Profiles of Identity and Bias-based Discrimination among Korean Ethnic Minority Youth in China

• In Event: Poster Session 06
  In Poster Session: PS 06 Topic - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Abstract

Youth may face social, health, and academic inequalities based on their social identities as certain marginalized identities are susceptible to discrimination (Burkholder, D’Esterre, & Killen, 2019; Cheon, Ip, Haskin, & Yip, 2020; Phinney, 1978). For example, poor, gender non-conforming, Korean ethnic minority youth in China may face various forms of discrimination including that from the ethnic majority in China due to their minority status (i.e., ethnic discrimination), from their co-ethnics in South Korea due to their emigrant status (i.e., transnational discrimination), and from the conservative and cis-normative society (i.e., class-based discrimination and gender expression-based discrimination). These intersecting discriminations may contribute to poorer psychological, physical, and academic outcomes (Lee, Falbo, Doh, & Park, 2001). However, the increased awareness of one’s social identities may protect marginalized youth from the adverse impact of related discrimination (Garcia Coll & Marks, 2009; McDermott, Umaña-Taylor, Zeiders, 2019; Tummala-Narra & Sathasivam-Rueckert, 2016). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore profiles of identity and discrimination among Korean-Chinese youth and examine their psychological, physical, and academic adjustment.
The analytic sample included 267 Korean-Chinese adolescents aged 12 to 18 (M = 15.21, SD = 1.65) residing in a Northeastern province of China. Four intersecting identities (i.e., perceived social class, ethnic identity, national identity, and gender socialization) and the corresponding forms of bias-based discrimination (i.e., class discrimination, ethnic discrimination, transnational discrimination, and gender expression discrimination) were assessed to delineate adolescent profiles. Adolescents’ adjustment was measured with self-reported depressive symptoms, perceived physical health, and grades in core academic subjects (i.e., Korean, Chinese, and English language arts, and mathematics).
Latent Profile Analysis revealed five profiles that represented distinct combinations of identity and discrimination levels (see Figure 1): intersected identity-low discrimination (IILD; N = 40), bicultural identity-transnational discrimination (BITD; N = 33), bicultural identity-class discrimination (BICD; N = 136), diffused identity-low discrimination (DILD; N = 29), and moderate identity-intersected discrimination (MIID, N = 29). Profile comparisons of depressive symptoms, perceived physical health, average language arts grades, and math grades using linear regressions are presented in detail in Table 1. In comparison to adolescents in the IILD profile, those in the other profiles reported poorer adjustment in at least one domain. Additional linear regressions with rotated reference profiles showed that adolescents in the BICD profile reported lower average language arts grades compared to those in the BITD profile; adolescents in the MIID profile reported higher levels of depressive symptoms and poorer physical health, and adolescents in the DILD profile also reported poorer physical health compared to those in the BICD profile. Finally, DILD and MIID profiles were not statistically different in any domain of adolescent adjustment. Interestingly, math grades were not significantly different across five latent profiles.
The well-being of the IILD profile suggests that Korean-Chinese adolescents may exhibit optimal outcomes when they develop high levels of intersected social identities while being protected from bias-based discrimination. Additionally, the relative positive adjustment of the BICD profile suggests that high bicultural identities may serve as a cross-domain buffer against the pernicious effect of class discrimination.

Authors

• Zhenqiang Zhao, Fordham University
  Presenting Author

• Yishan Shen, Texas State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hyunkyung Lee, Texas State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christopher Coffey, Texas State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Xiuying Yan, Yanbian University
  Non-Presenting Author