Happiness of Asian Americans

Past surveys found a positive relation between job satisfaction and socioeconomic status, with Asian Americans scoring low and African Americans and Euro-Americans scoring higher. As job satisfaction is a component of happiness, the question arises whether this relationship holds for happiness in general. Responses of a sample of 499 Asian Americans, 24,432 Euro-Americans, and 2,828 African Americans were analyzed. For both sexes, Asian Americans rated happiness significantly higher than African Americans. The rated happiness of Asian American and Euro-American men was not significantly different, but Asian-American women rated happiness significantly lower than Euro-American women. Mean differences were less than one point.

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Behavioral, chronic and mental health in minority women: results from the national Latino Asian American study

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(11)73359-4 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (S2) ◽

pp. 1655-1655

Author(s):

H. Appel ◽

A. Ai ◽

B. Huang

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Services ◽

Asian Americans ◽

Asian American ◽

American Study ◽

Health Issues ◽

Asian American Women ◽

American Women ◽

Mental Health Issues ◽

Ethnic Subgroups

IntroductionAsian Americans and Latino women underutilize mental health services.Studies show Asian American women have higher depression scores and less physical activity than their male counterparts. Ethnic minorities are deterred from seeking mental health care in a timely manner or from following appropriate treatment guidelines. Asian American women are less likely to seek mental health services compared to Latina and white women. Mental health issues in Asian and Latina women may be masked by psychosomatic complaints. Data from the National Latino Asian American Study, the first comprehensive epidemiological study of Asian Americans and Latinos in the USA.ObjectivesTo examine the behavioral, chronic and mental health issues in Latina and Asian American women.Methods3,012 Asian American and Latina American women from six ethnic subgroups (Chinese, Filipino, Vietnamese, Cuban, Mexican, and Puerto Rican Americans) from metropolitan areas were interviewed. Measures include behavioral, drug, chronic health conditions, and mental health issues, and frequency of health service seeking using T-tests and ANOVA.ResultsThe results showed Asian Americans women have less heart disease compared with Latina American women, but higher rates of smoking. More Filipinos rated their health as “Excellent” compared with Chinese and Vietnamese, and experience less major depressive disorder than their Asian counterparts. All three Asian American subgroups experience less anxiety than Latina American women.ConclusionsWhile raters of mental health problems may be low, they are unique in how they manifest themselves, and in the distinct ways in which they seek health services. There are marked differences among major ethnic subgroups.

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Contribution of Job Satisfaction to Happiness of Asian Americans

Psychological Reports ◽

10.2466/pr0.2001.89.1.191 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 89 (1) ◽

pp. 191-198 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Charles N. Weaver

Keyword(s):

Job Satisfaction ◽

African Americans ◽

Labor Force ◽

Asian Americans ◽

Asian American ◽

Family Income ◽

Family Health ◽

Well Being ◽

Unexpected Result ◽

The Usa

Many demographic and labor force characteristics, such as family income, educational attainment, and occupation, correlated with job satisfaction. Since Asian Americans are more like Euro-Americans than African Americans in most of these characteristics, it seems reasonable to predict that their job satisfaction would be high as for Euro-Americans rather than low as for African Americans. Yet research of Weaver and Hinson showed that the opposite is true. One explanation for this unexpected result is that Asians do not think of jobs as a source of happiness but simply as a means of earning money to underwrite other aspects of their lives, such as the well-being of their families, which are the main sources of their happiness. The hypothesis was tested that job satisfaction does not contribute to the happiness of Asian Americans in comparison to satisfaction from other domains of their lives. Analysis was conducted of the attitudes of Asian-American ( n = 160), African-American ( n = 602), and Euro-American ( n = 6,477) workers who responded to 22 surveys drawn from 1972 to 1998, each of which was representative of the labor force of the USA. The hypothesis was supported by the finding that the partial correlation of job satisfaction and global happiness with satisfaction in seven other domains of life (marriage, financial condition, community, nonwork activities, family, health and physical condition, and friendships) held constant was significant for Euro-American women and men but not for Asian Americans or African Americans of either sex. And, the same result occurred when global happiness was regressed on job satisfaction net the effects of satisfaction in other seven domains.

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The Socioeconomic Status of Asian American Women in the Labor Force

Sociological Perspectives ◽

10.2307/1389150 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 307-338 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Deborah Woo

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Socioeconomic Status ◽

Labor Force ◽

Asian Americans ◽

Asian American ◽

Ethnic Relations ◽

Asian American Women ◽

Educational Levels ◽

Racial And Ethnic Relations ◽

The Relationship

In the literature on United States racial and ethnic relations, a prevalent assertion is that Asian Americans exceed other ethnic groups, and often even whites, in income, occupational, and educational levels. Implicit in this view is the essential fairness argument about hard work: If Asian Americans can make it, why can't other minorities? Data presented here from the 1970 and 1980 censuses suggest that the relationship between effort and achievement is pivotal to this discussion and needs to be addressed in conceptually meaningful ways.

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