Identity and Recognition Issues Among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans

Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans are not often recognized as belonging to a distinct ethnic or racial group in the United States. Despite being subject to nonwhite racialization along with pervasive stereotypes, negative media portrayals, discrimination, and other minoritized experiences, MENA Americans are federally subsumed under the "White" racial category and are not afforded the same policy protections, social recognition, nor research attention as other minority groups (Awad et al., 2019; U.S. Census Bureau, n.d.a). Misalignment between lived realities and legal classification could, in turn, have implications for mental health (e.g., Abdel-Salam, 2021). Indeed, identity and recognition issues are a key component of Awad, Kia-Keating, and Amer's (2019) model of cumulative racial-ethnic trauma for MENA Americans, which proposes a framework for understanding how macrolevel and microlevel adversities may confer psychological risk. Building on conceptual and empirical literature, the present study aimed to assess demographic, contextual, and mental health correlates of identity and recognition issues, as well as protective and risk factors that may moderate effects on mental health outcomes. Survey data were collected from a cross-sectional, national sample of MENA American adults (n=198). Descriptive findings from the newly developed MENA Identification and Classification Scale (MICS) showed generally high levels of rejection of white racialization and desire for legal recognition across participants. Identity and recognition issues, as captured by the MICS, were found to be associated with demographic factors, including age, gender, religion, skin complexion, education, generational status, acculturation level, and history of non-voluntary migration, mostly as predicted. MICS was not associated with a state-level index of hostile environment. MICS correlated with measures of depression, anxiety, stress, and challenged sense of belonging but only predicted nonbelonging when neuroticism and other covariates were controlled. Possible protective and risk factors did not moderate effects of MICS on mental health outcomes. Finally, in exploratory models, discrimination emerged as a stronger predictor of mental health outcomes than identity and recognition issues. Results have potential implications for clinical practice, advocacy efforts, and future research aimed at improving MENA American wellbeing. The study underscores that visibility is important and warrants further attention.