Substance Use Risk Among Asian American Men: The Role of Gendered Racism, Internalization of Western Muscularity Ideals, Interpersonal and Body Shame, and Drive for Muscularity

We employed a culturally modified objectification framework to examine a culture-specific mechanism of risky compensatory substance use (alcohol, anabolic-androgenic steroids) associated with gendered racism (GR) among Asian American men (AAM). Using data from 424 AAM, structural equation modeling was conducted to examine our proposed model in which GR was hypothesized to predict substance use through three mediators: GR → internalization of Western muscularity ideals → shame (body-related and interpersonal) → drive for muscularity → substance use. Results suggested partial support of our proposed model. GR indirectly predicted substance use via both internalization- (GR → internalization → drive for muscularity → substance use) and shame-driven (GR → shame → drive for muscularity → substance use) pathways. Multigroup analysis demonstrated that our findings were held for the earlier generation (1st and 1.5 generation) AAM. For later generation (1.75, 2nd generation, and beyond) AAM, shame was not a significant mediator and GR was indirectly associated with substance use only through the internalization and drive for muscularity pathway.