that Asian Americans living with HIV (AALHIV) lean on; however, few studies have explored the dyadic aspects of family support among AALHIV. We aimed to explore the dyadic aspects of family support among AALHIV and their family caregivers.MethodsFrom September 2017 to January 2020, we recruited 18 dyads among AALHIV and their caregivers in Los Angeles and New York City by the purposive sampling method. Using qualitative dyadic analysis of semi-structured, in-depth interviews, we explored dyadic aspects of family support among participants based on Fitch's Supportive Care Framework.ResultsWe found that AALHIV obtained support from family caregivers to cover the domains of their physical, psychological, spiritual, informational, social, and practical supportive care. This dyadic analysis indicated congruence in most supportive care; however, there were also dissimilar in the support perceptions.ConclusionsOur findings exemplify the physical, psychological, spiritual, informational, social, and practical support from AALHIV and their family caregivers. When developing a culturally sensitive intervention for AALHIV, we need to consider the different aspects of the support. Especially, family support can enhance patients-providers' relationships as well as health engagement with HIV care.