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

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Abstract
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 (βs = 4.90–7.57, ps ≤ .001) and loneliness (βs = .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.
Funding Information
  • the New Frontiers Research Fund through the Canadian Institute of Health Research (NFRF-2019-00012)

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