Vicarious racism, ethnic/racial identity, and sleep among Asian Americans.

Abstract

Objectives: Vicarious racism-witnessing or hearing about other individuals of one's ethnic/racial group being the target of racism-has been salient among Asian Americans during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. There is emerging evidence that such experiences adversely impact several healthrelated outcomes, including sleep. The present study examines associations between vicarious racism and subjective sleep duration and quality, and the potential moderating role of ethnic/racial identity (ERI). Method: Multivariable regression models assessed the association between vicarious racism, private regard, and centrality on self-reported sleep disturbance and duration. The sample consisted of an online sample of 600 Asian American adults (M age = 38.55, SD age = 17.11; 65.17% female; 60% ≥ Bachelor's degree) recruited from May to June 2020. Results: Vicarious racism was associated with compromised sleep quality and duration, including after adjustment for sociodemographic variables that have been linked to sleep. Private regard toward one's own ethnic/racial group and centrality of ethnicity/race to self-identity buffered the association between vicarious racism and sleep quality and duration. Adverse effects of high vicarious racism on sleep quality and duration were lessened among respondents reporting high levels of ERI private regard and centrality. Conclusions: Findings from this study extend research on racism and sleep by examining vicarious racism, an understudied facet of racism, and by focusing specifically on Asian Americans and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Future research and practice should consider expanding research on discrimination to include a broader range of unjust experiences. Vicarious racism contributes to health hazards experienced by Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Public Significance StatementThis study suggests that among Asian Americans in the United States, experiences of vicarious racism during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had detrimental impacts on sleep quality and duration. Two facets of ethnic/racial identity-private regard and centrality-may serve to buffer the negative effects of vicarious racism on sleep. These findings demonstrate the importance of addressing racism as a public health threat and provide greater understanding of the role that ethnic/racial identity may play in protecting against the negative impacts of this unique, and increasingly salient, form of racism on sleep outcomes.

Experiencing, anticipating, and witnessing discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for health and wellbeing among Asian Americans

“…Indeed, empirical evidence has demonstrated that people experience lower self-blame after experiencing mistreatment when they have also witnessed mistreatment toward others ( 43 ). Our finding that vicarious discrimination was unrelated to health outcomes, however, deviates from results from other recent studies ( 30 , 44 ). Importantly, though, our study differed from the other studies in that it controlled for other types of discrimination experiences (e.g., personally experienced discrimination).…”

Impact of COVID-19 discrimination fear on psychological distress among East Asian college students: The moderating role of emotion regulation.

“…However, more studies have begun to demonstrate that the worry or fear of experiencing discrimination, beyond the experience of discrimination itself, is also a significant aspect of racism (Hahm et al, 2021; Yip et al, 2022). Elder (1998) proposed the concept of “linked lives,” suggesting that racial group members share experiences such that other members’ discrimination experiences may be personally distressing and negatively impact one’s mental and physical health as much as directly experiencing racism (Yip et al, 2022). In addition, publicized acts of racial violence can have profound mental health effects on the larger population, as evidenced by increased depression among African Americans after the killing of George Floyd (Yip et al, 2022).…”

“…Elder (1998) proposed the concept of “linked lives,” suggesting that racial group members share experiences such that other members’ discrimination experiences may be personally distressing and negatively impact one’s mental and physical health as much as directly experiencing racism (Yip et al, 2022). In addition, publicized acts of racial violence can have profound mental health effects on the larger population, as evidenced by increased depression among African Americans after the killing of George Floyd (Yip et al, 2022). Given the personal distress that results from exposure to vicarious racism, it is likely that the resulting fear of experiencing discrimination also has a detrimental impact on mental health.…”

Racial and ethnic differences in perseverative cognition at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic

“…These unfortunate incidents are in line with worries of “social disarray” indicated by Asian/PI respondents at the onset of the pandemic in the current study (see Wu et al, 2021 ). In fact, hearing about or witnessing these incidents are associated with poorer sleep quality and shorter sleep duration, thereby contributing to health risks, in Asian Americans during the pandemic ( Yip et al, 2022 ). Pandemic-related PC might be even more complex among Asian/PI people today compared to the onset of the pandemic given the continued rise of these incidents.…”

“…Such health disparities are not new, as some marginalized racial groups experience greater morbidity and mortality from the leading causes of death, including cardiovascular disease and cancer ( Virani et al, 2020 ). During the pandemic, racial/ethnic disparities have also been found in sleep patterns ( Yip et al, 2021 , 2022 ; cf. Hisler and Twenge, 2021 ), economic outcomes ( Couch et al, 2020 ), and among households with healthcare workers or workers who could not work from home ( Selden and Berdahl, 2020 ).…”