Surviving within a racialized category: Spatial and temporal inequalities in health among Asian Americans

• In Event: Asia and Asian American Section Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 7: Asia and Asian America Section Roundtable - Health and Medicine

Abstract

Prior research has documented how anti-Asian racism experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic has potentially harmed the physical and mental health of Asian Americans. However, less is known about how the sociopolitical crisis of the pandemic may relate to geographic disparities in health among Asian Americans in the long term. Using nationally representative survey data from years 2019-2024 of the National Health Interview Survey, I examine regional disparities in the health of Asian American working-aged adults and address how those differences interact with important sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., age, sex assigned at birth, socioeconomic status (SES), acculturation, and urban-rural distinctions). Preliminary findings suggest that there is a significant region-health relationship, such that Asian Americans living in the U.S. South tend to have better self-rated health than their counterparts in the U.S. West. Additionally, results suggest that higher SES and lower levels of acculturation can interact with the characteristics of spatial contexts to enact protective effects on one’s health. Given the extensive diversity of the Asian American population and limited body of research on the ways in which health disparities by place and time may exist and function within this group, it is crucial to consider such factors when studying their health. This study remains one of a few to account for how broader, place-based processes and events may operate in conjunction with individual-level sociodemographic characteristics to potentially differentiate the health statuses of Asian Americans.

Author

• Alexandra Ro, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill