Implications of Perceived Interpersonal and Structural Racism for Asian Americans' Self-Esteem

This research considers the relationship between perceived racism and self-esteem among Asian Americans. In theory, perceiving racism protects racial minorities' self-esteem because disparate treatment is externally attributed to a racist system rather than internally attributed to a personal or racial group deficit. However, previous empirical research has not generally supported this perspective, particularly for Asian Americans. Correlational analyses with 257 Asian American college students indicated that the effects of perceiving racism depends on the type of racism that is perceived; while interpersonal racism was related to lower personal self-esteem, structural racism was related to higher collective self-esteem.