Refuting the model minority image of Asian Americans: Stress of living in a new country

The most important goal of public health is to prevent morbidity and mortality, and to eliminate disparities in health between segments of the U.S. population. However this vision is far from fully realized as health disparities between groups still persist and, in some cases, have widened. However, Asian Americans are called the “model minority” and not much health research is focused on this community. This study refutes the model minority image of Asian Americans, and presents that immigrating and settling in a new environment exposes the individual to distinct experiences and challenges. Thus study highlights the unique stresses faced by Asian American communities as a result of their immigration to the U.S. Using data from the 2002-2003 National Latino and Asian American Study (NLAAS), 1,639 Asian immigrants were included in the sample. Bi-variate analyses were done to estimate the percent distribution of four stresses- legal stress, language difficulties, loss of contact stress, and discrimination stress, for total sample population and three major Asian ethnic groups (Vietnamese, Filipino, and Chinese). Results show that all Asians groups reported 20% legal stress, 35% language difficulties, 30% loss of contact, and 47% discrimination stress as an important source stress. Vietnamese reported high loss of contact, discrimination, and language difficulties; Filipinos reported high legal stress and discrimination; Chinese reported high language difficulties and discrimination as substantial source of stress. Thus, Asians living in the U.S. face multiple challenges that warrant attention by the health professionals to improve their social and health conditions.