PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A new national survey has detailed the negative effects of discrimination and xenophobia on the mental health of Chinese Americans.
Committee of 100 , a nonprofit that focuses on the causes and issues of Chinese Americans, has released its 2024 “State of Chinese Americans” study. According to its findings, 68% of Chinese Americans stated they face at least one form of discrimination in an average month, while 43% said they felt depressed and 39% reported feeling worthless.
Vivian Chang, executive director of Philadelphia-based organization Asian Americans United , said she wasn’t surprised at the results. “The way that folks have talked about Chinatown in really demeaning ways to promote xenophobia and racism — that’s going to affect anyone’s mental health,” she said.
In addition, 61% of survey respondents said that the language and rhetoric used by the U.S. news media when reporting on relations between the U.S. and China negatively affected how strangers treat them — and, 89% of Chinese Americans viewed the current relationship between the two nations as negative.