Perceived Discrimination and Its Association With Psychological Distress Among Newly Arrived Immigrants Before and After September 11, 2001

Abstract

These results confirm an increase in perception of discrimination and psychological distress among Arab Muslim recent immigrant communities after September 11, 2001, and highlight the importance this context may have for other immigrant groups.

Discrimination, religious and cultural factors, and Middle Eastern/Arab Americans’ psychological distress

“…They found a significant negative relationship between the two variables and a larger effect size for disadvantaged groups. The same pattern appears in studies specific to MEAAs (Abu‐Raiya et al., ; Moradi & Hasan, ; Padela & Heisler, ; Rousseau, Hassan, Moreau, & Thombs, ). Research also shows that the level of ethnic discrimination varies for different groups of MEAAs on the basis of religious affiliation (Padela & Heisler, ).…”

Culture and Psychiatric Evaluation: Operationalizing Cultural Formulation forDSM-5

“…Factors most associated with risk for psychopathology include low socioeconomic status, poor housing, unemployment or under-employment, lack of residency, linguistic barriers, limited social networks, discrimination, role strain, family conflict, status loss, acculturative stress, nostalgia, and bicultural tension (Bhugra, 2004; Finch & Vega, 2003; Hovey & Magaña, 2002; Tartakovsky, 2007). Discrimination affects various social groups, such as religious minorities, lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender persons, and low socicoeconomic status and disability communities (Bogart et al, 2011; McLaughlin, Hatzenbuehler, & Keyes, 2010; Rousseau et al, 2011), whose subjective experience of stress and coping should be assessed. Specific questions may need adaptation for the discriminated group, social position, and the individual predicament of the patient.…”

A Qualitative Analysis of Stress and Coping in Korean Immigrant Women in Middle-age and Older-adulthood

“…Other researchers also found a significant relationship between perceived stress and poor health outcomes among immigrants (Noh, Kaspar, & Wickrama, 2007;Rousseau, Hassan, Moreau, & Thombs, 2011;Yoo, Gee, & Takeuchi, 2009). For example, in one study, chronic health conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart attack, or any other heart disease, cancer, diabetes, anxiety or depression, obesity, and asthma were more common in Asian Americans who reported perceived stress from language barriers after living in the USA for more than 10 years (Yoo, Gee, & Takeuchi, 2009).…”