Chinese American Adolescents’ Experiences of COVID-19 Racial Discrimination: Risk and Protective Factors for Internalizing Difficulties

Objective: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has fueled anti-Asian racism and xenophobia in the United States, which negatively impact Asian Americans’ adjustment. To identify risk and protective factors for Chinese American adolescents’ mental health, the present study examined: (1) the associations between Chinese American adolescents’ experiences of COVID-19-related racial discrimination and their internalizing difficulties; (2) the moderating roles of: (a) adolescents’ bicultural identity integration (BII; harmony and blendedness dimensions separately) and (b) parents’ promotion of mistrust ethnic–racial socialization (PMERS); and (c) the interplay between BII and PMERS in the associations between racial discrimination and internalizing difficulties. Method: Participants included 211 Chinese American adolescents of 10–18 years old (M_age = 13.92, SD = 2.33; 48% girls) and their parents (M_age = 46.18 years, SD = 5.17; 81% mothers). Results: Overall, adolescents’ experiences of COVID-19-related racial discrimination were associated with more internalizing difficulties, and this association was buffered by BII harmony and blendedness and exacerbated by PMERS. However, a complex interplay among specific BII dimensions and parental PMERS in the associations between racial discrimination and adolescent internalizing problems was revealed. Adolescents with lower levels of BII blendedness were more vulnerable to the negative effects of racial discrimination on their internalizing problems and more susceptible to their parents’ PMERS; adolescents who reported higher levels of BII harmony and perceived lower levels of parental PMERS were more protected from the negative effects of racial discrimination on their internalizing problems.