Navigating early adulthood is difficult for many youths. This is especially true for those who have multiple marginalized identities. For many Asian and Pacific Islander (AAPI) LGBTQ individuals, the transition to adulthood is often accompanied by social oppressions like racism and heterosexism. Discrimination and aggression towards this population can cause long-lasting damage to mental and physical health. There is too little attention paid to this particular issue stemming from a lack of intersectionality surrounding race, culture, and class in LGBTQ research and resources. People with multiple marginalized identities experience more psychological distress. Most of the current literature does not investigate how these factors change the lived experience of queer people of colour. Unfortunately, even fewer studies have examined the mental health of AAPI LGBTQ youths. Research or study on this population has been limited due to the lack of acknowledgement and the difficulty in gathering a large and diverse sample size. These limits can lead to serious issues, especially as the AAPI population has been on the rise for the past few decades in North America. The lack of data and information on this population will inevitably manifest into a lack of public support for this population.
This MRP aims to propose innovative research methods to raise awareness of mental health related issues among AAPI LGBTQ youths. Through literature, and by interviewing queer youth from the Asian and Pacific Island community in Toronto and New York City, I have designed a mixed research method to capture and understand the unique experiences and mental health state of AAPI LGBTQ youths. The final research formula illustrates the following goals: Goal A: Investigate the intersection of identity and cultural values and the resulting impact on mental health. (Goal B) Learn the experience of AAPI LGBTQ Youths in the queer community. Goal C: Understanding how participants’ experiences as queer Asians affect their mental health.