In a first of its kind study describing COVID-19 related stigma among young adult college students, researchers from the University of California, Irvine found that Asian American or Pacific Islanders were more likely to experience three types of racial stigma compared to other race and ethnic groups.
Corresponding author, Bernadette Boden-Albala, MPH, DrPH, director and founding dean at the UC Irvine Program in Public Health, collaborated with researchers and UCI students to publish the findings in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.
The COVID-19 pandemic left an indelible mark on the world. It altered the course of history, challenged healthcare systems, economies, and societies, and continues to take an immeasurable toll on human lives. For those within the Asian American or Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities, there has been an alarming increase in hate crimes and heightened racial discrimination, most notably at the start of the pandemic, which appears to have continued to the present. Investigating anti-Asian racism is a public health priority as it has ramifications on overall health and well-being.
As a public health practitioner and educator, I cannot stress how important it is for academic institutions to prioritize interventions that combat anti-AAPI sentiments and COVID-19 stigma.”
– Bernadette Boden-Albala, MPH, DrPH
Using a cross-sectional survey method, Boden-Albala and team collected survey responses from college students at the UC Irvine campus at four different points between February and November 2020. To ensure a large sample size, only responses from April and November were used to compare results in this study. In addition to demographic questions, the online survey included questions about COVID-19 stigma, stigma resistance, sources of COVID-19 information and lifestyle behaviors. After analyzing the survey results, three key stigma outcomes were revealed: Respondents experienced overt discrimination, feared future stigmatization and agreed with others’ negative beliefs about one’s identity.
AAPI students in both April and November were at least two times more likely to experience overt discrimination and more than seven times more likely to experience anticipated stigma in the earlier wave compared to non-Hispanic, White students. The survey also found that AAPI students that had higher education, lived with neighbors/roommates, maintained a healthy lifestyle and thought positively about oneself were protected against different types of stigma.
“We are still uncovering the unforeseen consequences of the pandemic beyond its infectious spread,” says Boden-Albala, who is also a professor of health, society and behavior at UCI Public Health. “As a public health practitioner and educator, I cannot stress how important it is for academic institutions to prioritize interventions that combat anti-AAPI sentiments and COVID-19 stigma.”
Additional authors include Xueting Ding, Nessa Ryan, Desiree Gutierrez, MPH, Brooke Gibbs, John Michael Robb, and Emily Drum, MPH, all from UCI Program in Public Health; Sara Goodman, from Stanford University; Jeffrey Wing, from the Ohio State University; Miryha Gould Runnerstrom, PhD, from University of Washington Bothell.
