White College Students' Ethnocultural Empathy Toward Asians and Asian Americans During the COVID-19 Pandemic

What is the public significance of this article? This study found that White students' empathy toward Asian and Asian American experiences of racism during COVID-19 was related to how their peers spoke about and responded to this issue, and this was especially true for White men compared to White women. The findings suggest some practical ways to help non-Asian individuals to better understand the experiences of racism among Asians and Asian Americans. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a dramatic increase in racist acts against Asians and Asian Americans. Given this troubling reality, it is important to identify how non-Asians, such as White individuals, can better understand the racialized experiences of their Asian and Asian American peers during this time. As such, we set out to examine White college students' ethnocultural empathy toward Asians and Asian Americans during the pandemic. Specifically, based on theorizing on normative influence, we examined how peer support might be associated with increased ethnocultural empathy toward Asians and Asian Americans. Additionally, leadership support and gender were included as covariates. Participants were recruited from a predominantly White institution located in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Results based on hierarchical regression analyses indicated that ethnocultural empathy was predicted by gender and peer support. We also explored the moderating role of gender in the association between peer support and ethnocultural empathy, and we found that the positive association between peer support and ethnocultural empathy was greater for men compared to women. The findings of the present study have implications for advancing the research and practice around helping non-Asian students better understand and support their fellow Asian and Asian American students.

Automated summary

This study found that white students' empathy towards Asian and Asian American experiences of racism during COVID-19 was related to how their peers talked about and responded to this issue, especially for white men. The findings suggest practical ways to help non-Asians better understand the experiences of racism among Asians and Asian Americans.