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Arab American Acculturation and Ethnic Identity Across the Lifespan: Sociodemographic Correlates and Psychological Outcomes

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Biopsychosocial Perspectives on Arab Americans

Abstract

This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of acculturation patterns and their psychological correlates among Arab Americans across the lifespan. First, Arab American racial and ethnic identifications are analyzed within the historical context of three waves of immigration to the USA. This history provides a backdrop to the diversity of present-day acculturation orientations, which are influenced by factors such as generation status, length of residence in the USA, religion, and discrimination. The chapter reviews the mental health correlates of these acculturation orientations, as well as protective factors such as family, ethnic identity, and religiosity that have been found to promote resilience and reduce acculturative stress. Unique acculturation experiences are discussed for youth, women, and the elderly. In addition to identifying gaps in the literature, the chapter offers a critique of Arab American acculturation research to date, including limitations in conceptualizations and methodologies. Notwithstanding these limitations, recommendations are offered for using existing and future research to inform community-based programming.

Even when the language hurdle is overcome and foreign accents are barely discernible; when tastes and manners of the larger society have been imbibed in large drafts; when the Old World customs are scorned as visible tags of foreignness or hindrances not only to acceptance in American society but to feeling—to being—American; and even when, many native values are, no matter how reluctantly, compromised or dropped, assimilation need not have been achieved. It is a continuous process in the lifetime of the first generation… whether it can be achieved in the lifetime of the next generation is an open question.

(Naff, 1985, p. 8)

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Throughout this chapter the abbreviation “9/11” will be used to refer to the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center attacks.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Unit, The American University in Cairo, 74, Fifth District, New Cairo, 11835, Egypt

    Mona M. Amer

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  1. Mona M. Amer
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Correspondence to Mona M. Amer .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA

    Sylvia C. Nassar-McMillan

  2. Department of Sociology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA

    Kristine J. Ajrouch

  3. Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada

    Julie Hakim-Larson

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Amer, M.M. (2014). Arab American Acculturation and Ethnic Identity Across the Lifespan: Sociodemographic Correlates and Psychological Outcomes. In: Nassar-McMillan, S., Ajrouch, K., Hakim-Larson, J. (eds) Biopsychosocial Perspectives on Arab Americans. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8238-3_8

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