Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Mar 22, 2021
Date Accepted: Aug 1, 2021
Date Submitted to PubMed: Aug 12, 2021
Exploring the Relationship Between Discrimination-related Experience, Worry and Social Media Exposure on Depression Among Asians in the U.S. During COVID-19: Cross-Sectional Survey Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
The outbreak of COVID-19 has spurred increasing anti-Asian racism and xenophobia in the United States, which might be detrimental to the psychological well-being among Asian people. The impact of racial discrimination fueled by a global pandemic on the well-being remains unclear. This study is a novel attempt to empirically examine how racial discrimination during COVID-19 would be associated with depression among Asians in the United States.
Objective:
We investigated three discrimination-related variables, including experience of discrimination, worry about discrimination, and social media exposure to racism-related information during COVID-19, and aimed to examine how three variables were related to depression among Asians in the United States. Another goal was to examine how the association between social media exposure and depression would be moderated by personal experiences and worry of racial discrimination.
Methods:
A cross-sectional online survey was conducted. A total of 209 people (Mage = 33.69, SD = 11.31; 45.93% female) who identified themselves as Asians and were residing in the United States when the survey was conducted were included in the study.
Results:
The results indicated that experience of discrimination (β = .34, P < .001) and social media exposure to racism-related information (β = .18, P = .012) was positively associated with depressive symptoms. Worry about discrimination (β = .07, P = .40) was not a significant predictor for depression in this study. We also found the significant interactive effect of social media exposure and worry about discrimination on depression (β = -.93, P = .003).
Conclusions:
The present study provided preliminary evidence that experience of discrimination during COVID-19 was a strong risk factor of depressive symptoms among Asian people in the United States. Meanwhile, social media exposure was found to be generally detrimental to the welling of US Asians, and the relationship between social media exposure and depression was significantly moderated by worry about discrimination. It is much-needed to develop accessible programs to help US Asians cope with racial discrimination both in real lives and on social media during this unprecedented health crisis, especially among those who haven’t been mentally well prepared to such challenges.
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