ABSTRACT
Despite concerted efforts to address racial disparities in health outcomes in the United States over the past 20 years (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2001), such disparities continue to persist (National Center for Health Statistics, 2016). In particular, Asian American men’s health has received less attention as compared to other racial and gender groups (Islam, Trinh-Shevrin, & Rey, 2009; Kim, Kumanyika, Shive, Igweatu, & Kim, 2010), possibly because Asian Americans have been stereotyped as a well-adjusted demographic group that requires less help (Ibaraki, Hall, & Sabin, 2014; Yi, Kwon, Sacks, & Trinh-Shevrin, 2016). Nevertheless, some health disparities disproportionately impact Asian Americans, including Asian American men. For example, Asian Americans have higher rates of nasopharyngeal, liver, and stomach cancers as well as chronic hepatitis B, as compared with White Americans (Chang & So, 2007; Jin, Pinheiro, Xu, & Amei, 2016). Specifically, the rate for liver cancer (per 100,000) among Asian and Pacific Islander American men (20.9) far exceeds those of Asian and Pacific Islander women (7.6) and White American men (6.6; Chang & So, 2007). Against this backdrop, the goal of this chapter is to draw attention to Asian American men’s health by presenting a conceptual framework, the Racial–Cultural Framework (RCF), to examine previous research; identify gaps in the literature; and stimulate future research, practice, and policies.
