A Structural Mediation Model Examining Perceived Racism, Perceived Stress, Psychological Symptoms among Arab American Adolescents

• In Event: Growing Up MENA in America: Racism and its Impact on Mental Health and Identity Development

Abstract

Objective: Research has examined racism as both a process embedded within a stress paradigm as well as an independent pathway in the development of poor psychological health outcomes. More recently, experiences of racism have been considered as independent of general stress and as a unique experience for racial/ethnic minorities. Racism has been found to be associated with adverse psychological health outcomes for Arab Americans, which may be particularly harmful among adolescent Arab Americans who are in a critical developmental period. The following research tested a minority stress framework among Arab American adolescents by examining the relationship between perceived racism and psychological symptoms both directly and indirectly through perceived stress in an effort to explore whether perceived racism is a unique psychological stressor independent of general stress for racial and ethnic minority individuals.
Method: The sample included 227 Arab American adolescents whose ages ranged from 13 to 18 (M = 15.63, SD = 1.25; 51.1% male; 85% Muslim) drawn from the Detroit metropolitan area. Participants responded to measures assessing perceived racism, perceived stress, and internalizing and externalizing psychological symptoms.
Results: Structural mediation modeling revealed that greater perceived racism was associated with greater perceived stress and thus, more psychological symptoms. While perceived stress partially mediated this relationship, the direct effect from racism to psychological symptoms in the unmediated model was more robust.
Conclusions: Findings provide support for perceived racism as a unique pathway in the development of poor mental health outcomes among Arab American adolescents, independent of a general stress paradigm. The final presentation will include a discussion of clinical as well as policy implications.

Authors

• Sawssan R. Ahmed, California State University - Fullerton
  Presenting Author

• Dylan Serpas, California State University, Fullerton
  Non-Presenting Author

• Denise Chavira, UCLA
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hector Myers, Vanderbuilt University
  Non-Presenting Author