Anti-Asian Attitudes in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: an Exploratory Study

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this paper was to measure if people with greater "structural literacy," as indicated by greater awareness of racial and socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19 impact, would hold fewer negative attitudes against those perceived to be Asian in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A survey was administered between April and August 2020 to participants from two longitudinal cohorts in New York State. The survey assessed anti-Asian attitudes relating to COVID-19, awareness of racial and socioeconomic disparities in COVID-19, residential location, socioeconomic status, and other demographic information. The sample included 233 Black, Latinx, and White midlife adults from urban, suburban, and rural New York neighborhoods. Multivariable regression modeling was used to assess associations between COVID-19 disparities awareness, an indicator of structural literacy, and anti-Asian attitudes, adjusting for gender, race/ethnicity, residential location, and socioeconomic disadvantage.

Results: Greater awareness of disparities in COVID-19 was associated with lower levels of anti-Asian attitudes after adjustment (adj-slope = - 0.358, p < 0.001).

Conclusion: Greater structural literacy, as measured by awareness of socioeconomic and racial disparities in COVID-19 impact, was associated with fewer anti-Asian attitudes among Black, Latinx, and White adults.

Implications: Increasing structural literacy may reduce anti-Asian attitudes that motivate harmful acts against oppressed groups.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health disparities; Public health; Race; Xenophobia.