(PS4-B28) Examining Racial Trauma in Asian American Communities: Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Race-based Traumatic Stress Symptom Scale in an Asian American Sample During COVID-19

Racist and violent acts towards Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) have increased dramatically since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. To highlight, Stop AAPI Hate received 1,497 reports of hate incidents against AAPIs within its first opening month in March 2020. Nearly two years later, this number stands today at 10,906 or a 628% increase. Coupled with health and financial stressors from the pandemic, race-based stigma and discrimination are expected to leave significant negative impacts on the mental health of AAPI communities (Misra et al., 2020). 

The Race-Based Traumatic Stress Symptom Scale (RBTSSS; Carter et al., 2013) is a 52-item measure that assesses responses to racial trauma, or the psychological, emotional, and physical injury that occurs from experiencing actual or perceived racism (Carter, 2007). Since the development of the RBTSS, the measure has demonstrated strong reliability and validity in primarily Black samples (Carter et al., 2013) and has demonstrated the phenomenological differences between racial trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder in terms of symptom presentation (Comas-Díaz et al., 2019). However, racial trauma remains understudied in the literature and how it may present in certain populations, specifically in the AAPI community. To enhance the understanding of racial trauma in AAPIs, evidence-based measures that adequately capture the experiences of racial trauma is needed. The current study assessed the RBTSSS seven-factor model using data collected from a larger survey study aiming to elucidate AAPI’s experience of and response to racial trauma.

All participants (N = 433, Mage = 26.4 years, SD = 9.1, 77.8% females) identified as AAPI, with most ethnically identifying as Chinese (25.3%), Vietnamese (10.8%), Korean (9.4%), and Filipino (9.1%). A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in Mplus to evaluate the RBTSSS’s seven-factor model (Depression, Anger, Physical Reactions, Avoidance, Intrusion, Hypervigilance/Arousal, and Low Self-Esteem) in the sample. Using standard cutoffs by Schreiber et al. (2006), model fit indices ranged from less than adequate fit (CFI = .88, TLI = .87) to adequate fit (RMSEA = .065), ꭓ2(1253) = 3525.94. All items loaded onto the expected factors within adequate ranges, with factor loadings ranging from .61 to .90. 

These findings suggest the original seven-factor model of the RBTSSS may not be an appropriate model to describe experiences of racial trauma in AAPIs. This has significant implications on how racial trauma is conceptualized, measured, and ultimately treated in AAPIs. Additional research that examines the theory of racial trauma and the potential factor structure of the RBTSS in AAPIs (e.g., conducting an exploratory factor analysis) are promising next steps. Furthermore, clinicians may consider other measures and tools to assess for racial trauma in AAPI. Overall, the findings of this study indicate that future efforts to further examine racial trauma in AAPIs is necessary to promote the mental health and wellbeing of AAPIs.