Health disparities among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

The Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) group is the fastest-growing minority group in the United States. AAPIs have been touted in the literature as the "model minority" because of their achievements in the socioeconomic and educational spheres, which in certain categories are beyond the average levels of the dominant majority. However, generalizations such as these are very misleading, because they mask the glaring health disparities that are experienced by subgroups within the AAPI population. The purpose of this chapter is to explore the literature dealing with health disparities among AAPIs. Twenty-eight usable research reports were reviewed after a thorough review of the literature that spanned the years between 1990 and 2003. The review has revealed that the predominant psychosocial and cultural variables studied in research dealing with AAPI are acculturation, family and social networks, help-seeking behaviors, and cultural brokering. In general, research conducted on this group tended to be at the descriptive and comparative-correlational levels; more studies that investigate the effects of interventions to reduce or eliminate health disparities on this group are needed. The challenge is to build a body of knowledge on which to base future action.