Exploring the Effect of Discrimination-related Experience, Worry and Social Media Exposure on Depression Among Asians in the U.S. During COVID-19: Cross-Sectional Survey Study (Preprint)
BACKGROUND The outbreak of COVID-19 has spurred increasing anti-Asian racism and xenophobia in the United States, which can compromise the psychological well-being among Asian people. The impact of racial discrimination fueled by a global pandemic on the well-being remains unclear. This study is a novel attempt to empirically examine how racial discrimination during COVID-19 would be associated with depression among Asians in the United States. OBJECTIVE We investigated three discrimination-related variables, including experience of discrimination, worry about discrimination, and social media exposure to racism-related information during COVID-19, and aimed to examine how three variables were related to depression among Asians in the United States. METHODS A cross-sectional online survey was conducted. A total of 222 people (Mage = 33.53, SD = 11.35; 46.40% female) who identified themselves as Asian or Asian American and resided in the United States completed the questionnaire. RESULTS Our study showed that only experience of discrimination was significantly associated with depression among US Asians (β=.29, P =.002), whereas worry about discrimination ((β=.13, P=.128) and social media exposure to racism-related information ((β=.09, P=.209) were not. Meanwhile, our study also suggested that those who were younger (β=-.17, P=.021), not married (β=-.15, P=.046), infected by COVID-19 (β=.23, P=.001) and whose income were affected because of the pandemic (β=.13, P=.046) were more vulnerable to depression. CONCLUSIONS The present study provides preliminary evidence about the impact of racial discrimination during COVID-19 on mental health among Asian people. Based on our findings, future research could advance the understanding of incident-induced discrimination in relation to the well-being by identifying moderators that may buffer or exacerbate the influence of such racial discrimination. Practically, developing effective and tailored interventions to address different demographic groups’ needs in a timely fashion is much-need to help Asians cope with racial discrimination during an unprecedented global health crisis.