Political Participation Among Middle-Aged and Older Asian Americans

Political civic participation is an important dimension of engagement in adulthood, but low rates are often reported among middle-aged and older Asian American immigrants. Acculturation to American culture has been associated with more civic participation, yet little is understood about how informal social contexts may play an additional role in these relationships. Using data from the 2015 Asian American Quality of Life survey, this study examined how political civic participation was associated with acculturation and social contexts in a diverse sample of Asian Americans aged 40 and above in Central Texas. Negative binomial regression results indicated that years lived in the U.S. familiarity with American culture, and friend network size were associated with more political participation. Furthermore, social contexts such as larger friend networks exhibited potential to shape how one’s adjustment to life in the U.S. is related to their political participation.