Madison Nguyen

Professor Atamdede

Writing 39C

21 January 2022

How the Model Minority Myth Negatively Affects Asian Americans

An influx of immigration from the Asian community into American society occurred in the 60’s and became the origin period of the model minority myth. Because these immigrants consisted of generally wealthier, educated individuals, the myth began as a stereotype where Asian Americans became seen as hard working and high achieving minorities compared to other people of color. In the modern era, this stigma continues to persist into the lives of POC communities, and can have detrimental effects to particular groups, such as when we focus on Asian students. The model minority myth negatively impacts the mentality of students of color, especially those of Asian descent, which can be seen by the increase in mental health issues, the “yellow peril” phenomenon during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the history of extensive stereotyping of Asian people and their culture.

Within the POC (people of color) community, mental health issues appear in students at an increased rate when compared to those of non-POC and at different levels between major racial groups. For instance, a study was conducted in 2015 on students to scan for social anxiety rates and it was found that “Asian Americans were between 1.53 and 1.83 times as likely as White students and between 1.89 and 3 times as likely as Black students to screen positively.” (Brice) This difference can be reasoned to be partially caused by the effects of the model minority myth, as it brings pressure to succeed for many Asian students. Commonly, in Asian American families, students are expected to maintain perfect GPA’s, have extensive lists of extracurriculars, and overall stay at the top, which creates a harmful environment for them that relies on unrealistic expectations stemming from the historical Asian stereotype. In another case study conducted in 2007, it was found that  “Asian-American women ages 15-24 have the highest suicide rate of women in any race or ethnic group in that age group.” (Cohen) The survey included interviews from 41 different women who had thoughts or attempts at suicide, and concluded that they all experienced some form of pressure whether that be in an academic, work, or home setting. Within Asian culture, there are still gender role expectations that are still prevalent even in modern day families, as women are expected to be feminine, submissive figures, which creates an environment where they are almost forced to passively bottle their problems to themselves by societal pressure. Such mental health issues stem from the false beliefs of the model minority myth, which bring apparent harm to the Asian American community.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, a new wave of sinophobia and xenophobia targeting the Asian community was introduced. Unemployment rates for all groups skyrocketed, but increased the most for Asian Americans in a study done in New York City, which found “a jobless rate of 3.4 percent at the beginning of the pandemic in February'' and “by May, the rate had surged to 25.6 percent.” (Yam) In general, this surge is likely caused by the lack of access granted to those who struggled with unemployment. Language barriers, for example, have become an issue in employing Asian immigrants in particular because the workforce often refuses to cater to POC foreigners. The expectations from the model minority myth also play a role in this as it is stereotyped to say that  “Asian Americans are high earning and well educated.” (Jin) While it has been debunked several times, such as in a LAAUNCH survey that showed leadership roles in Asians are the most underrepresented, the myth is still prominent within American culture. It creates a scenario that undermines Asian struggles, in this case, the high rates of unemployment, as there is a hidden expectation that the community will be able to get through it simply because they are perceived by often conservative, older employers as hardworking and persevering individuals.

Throughout the life of an Asian American student, they are likely to experience racism and discrimination often in the form of stereotyping and microagressions. In a study using 152 college students in 2019, students who said they experienced these forms of racism through a two week period “were associated with shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality the following day.” (Ogbeena) As negative experiences cause physical effects, the issue of the model minority myth’s pressure on students can apply not just to Asian students, but all students of color as well. Furthermore, this decrease in quality of sleep is even more impacted if the student has been a part of American culture for longer periods of time, implying that the stereotype generally exists outside of Asian culture itself and has become a stigma against Asian Americans. Oftentimes, students’ problems become overlooked when comparing issues between POC communities in a way pitting them against each with common microaggressions such as “if Asian Americans can make it after all they’ve been through then what’s wrong with Black people?” (Richardson) Such phrases ignore the blaring issues that all minority communities face and are often used by those participating in white supremacy, and create expectations that ignore the struggles of outliers who do not fit into society’s stereotype of their group. Discrimination in the Asian community in particular can form internalized racism that often begins during early education when a student is truly exposed to racism for the first time by their peers.

Seeing the increase in mental health problems, the racism caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the persisting stereotyping of Asian people, Asian students can attribute these harmful experiences partially to the model minority myth. These issues of discrimination are still an ongoing issue to this day, where students face peer pressure not only from their classroom environment, but in the real world as well. Beyond schooling, a student’s education prominently plays into maintaining the racist, and inaccurate stereotyping of the Asian perspective, and it is vital to tackle the issue from this root in order to minimize the harmful impact the myth plays in the community.