Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadians faced much ambiguity in the public health messages around face mask use. As public health messaging plays a pivotal role in the provision of directives during a health crisis, this study examines Canadians’ opinions on the early messaging they received regarding personal protection, especially around mask use, with the goal of identifying potential improvements to strengthen future health messaging. Nine online focus group interviews with 47 Canadians were conducted. These natural conversations focused on personal protective equipment (PPE) choices, mask-relevant public health information sources, and advice to Canadian authorities to improve public health messaging on mask use. Responses were imported into NVivo for thematic analysis. Four meta-themes of relevance were identified. Despite demonstrating trust in scientific evidence and public health authorities, the inconsistencies in public health messaging fostered confusion, and induced mistrust toward health professionals. Further, several information deficits were identified pertaining to the scientific efficacy, safe use, and disposal of masks. Rooted in loyalty to healthcare workers, these Canadians eschewed using medical grade masks during PPE shortages to ensure a sufficient supply for medical workers. The findings stress that consistency in public health messages should be prioritized, with necessary changes clearly justified and explained. More information should reach the public on the scientific benefits and proper use of masks. Public health recommendations should be evidence-based, simple, transparent, and realistic in the current circumstances to guide Canadians to make more informed personal protection choices in the rapidly evolving pandemic.

Many Chinese Canadians (CCs) have experienced increased racism and xenophobia since the beginning of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. This study focused on how this rise of anti-Chinese discrimination, in addition to the threats posed by the pandemic itself, affects not only CCs’ well-being, but also their Chinese and Canadian identities. We surveyed 874 CC adults from across Canada, M age = 42.09; 47.7% females; 628 foreign-born, first-generation (G1) and 246 Canadian-born, second or later generation (G2). The reported rates of discriminatory experiences were alarming: More than half of the respondents reported that they had been treated with less respect because of their ethnicity (G1: 60.6%; G2: 56.8%), and over a third reported that they had been personally threatened or intimidated (G1: 35.2%; G2: 39.8%). Generational status moderated CCs’ pandemic experiences, such that G1 CCs perceived more health, financial, and cultural threats due to the pandemic, but G2 CCs reported more personal and group discrimination. Perceived discrimination was associated with CCs’ negative affect even after controlling for pandemic threats. The type of discrimination had different implications for heritage and mainstream cultural identities. For both groups, personal discrimination was negatively associated with Canadian identity, whereas group discrimination was positively associated with Chinese identity. Only about 10% of CCs who experienced harassment reported their encounters to authorities or on social media; CCs’ perceptions that others saw them as perpetual foreigners undermined their reporting of harassment. The findings’ implications for acculturation, identity, anti-racism strategies, and empowerment in reporting harassment are discussed.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, journalists and scholars noted differences between Asians and North Americans in their support for public mask use. These differences were primarily assumed to be due d to variations in ethnocultural norms and practices. To better ascertain people’s motives for wearing masks and potential cultural differences in these rationales, this comparative, mixed-methods research examines Chinese and non-East Asian Canadians’ mask use attitudes utilizing online group interviews (Study 1) and a nation-wide survey (Study 2) Study 1, conducted in the early stages of the pandemic, captured an ambivalent, yet evolving attitude toward public mask use among the non-East Asian Canadians, which differed from their Chinese counterparts who more uniformly perceived mask use favorably. Study 2, conducted 2 months later, suggests that both groups primarily wore masks for disease protection- and prevention-related reasons. However, age and education appeared to influence the mask wearing frequency of the non-East Asian Canadians, for whom public mask use was less prevalent and normative. The attitudinal differences in public mask use call for targeted strategies to support mask wearing for different ethnocultural groups, which may be achieved partially through enhancing interethnic understanding on the diversified use of and opinions about masks. The findings suggest that favorable social norms, along with evidence-based information campaigns involving personal appeals may encourage greater mask use by the non-East Asian population.

Objective: The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has amplified preexisting racism and xenophobia. In this study, we investigated (a) whether perceived personal and group discrimination make distinct contributions to Chinese Canadians’ negative affect and concern that the heightened discrimination they experienced during the pandemic will continue after the pandemic; (b) whether Canadian and Chinese identities and social support moderate the effect of discrimination on this concern; and (c) whether race-based rejection sensitivity (RS) explains why each type of discrimination predicts negative affect and expectation of future discrimination. Method: A sample of Chinese Canadian adults across Canadian provinces (N = 516; Mage = 42.74, 53.3% females) completed a questionnaire assessing personal and group discrimination, Chinese and Canadian identity, a short form of race-based RS, negative affect, and expectation of future discrimination. Results: Personal and group discrimination were intercorrelated and positively associated with negative emotion and expectation of future discrimination. Chinese Canadians who identified more strongly as Chinese experienced a less adverse impact related to group discrimination. However, those who identified more (vs. less) strongly as Canadians were more likely to be impacted by personal discrimination. Finally, path analysis revealed that both personal and group discrimination were positively associated with RS, which in turn predicted an expectation that long-lasting racism would continue after the pandemic. Conclusion: Group and personal discrimination play different roles in Chinese Canadians’ experiences during and expectations after the pandemic. Maintaining Chinese identity can be beneficial to Chinese Canadians, particularly in mitigating the negative effect of group discrimination during the pandemic.

This paper describes an initial attempt to assess the subjective well being of a sample of 227 Tongans via self-report. Using items adapted from the Subjective Well Being Inventory (SUBI; Nagpal and Sell, 1985; Sell and Nagpal, 1992), participants rated their level of overall life satisfaction along with their perceptions of well-beingin a number of other more specific life domains. Results indicated that mean ratings of global life satisfaction were generally positive. A factor analysis of the remaining domain-specific well-being items indicated that items loaded on to one of two factors dealing with overall positive or negative evaluations of these life areas. Importantly, these scale items stressed the importance of social and kin relations in contributing to overall well-being. In terms of demographic variables, mature respondents reported greater levels of overall life satisfaction and well-being as compared to youthful respondents. Implications and directions for future research are discussed. Copyright Springer 2005