Chapter 1: The Impact of Racial Discrimination on Health Disparities among Asian Americans

Purpose – This study examined the impacts of racial discrimination on the self-reported health among Asian Americans.

Methodology/Approach – This study investigated a subsample of 1,090 Asian Americans from the 2008 National Asian American Survey. Three-category measure of self-reported health was constructed ain. Racial discrimination experiences encompassed (1) interpersonal discrimination, (2) institutional racism, and (3) hate crime. Ordered logistic regression models were employed to test the association between self-reported health and experiences of racial discrimination among Asian Americans.

Findings – With respect to ethnic origin, South Asians showed lower levels of self-reported health than East Asians/Asian Indians. Although the baseline effect of each discrimination indicator was insignificant, there was an interactional effect between ethnic origin and racial discrimination, indicating the more interpersonal discriminatory experiences, the worse health status for South Asians.

Research limitations – There remained some limitations including data and the measures of racial discrimination.

Originality/Value of Paper – Despite the limitations, this study revealed that as a risk factor, how experiences of racial discrimination shape health disparities among ethnic groups in the United States, focusing on the heterogeneity within Asian Americans.