Date of Award

9-6-2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Eunju Yoon

Abstract

The outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has stirred fear and panic with a surge of anti-Asian hate in the United States. Racial discrimination was exacerbated by labeling COVID19 as “the Chinese virus” and blaming Asians and Asian Americans as the source of the virus. Within the exacerbated xenophobic and racist rhetoric since the COVID outbreak in 2019, racial discrimination was amplified towards anyone who phenotypically presented as “Asian.” It is unclear how various Asian ethnic individuals identify with their Asian American identity while experiencing the intensified discrimination. Specifically, experiencing COVID-related racism and group-based rejection may increase or decrease Asian Americans’ collective racial identity according to rejection identification theory and interethnic othering theory, respectively. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine the impact of COVID-related discrimination on Asian Americans’ collective identity and their solidaristic attitudes toward other marginalized groups (e.g., Black, indigenous, and people of color; BIPOC). The current study examined the mediating role of collective identity and the moderating role of critical consciousness on the relationship between COVID-related discrimination and intergroup solidarity. Data were collected from 468 self-identified Asian American adults (Mage = 35.50, SD = 9.95) using an online survey containing a demographic information, the Scale of Ethnic Experience (SEE; Malcarne et al., 2006), the Ingroup Identification Scale (Leach et al., 2008), the Contemporary Critical Consciousness Measure (Shin et al., 2016), and Coalitional Attitudes Scale (Craig et al., 2020). The results supported the rejection identification theory in that COVID-related discrimination had a significant positive association with intergroup solidarity both directly and indirectly via collective identity. Mediation analysis revealed that collective identity mediated the association between perceived discrimination and intergroup solidarity. Furthermore, moderated mediation analysis indicated that critical consciousness did not have a significant moderating effect between perceived discrimination and collective identity, or between collective identity and intergroup solidarity. However, critical consciousness significantly moderated the link between perceived discrimination and intergroup solidarity. Individuals with high levels of critical consciousness showed consistently strong intergroup solidarity. Notably, for individuals with low levels of critical consciousness, the more discrimination they perceived, the stronger intergroup solidarity they had with other BIPOC communities. Discussion about the findings included study limitations, and implications for clinical, social justice intervention and research.

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