Although Asians and Asian Americans are often classified as belonging in the same social category, these two groups may perceive and think about the world differently. This project examined whether UW students who are Asians and Asian Americans hold different viewpoints regarding social identities and social statuses. Primarily, we examined group differences in Status Legitimizing Belief, Perceived Racial Discrimination, and Racial Identification. Status legitimizing belief is a set of beliefs (measuring protestant work ethic, perceived system permeability, and system legitimacy) asserting that if individuals work hard, are motivated, and are talented, they can improve their social statuses. Perceived racial discrimination measures the extent to which racial minorities believe that they are targets of discriminations. Racial identification measures individuals’ beliefs and perceptions that their racial group matters and is central to how they perceive themselves. Through meta-analyses of self-report surveys across 13 academic quarters, we found significant differences between Asian Americans and Asians across all measured variables. First, we found that Asians have higher status legitimizing belief than Asian Americans. Asians also perceive lower racial discrimination than their Asian American counterparts. And finally, Asians are less likely to identify with their racial in-group than Asian Americans. This research demonstrates that while both groups are often classified or perceived as the same social group, they, in fact, hold different perspectives regarding their identities as well as their statuses. Understanding how these two groups rationalize and perceive legitimacy and discrimination offers insight into intergroup relations.

Aging is driven by the time-dependent disruption of cellular processes.  Collectively these changes lower physiological resilience and increase the probabilitity of death.  As the population of elderly humans gets larger, studying pathways that mitigate age-dependent changes has taken on increasing importance.  The round worm Caenorhabditis elegans has proven to be a powerful model organism for studying the basic mechanisms of aging.  Here we have investigated a novel life-extending pathway acting in these animals that is triggered in response to mitochondrial electron transport chain disruption, a phenomemon that occurs naturally in humans with age.  The pathway is comprised of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade comprised of DLK-1, SEK-3, and PMK-3 and the downstream reporter gene tbb-6.  Our primary objective in this study has been to identify signaling factors triggered distal to PMK-3 activation that mediate life extension.  We have utilized several independant approaches including both targeted and unbiases genetic screens, as well as co-immunoprecipitation.  Among a family of 33 candidate bZIP transcription factors, we have identified six that are required for PMK-3 mediated life extension.  Using an ENU mutagenesis screen we have identified ten genetic mutations that trigger constitutive tbb-6 activation.  Sequencing tests suggest that these lines contain specifc allelic mutations that form on the X chromosome.   Finally we have generated transgenic strains containing tagged versions of PMK-3 and SEK-3.  We have succeeded in immunoprecipitating both proteins from whole worm lysates, in preparation for future mass spectral analyses.  Updated results from our studies will be presented.