Mediating Effects of Anti-Racist Action on the Relationships between Racial Discrimination and Depressive Symptoms Among Asian American Young Adults

Background: Racial discrimination remains a persistent and harmful stressor for Asian Americans, contributing to elevated risks of depression and other mental health challenges, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic and amid recent political climates. While a few prior research studies have explored anti-racist action as a coping mechanism, limited studies have examined how different forms of civic engagement—interpersonal, communal, and political—relate to mental health outcomes among Asian American young adults. Guided by the Sociopolitical Development Theory (Watts et al, 2003), this study investigates how these distinct types of anti-racist action mediate the relationship between racial discrimination (general and COVID-19-related) and depressive symptoms among Filipino and Korean American young adults.

Methods: This study utilized the fourth wave of the Midwest Longitudinal Study of Asian American Families, focusing on Filipino American(FA) and Korean American(KA) young adults aged 18-22. A total of 612 participants (265 FAs and 347 KAs) were surveyed about their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. The dependent variable was depressive symptoms, and independent variables were general racial discrimination and COVID-19 related racial discrimination. The mediators were three types of anti-racist actions: interpersonal, communal, and political anti-racist actions. Covariates included age, nativity, gender, and socioeconomic status. Using path analyses, we tested how different types of anti-racist action mediate the relationships between two types of racial discrimination (i.e., general and COVID-19 related) and depressive symptoms among each ethnic group. Bootstrapping was utilized to test mediating effects and full information maximum likelihood to handle missing data.

Results: Path analyses revealed that general racial discrimination was directly related to increased depressive symptoms among both ethnic groups. Notably, among KAs communal anti-racist action fully mediated the relationships between COVID-19 related discrimination and depressive symptoms, and it partially mediated the relationships between general discrimination and depressive symptoms. Specifically, racial discrimination was related to increased communal anti-racist action, while communal anti-racist action, in turn, was related to decreased depressive symptoms. Although the mediating effect did not reach statistical significance among FAs, communal action was related to decreased depressive symptoms among them at marginal significance (p < 0.10). The mediating effects of interpersonal and political anti-racist actions were not statistically significant for both ethnic groups. Multigroup analyses by nativity among each ethnic group were conducted as sensitivity analyses.

Conclusion and Implications: Although racial discrimination may jeopardize mental health, the present study found that Asian Americans proactively responded to racial discrimination by engaging in a variety of anti-racist actions. Our results highlight that communal anti-racist action mediates the relationships between both general and COVID-19 racial discrimination and depressive symptoms among KAs, suggesting that it can be a psychologically adaptive coping strategy responding to racial discrimination. Communal action can be protective in that it can provide opportunities to build sense of belonging and solidarity with co-ethnics and allies. Our findings stress the importance of promoting anti-racist action as an effective means of responding to racial discrimination and creating supportive environments where targeted individuals feel safe to participate in such actions. We need additional studies to identify adaptive coping for FAs.