Not a lot of data exists on the health and wellness of older adults from Asian American communities. However, a recent study published in the Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine found that Asian American elders experience significantly lower satisfaction in life and don’t receive as much emotional support compared to seniors in other racial groups.
Researchers from UCLA used data from the 2018 California Health Interview Survey and examined nearly 8,200 individuals 65 and older, which included people of Chinese, Filipino, Korean and Vietnamese descent.
The study found that only 54% of Asian American older adults reported being satisfied with their lives compared to 80% for all other races and ethnicities—including African Americans, Hispanics and whites. And when it comes to social and emotional support, only 56% of Asian American seniors said they receive it “usually” or “always,” as compared with 80% of people in other racial groups.
Only 54% of Asian American older adults reported being satisfied with their lives compared to 80% for all other races and ethnicities.
“California is home to such a diverse group of Asian Americans, so with that, I think our results are very salient to other places where they’re not able to capture all the different Asian subpopulations,” Rita Shimkhada, PhD, a senior research scientist at UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and lead researcher, told Seasons. “It’s been one of the critical data sources for this body of literature out there on Asian American subgroups and Native Pacific Islander research.”
Shimkhada and her colleagues also found that among the ethnic groups they surveyed, life satisfaction was the lowest for Korean elders at 40%, followed by 47% for Vietnamese, 48% for Chinese, and 77% for Filipino older adults. In addition, Korean seniors were significantly more likely to report low social/emotional support (about 30% said they got the social/emotional support they needed) compared to other Asian groups (Chinese 56%, Filipino 59%, Vietnamese 65%).
Why are Asian American elders less happy and less likely to get support?
According to Shimkhada, the study was unable to determine specific causes, but potential factors could include social and cultural influences (some older adults may suffer in silence), as well as difficulties in navigating life as an older Asian American who may not have adequate in-language support.
“About 50% of Asians over 65 years report speaking English not well or not at all,” she said. “Lack of in-language health services such as not being able to communicate with one’s doctor can negatively impact well-being.”
As far as other factors, she added household size or income level did not explain the differences among Asian subgroups and other racial/ethnic groups. However, this is not to say these factors do not impact life satisfaction and social/emotional support overall.
Household size or income level did not explain the differences among Asian subgroups and other racial/ethnic groups.
But what about the rise of hate incidents and crimes against Asian Americans, which have skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic began? Shimkhada said that because the data collected for the study was from 2018, the researchers weren’t able to analyze or measure the toll the pandemic and pandemic-induced hate incidents could have had on the participants’ responses.
“We’re assuming that stay-at-home orders may have helped with emotional support because in multigenerational households, there could be sort of less feelings of loneliness,” she explained. “But it’s all sort of an area that’s ripe for research, and I think there’s a ton of people who are out there trying to help.”
How can caregivers take action?
If feelings of unhappiness in life go unaddressed and social/emotional resources aren’t provided to those who may need them, it could have long-term impacts on seniors, Shimkhada said. This includes psychological distress, feelings of suicide ideation, shorter life expectancy and risk of chronic health conditions. However, more studies are needed to prove some of these potential long-term risks.
Shimkhada said family and caregivers are key parts of the solution to help older Asian Americans. Communicating with our seniors can help family members or caregivers identify a potential problem that may not be obvious, and connecting older adults with local community centers, churches and temples may help identify mental health needs.
“Older adults in your family may not be vocalizing things that they need because no one has asked, so I think communication seems like it would be the first step in making sure we know what’s going on,” Shimkhada said. “It’s never too late for change or improvement. With this study, we hoped to identify any unmet needs related to the well-being of the older adult Asian population as a first step to being able to better design services and solutions centered around what the communities might be lacking.”
It’s never too late for change or improvement.