(PS13-C71) Ethnic Identity, Trauma and Resilience: A Middle Eastern and North African Cross-cultural Investigation

Background: Ethnic identity plays a significant role in people's psychological outcomes, experiences of discrimination, and the coping mechanisms that may emerge from these negative experiences. This study will also investigate the concept of social defeat, which is a form of stress that is caused by abuse, bullying, and microaggressions from our social environments, and can result in worsening mental and physical health outcomes. There have been several theories that demonstrate social defeat to be a key risk factor in the development of serious mental health disorders, like psychosis spectrum disorders (Selten et al., 2013). This study aims to delve into the emotional experiences, ethnic identity, and resilience of people from Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) populations. MENA individuals are among the most vulnerable populations, as they have been historically understudied due to the erasure of representation in key demographic questionnaires (i.e., the U.S. Census) as well as in psychological research, leading to major gaps in the literature regarding the culturally specific discrimination and ethnic trauma they endure. Even less is known on why or how MENA populations develop psychotic symptoms and disorders. 

Methods:  Participants will include community-dwelling adults from MENA backgrounds living in the United States. Using bivariate correlations and t-tests, we investigated whether ethnic and religious identity, immigrant status, gender, social defeat (via SDS), and everyday experiences of discrimination (via PDS) were associated with higher reports of trauma (via BTQ), psychological distress (i.e., depression, anxiety, and stress; via DASS-21), as well as resilience (via BCRS) and belongingness (via CSBS). Further, categories within the PDS were created to measure race-, religion-, and gender-based discrimination, to investigate their associations with outcomes.

Results: We hypothesize that lower income and education will be associated with increased reports of trauma. We also predict that US-born MENA populations will report higher discrimination, social defeat, trauma, and psychological distress. We believe that ethnic and religious identity and feelings of belongingness will also serve as protective factors against trauma, and that these will be correlated with higher scores of resilience. All categories of discrimination (including total scores) will predict higher trauma and psychological distress. 

Discussion: MENA populations are often treated as a monolith, with little regard for the socio-cultural variability that exists within them. We urge future researchers to use intersectional frameworks to explore MENA identities and experiences, such as immigrant status (and generational status, not assessed here), race-, religion-, and gender-based discrimination, and their relationships to trauma, distress, and resilience. This may address a public health concern by promoting inclusivity in research and clinical work for an understudied religious group, who are unlikely to access mental health resources to promote resiliency and protection.