Deidra Roach
$558,048
UNIV OF MARYLAND, COLLEGE PARK
Maryland
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)
The alarming 339% increase in the incidence of explicit racial discrimination (e.g., threats, unfair treatment due to one’s race) experienced by Asian Americans since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic is of high public health significance given its robust associations to alcohol-related problems, depression, and physical health outcomes (e.g., poor sleep) among minority groups including Asian Am. While important strides have been made in understanding the link between explicit racial discrimination and numerous health outcomes, it is a complex process encompassing at least 3 different types of racial discrimination: explicit, internalized and vicarious. Internalized racial discrimination refers to inculcation of racist stereotypes, which for Asian Am. includes the model minority stereotype and self-devaluation of oneself and one’s race. Vicarious refers to observing, witnessing or hearing about other Asian Am. being a target of racism. Although internalized and vicarious racial discrimination have been found to have similar adverse health consequences as explicit racial discrimination, what remains unknown is: how different types of racial discrimination distinctly and transdiagnostically impact daily (moment by moment) and prospective health trajectories among three potentially high-risk and vulnerable Asian groups: U.S.-born Filipino, Korean and Indian Am. The theory of “weathering” illustrates how the cumulative effects and burden of racial discrimination creates allostatic load on the body and consequently undermines current and future health. We will conduct a 36-month longitudinal measurement burst design study, using bi-annual surveys with 900 18–19-year-old U.S-born Filipino, Korean and Indian Am. from the community and campus, and apply ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods with a nested subsample (n=180). The age group 18-19 years represents a critical developmental period as problematic alcohol and other drug use (AOD), depression, and anxiety emerge and peak during this time. We will identify cultural resilience- promoting factors including ethnic/racial identity dimensions and universal factors (social support and coping) that buffer the negative effects of racial discrimination. AIM 1a: Identify and characterize the developmental trajectories of alcohol use and other drugs (AOD) use, mental health (depression, anxiety, PTSD), and physical health (sleep, general health) over the course of 36 months. AIM1b. Establish how explicit, internalized, and vicarious racial discrimination are associated with the trajectory classes of AOD, mental health, and physical health. AIM 2: Identify cultural resilience-promoting and universal factors that moderate the effects of explicit, internalized, vicarious, and cumulative exposures to racial discrimination on health outcomes. AIM 3 will establish the real-time contribution of different types of racial discrimination on daily and next day alcohol use, mood, and sleep using EMA. Study findings will offer novel insight about Asian Am. during this unprecedented time of ongoing racial discrimination concerns and its cumulative and negative long-term health effects on these marginalized and underserved groups.