Perceived and Experienced Anti-Chinese Discrimination and Its Associated Psychological Impacts Among Chinese Canadians During the Wave 2 of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The current study examined the sociodemographic factors associated with perceived and experienced anti-Chinese discrimination and discrimination as a predictor of psychological distress and loneliness among Chinese Canadians. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in early 2021 with a sample of 899 Chinese Canadians (i.e., immigrants, citizens, visitors, and international students) during the Wave 2 of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, anti-Chinese discrimination was generally associated with younger age and poor financial or health status. Christianity/Catholicism believers were less likely to report perceived discrimination, whereas being married/partnered and living with family reduced the incidences of experienced discrimination. Most importantly, hierarchical linear regression models showed that both perceived and experienced discrimination predicted higher psychological distress (beta s = 4.90-7.57, ps <= .001) and loneliness (beta s = .89-1.73, ps <= .003), before and after controlling for all related sociodemographic covariates. Additionally, older age, higher education, better financial or health status could all buffer psychological distress, whereas living with family or in a house and better financial or health status could mitigate feeling of loneliness. The results suggested that discrimination has a robust detrimental impact on mental health conditions among Chinese Canadians.

Automated summary

This study examined the association between sociodemographic factors and perceived and experienced anti-Chinese discrimination, as well as the role of discrimination in predicting psychological distress and loneliness among Chinese Canadians. The results showed that both perceived and experienced discrimination were associated with higher levels of psychological distress and loneliness. These findings highlight the detrimental impact of discrimination on the mental health of Chinese Canadians.