COVID-19 AND ITS IMPACT ON ASIAN AMERICAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER MENTAL HEALTH

Abstract

The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community has seen increased adverse mental health outcomes secondary to the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic. This includes growing literature that shows that AAPIs are at higher risk of experiencing symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Many studies allude to how these disparities in mental health outcomes may be secondary to how the world has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic. This thesis will explore this mental health inequity by organizing literature into three major groups using the biopsychosocial model, which is a holistic model classically used in mental health to model how biological, psychological, and social stressors can be the cause of mental illness. This thesis will look at how the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected many people who identify as AAPI and how they have been disproportionately affected compared to their White counterparts.