“Intersectionality” in Asian American Women’s Health

According to the U.S. Census, Asian Americans are the most quickly increasing population in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2011). It is expected that Asian Americans will grow from 5.14 percent of the total U.S. population in 2012 to 7.8 percent in 2050 (U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.). Also, Asian Americans are known to be the ethnic group with the highest income and best education in the United States and are the largest group within recent immigrants (Pew Research Center, n.d.). With the increasing number of Asian American women, significant health challenges of these women began to be disclosed. Despite stereotypical assumptions on their health (e.g., ideal ethnic minority group, low prevalence of chronic diseases, etc.), these women are exposed to various health risks that are unique to this specific population. Because of their distinctive cultural values and attitudes related to women’s body and health, many of these women did not get routine mammogram or routine Pap smears (Womenshealth.gov, 2016). Embolism and pregnancy-related hypertension happened more often among Asian American women during their pregnancy compared with other racial/ethnic groups (Arons & Agénor, n.d.). The second-generation Asian American women tend to have a higher lifetime rate of suicidal thoughts than the United States total population (Duldulao, Takeuchi, & Hong, 2009). Given this population growth and their unique health challenges and burden, we need a better understanding of their health care needs. Researchers have recently challenged the “universality” of women’s health that tends to essentialize women’s health care needs regardless of their race/ethnicity, cultural background, age, social class, geographical locations, and sexual identity (Hankivsky et al., 2010). Rather, the researchers began to assert the necessity of considering “intersectionality” in women’s health (Hankivsky et al., 2010). For example, menopausal symptoms have been regarded as a universal women’s health experience that all women go through in the same way and that could be easily treated with hormone replacement (Avis et al., 2001). However, the assumption on the universality of menopausal symptoms began to be relatively recently challenged (Avis et al., 2001) by findings on racial/ethnic differences in women’s menopausal symptom experience and significant contextual influences on their menopausal symptoms by multiple covariates (Avis et al., 2001; Haines, Xing, Park, Holinka, & Ausmanas, 2005; Im & Chee, 2005; Im, Ko, Hwang, & Chee, 2012; Im, Lee, Chee, Brown, & Dormire, 2010; Im, Lee, Chee, Dormire, & Brown, 2010; Kagawa-Singer et al., 2002; Kardia, Chu, & Sowers, 2006; Kravitz & Joffe, 2011; Llaneza, García-Portilla, Llaneza-Suárez, Armott, & Pérez-López, 2012; Lock, 1986; Thurston et al., 2008). Likewise, this special issue challenges the universality of women’s health by specifically reporting five empirical studies on Asian American women’s diverse, but unique health care needs. Each article shows different and distinctive health care needs of Asian American women (including bone health, depressive symptoms, sleep disturbances, birth outcomes, mental and physical health, and physical activity) compared with other racial/ethnic groups, which highlights uniqueness, diversity, and multiplicity of their health care needs. For example, the article, “Care Coordination in Bone Health Screening Between Individual Behaviors and Health Care Services Among Korean-American Women Across Three Age Groups,” highlights Korean American women’s culturally unique perceptions and behaviors related to bone health, and subsequent differences in the women’s own perception of bone health and health care providers.’ The article, “Asian/White Differences