COVID-19 Racism, Depressive Symptoms, Drinking to Cope Motives, and Alcohol Use Severity Among Asian American Emerging Adults

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has incited widespread anti-Asian racism, which is linked to numerous behavioral health consequences including depressive symptoms. As racism-induced depressive symptoms are linked to coping-related alcohol use and because alcohol-related problems represent a significant public health concern in this population, we investigated whether COVID-19 racism predicted alcohol use severity through depressive symptoms and drinking to cope motives among Asian American emerging adults ( N = 139; Mage = 23.04; 50% women, 50% men). We conducted a serial mediation wherein COVID-19 racism predicted alcohol use severity sequentially through depressive symptoms and drinking to cope motives. COVID-19 racism directly and significantly predicted alcohol use severity. The indirect effect via depressive symptoms and drinking to cope motives was also significant, suggesting that COVID-19 racism is likely a risk factor for alcohol-related problems. Results inform intervention science and highlight the need for policy and behavioral health services to curb COVID-19 racism.

Asian American Men’s Gendered Racial Socialization and Fragmented Masculinity: Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

“…Among Asian American youth, boys are more likely to be peer-victimized, especially physically (Huang & Vidourek, 2019). Large-scale studies including this group have linked peer-victimization with substance use (Stone & Carlisle, 2017) and suicidality (Wang et al, 2018), both of which are significant public health problems for AAM (Hai et al, 2021; Keum & Choi, 2022; Ramchand et al, 2021). Moreover, victimized AAM may be stereotyped as “model victims” (Takahashi, 2020) and dismissed within and across communities and institutions, potentially exacerbating help-seeking disparities (Huang et al, 2013).…”

Impact of Online Racism on Suicide Ideation Through Interpersonal Factors Among Racial Minority Emerging Adults: The Role of Perceived Burdensomeness and Thwarted Belongingness

“…In fact, we observed that the perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness scores in the current sample were higher than the mean perceived burdensomeness (7.45) and thwarted belongingness (19.65) scores reported in a previous study by Hollingsworth et al (2017) . A recent study by Keum and Choi (in press) found that anti-Asian COVID racism was linked to increased depressive symptoms and alcohol use to cope with the distress among Asian American emerging adults. Given that the anti-Asian dynamic may be pervasive and explicit in the current sociopolitical climate in the United States, perceived burdensomeness may have been a robust mediator between online racism and suicide ideation among Asian individuals in our sample.…”

Racial Hate at the Intersection of Online and Offline Worlds: The Joint Impact of Online and Offline Racism on the Mental Health of Racially Minoritized Individuals

“…For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Asian hate crimes and discrimination have spread both offline and online (Chou et al, 2021). In addition to encountering offline anti-Asian racial discrimination and hate crimes (Keum & Choi, 2022), Asian Americans have reported experiencing increased online victimization (Patchin & Hinduja, 2023) and vicarious exposure to traumatic anti-Asian hate content (e.g., mass shootings, hate crimes; Gover et al, 2020). For an Asian American individual reporting distress from experiencing offline anti-Asian racial discrimination, their stress may be further exacerbated by exposure to online racism.…”