"Holding onto a Part of Ourselves": A Mixed Methods Study of Arab American Mental Health and Identity in an Ethnic Enclave
Green, Molly
2022
Abstract
Arab Americans experience high levels of discrimination and resulting poor mental health outcomes comparable to other ethnic minority groups. Some evidence points to elements in the community that may be protective of mental health. There is also a lack of understanding of how they may act as mechanisms for improving mental health in the community. The purpose of this dissertation is to determine how residence within the Arab ethnic enclave in Dearborn, Michigan influences experiences of discrimination and mental health for Arab Americans. For my first aim, I explored the moderating roles of ethnic identity (EI) and centrality of ethnic identity (CEI) in the relationship between discrimination and mental health outcomes, along with further moderation by age, gender, and immigration status. Secondly, I investigated how experience and fear of discrimination and a sense of ethnic identity affect mental health in the Arab American community in the context of the ethnic enclave. For the third aim, I identified and explored elements of the ethnic enclave, including religion and gender, which relate to a sense of ethnic identity and discrimination and influence mental health of residents. I employed an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach to meet my research objective. Chapter 2 details the quantitative study where I used structural equation modeling and path analysis to answer the first research aim. The results of this chapter informed the study design and data collection for the study in the third chapter where I use qualitative data to further clarify these results and answer the second aim. Chapter 4 is a joint analysis of the quantitative and qualitative data to answer the third aim. The quantitative results showed that EI positively buffered against depression and anxiety associated with discrimination (high EI group: B=0.073, p>0.05). CEI did not offer the same protective effect (high CEI group: B=0.149, p=0.025). In the sub-group analysis, both EI and CEI offered a protective buffering effect for women (EIxDiscrimination= -0.374, p=0.034; CEIxDiscrimination= -0.363, p=0.03), though not for men. In the qualitative phase, participants described discrimination as prevalent, but also more likely to be digital and in the form of microaggressions. However, people are pushing back against the discrimination. They have also developed identities that embrace both the Arab and American aspects in a form of selective acculturation. My mixed methods results showed how religion and gender have a combined influence on experiences of discrimination. Gender roles explain some difference in the effects of EI and CEI and access to proactive resources in the community. Visible religious identifiers, particularly among Muslim women, may cause both more frequent discrimination and increased worry about these experiences, possibly causing adverse mental health outcomes. Stigma around mental health, however, prevents many people from seeking care and addressing trauma. This dissertation offers a mixed methods approach to provide understanding of the specific mechanisms within the community that influence identity and mental health of residents. A sense of ethnic identity is protective against poor mental health. This is particularly so for women in the community as they are able to access support based on their ethnic identity. However, both gender and their religion also negatively influence experiences of discrimination and stigma may prevent help-seeking. These findings will be beneficial in planning and implementing interventions and other solutions to improve mental health among Arab Americans.Deep Blue DOI
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Arab American ethnic identity and mental health
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