What is it about?

This paper explores past research assessing Asian American satisfaction with life. The work summarizes past findings related to Asian American reported life satisfaction, but also notes common characteristics between published works on the topic by exploring how works in this field are typically designed or conducted.

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Why is it important?

This paper not only summarizes past work, but also highlights some of the common trends that are associated with research on Asian American life satisfaction. This is important to provide a foundation for further research in Asian American well-being. Our main significant findings include: (1) throughout all included studies, Asian Americans reported being generally satisfied with their lives, with a mean life satisfaction score of 22.66, and (2) Asian Americans also reported moderately lower life satisfaction scores compared to European Americans (d = -0.51, 95% CI [-0.73, -0.30], p < .001). Other trends related to study design, such as journal impact factor, or Asian American generational status and ethnic identity, are also assessed.

Perspectives

I hope this article provides people a chance to see the common trends of study design that occur when examining Asian American well-being. Particularly important is the data demonstrating how skewed the literature tends to be when examining Asian American populations. A key factor in the study was assessing how exclusive the term "Asian American" can be to less traditional ethnic and generational identities within Asian American communities. There is a significant lack of representation for non-East Asian American or generations beyond 1st or 2nd generation Asian Americans in the literature. Another interesting factor was that compared to studies that included a European American comparison sample, studies that only assessed Asian American life satisfaction tended to be published in lower impact journals. The authors would love to see future research to expand and address the experiences of all Asian American populations.

KRISTINA TRAN
Western Washington University

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: A meta-analytic review of Asian American life satisfaction., Asian American Journal of Psychology, January 2023, American Psychological Association (APA),
DOI: 10.1037/aap0000306.
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