The double pandemic: Examining cultural stress among Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate patterns of cultural stress (racial discrimination and COVID stress) and their impact on ethnic identity and civic engagement among Asian American college students. METHOD: 491 undergraduate students who self-identify as Asian American (female = 63.50%; Mage = 20.40, SD = 3.64) were recruited from seven college campuses. RESULTS: We identified four distinct cultural stress profiles: COVID-related stress, discrimination stress, double pandemic stress (high in both), and low combined COVID-discrimination stress. Double pandemic profile members were more likely to be immigrants and reported higher ethnic identity, civic behaviors, and belief in civic participation, whereas low combined COVID-discrimination stress participants reported significantly lower beliefs in civic participation compared to those in the double pandemic profile. CONCLUSIONS: Findings reaffirm the need to focus on Asian Americans' experiences and expand current conceptualizations of cultural stress to include macrolevel structural processes (COVID stress and racial discrimination) and its implications for identity and civic engagement. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

An intersectional examination of the impact of COVID-stress and discrimination on college students' resilience and mental health.

Objective: To investigate the impact of COVID-stress and discrimination on mental health among a group of diverse college students using an intersectional framework. Participants: One thousand six hundred seventy-one undergraduate students (Mage = 20.42, SD = 2.74) were recruited from nine college campuses. Methods: Participants completed an online questionnaire assessing mental health symptoms, COVID-stress, and in-school discrimination. Hierarchical regressions and multi-group SEM path analysis were conducted to examine differences across intersectional identities. Results: Female-identifying students reported higher COVID-stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms, and lower resilience compared to males. COVID-stress and discrimination were highest among certain minoritized student groups. Using an intersectional framework, more COVID-stress and discrimination were associated with increased anxiety for almost all women of color. Unexpectedly, COVID-stress predicted anxiety symptoms for almost all male intersectional groups. Conclusions: Findings reaffirm the intersectional framework and highlight significant disparities in how students experience COVID-stress, discrimination, and mental health outcomes along dimensions of gender and race/ethnicity.

Prosociality across adulthood: A developmental and motivational perspective.

Why do people contribute to the well-being of others? What promotes or hinders their contribution? Framed by expectancy-value theory and the motivational theory of life span development, we use data from the Midlife in the United States National longitudinal study (MIDUS I, II, and III) to examine how individuals' perceived contributions to the well-being of others develop across adulthood, in the related but distinct forms of overall prosociality (more other-focused) and generativity (more self-focused). Our findings show that prosociality and generativity display similar, yet distinct trajectories, peaking in midlife a decade apart from each other, when expectancy and value for prosocial behavior are highest. Moreover, expectancy as reflected in perceived control and control strivings, and value as indicated by agreeableness, predict individuals' prosociality and generativity. Trajectories of prosocial contributions further differ according to individual differences in perceived control, control striving, education, income, and number of children, whereas trajectories of generativity only differ across levels of perceived control and income. By applying motivational and life span developmental perspectives, our study offers insight into how prosociality and generativity develop throughout adulthood. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Growing Up Amid Ethno-Political Conflict: Aggression and Emotional Desensitization Promote Hostility to Ethnic Outgroups.

Ethno-political violence impacts thousands of youth and is associated with numerous negative outcomes. Yet little research examines adaptation to ethno-political violence over time or across multiple outcomes simultaneously. This study examines longitudinal patterns of aggressive behavior and emotional distress as they co-occur among Palestinian (n = 600) youth exposed to ethno-political violence over 3 years in three age cohorts (starting ages: 8, 11, and 14). Findings indicate distinct profiles of aggressive behavior and emotional distress, and unique joint patterns. Furthermore, youth among key joint profiles (e.g., high aggression-emotional desensitization) are more likely to endorse normative beliefs about aggression toward ethnic outgroups. This study offers a dynamic perspective on emotional and behavioral adaptation to ethno-political violence and the implications of those processes.

Negative Stereotypes of Ethnic Out-groups: A Longitudinal Examination Among Palestinian, Israeli Jewish, and Israeli Arab Youth.

Ethno-political conflict impacts thousands of youth globally and has been associated with a number of negative psychological outcomes. Extant literature has mostly addressed the adverse emotional and behavioral outcomes of exposure while failing to examine change over time in social-cognitive factors in contexts of ethno-political conflict. Using cohort-sequential longitudinal data, the present study examines ethnic variation in the development of negative stereotypes about ethnic out-groups among Palestinian (n=600), Israeli Jewish (n=451), and Israeli Arab (n=450) youth over three years. Age and exposure to ethno-political violence were included as covariates for these trajectories. Findings indicate important ethnic differences in trajectories of negative stereotypes about ethnic out-groups, as well as variation in how such trajectories are shaped by prolonged ethno-political conflict.

Trajectories of ethnic-racial discrimination among ethnically diverse early adolescents: associations with psychological and social adjustment.

Using longitudinal data, the authors assessed 585 Dominican, Chinese, and African American adolescents (Grades 6-8, M(age) at W1 = 11.83) to determine patterns over time of perceived ethnic-racial discrimination from adults and peers; if these patterns varied by gender, ethnicity, and immigrant status; and whether they are associated with psychological (self-esteem, depressive symptoms) and social (friend and teacher relationship quality, school belonging) adjustment. Two longitudinal patterns for adult discrimination and three longitudinal patterns for peer discrimination were identified using a semiparametric mixture model. These trajectories were distinct with regard to the initial level, shape, and changes in discrimination. Trajectories varied by gender and ethnicity and were significantly linked to psychological and social adjustment. Directions for future research and practice are discussed.

The role of contingent self-worth in the relation between victimization and internalizing problems in adolescents.

Peer victimization can challenge mental health, yet limited research has considered contingent self-worth as a moderator of that relation. This study examined the relation of peer victimization to major depressive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and social phobia during adolescence, and contingent self-worth as a hypothesized moderator of those relations. Self-report data from adolescents (N = 716; Mage = 15.95; 94% ethnic/racial minority; 63% female) illustrated that peer victimization and contingent self-worth had significant additive effects on internalizing problems. Moderation analyses suggested that higher levels of contingent self-worth amplify the effect of victimization on internalizing problems. For social phobia, this effect appeared to be salient only for boys. Peer victimization and bullying are receiving increased national attention and these results underscore the impact of victimization on adolescent mental health. However, interventions targeting self-worth as a possible protective factor should be cautious not to over-emphasize externalities in the maintenance of self-worth.

To be or not to be: an exploration of ethnic identity development in context.

This qualitative study focused on the intersection of personal and ethnic identities among forty African American, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Chinese American high school students. The patterns in content indicated that for the Puerto Ricans, the intersection of their personal and social identities was a series of accommodations to a positive peer climate and a resistance to being Dominican. For the other ethnic groups, the intersection of their personal and social identities consisted of a process of resistance and accommodation to negative stereotypes projected on them by their peers and, for African Americans, themselves.