Racial Discrimination and Asian Mental Health: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Although research on racial discrimination and mental health has proliferated, findings are varied and dispersed. This study explored the critical question of how Asians, in particular, deal with discrimination and how this relates to Asian mental health. With 99 correlations from 23 independent studies, the overall relationship between racial discrimination and mental health was statistically significant ( r = .23). Individual resources (i.e., personal constructs and strengths, social support, cultural identity, and coping strategies) were also found to be significantly related to racial discrimination ( r = -.19, -.15, -.10, .22, respectively) and to mental health with the exception of coping strategies ( r = -.48, -.27, -.21, respectively). Recommendations regarding future research and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.