Numerous studies have reported on the negative impact of perceived discrimination on health of Arabs and Muslims (Ahmed, Kia-Keating, Tsai, 2011; Rippy & Neuman, 2006). However, it is unknown if discrimination is experienced at similar rates among co-religionists. To date, there have been no studies exploring perceived discriminatory experiences of Muslims by ethnicity. This study assumes that Arab Muslim student will report similar recent discriminatory experiences compared to other non-Arab Muslim students.
Respondent-driven sampling was used to recruit self-identified 156 Muslim under-graduates to complete a web-based survey (2010-11) at one large U.S. urban commuter university. Arab Muslim student (N=55) were compared to non-Arab Muslim students (N=101) on an 8 item measure assessing past year experiences of perceived discrimination. Additionally, the two groups were compared on potential confounding measures of demographic variables, religiosity, social influences, and acculturation. Frequencies, analysis of variance, and step-wise regression models were used.
Arab students reported significantly greater number of past year discriminatory experiences than non-Arab Muslim students (2.25 vs. 1.51; p=.030). On the past year discriminatory measure, negative attitudes in public places were reported significantly more by Arab students than non-Arab students (p=.048). Arab students were more likely to report differences in racial profiling, interrogation by law enforcement lasting one hour, and being singled out at the airport/border for one hour which approached significance (p
Muslim Arab college students reported higher level of perceived past year discrimination than non-Arab Muslims student. Discrimination continues to occur and may contribute to identity formation among Arab Muslim emerging adults. Additional studies are needed to understand the impact of the discrimination on Arab youth identity and the coping mechanisms utilized. Limitations of this study include reliance on secondary data analysis, the lack of objective verification of perceived discriminatory experience, impact on identity, and sample
