Angela Batuure
Issue Brief
Race and Ethnicity in American Politics
April 17th 2015
Middle Eastern Americans and Public Health
Description: Despite the fact Middle-Eastern Americans are continually the focus of news
and media outlets post 9/11, there is very little research on how Public Health affects
Middle-Eastern Americans. There are few studies with not enough significant evidence to
make conducive reports that prove a significant difference between Middle Eastern
American public health compared to the public health of the United States.
Key Words: Middle Eastern American, Arab American, Public Health, Racism,
Discrimination, Prejudice, Stress, Study, Hatred, September 11th.
Key Points:
•
Many Middle Eastern health concerns are linked to their practice of Islamic religion
which has many dietary restrictions.
•
Middle Eastern Americans tend to be relatively wealthier than their white
counterparts
•
•
Middle Eastern Americans tended to be less healthy than their white counterparts.
While the Muslim religion does not pertain to race, the line between race and religion
is often blurred.
•
Only a decade after 9/11 are we beginning to see the results of the fallout of public
health in the Middle Eastern American bloc. Racial discrimination and social
marginalization have an adverse effect on people’s health
•
There is very little conducive research to make firm claims about Middle Eastern
Americans and Public Health.
•
While the Muslim religion does not pertain to race, the line between race and religion
is often blurred.
Relevant Websites
•
•
•
http://www.aaiusa.org/
http://www.amideast.org/
http://www.adc.org/
Batuure 1
Issue Brief:
According to the United States census, Middle Eastern Americans are classified as
those from West Asia who are from 22 countries in the Middle East including: Turkey,
Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran and Israel. The majority of Middle
Eastern Americans reside in California with nearly half a million Middle Eastern Americans.
Middle Eastern Americans make up roughly 4% of the United States’ population. Yet, they
are one of the fastest growing populations in the United States. 1
Because of their relatively recent immigration to America, health indicators among
Middle Eastern Americans are different from those of the general population. This could
also be attributed to the fact that many Middle Eastern Americans share a culture influenced
by Islamic behavior religions that may affect their health.
Despite the fact that as a minority population, Middle Eastern Americans are, on the
whole, better educated, more affluent and more likely to own businesses compared to the
general United States population, primarily due to cultural practices, Middle Eastern
Americans tend to be less healthy than other Americans in similar educational and financial
demographics. For example, Middle Eastern Americans have a 36% greater chance of getting
liver cancer, a 44% greater chance of getting thyroid cancer and a 28% greater chance of
getting brain cancer. 2
1 Thomas Gryn; Christine Gambino (October 2012). "The Foreign Born From Asia: 2011". U.S. Census
Bureau. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
2 El-Sayed, Abdulrahman M, and Sandro Galea. "The Health Of Arab-Americans Living In The United
States: A Systematic Review Of The Literature." BMC Public Health, 2009, 272.
Batuure 2
It would be impossible to discuss the health of Middle Eastern Americans without
discussing the impact of September 11th on the mental health of these individuals. Since
2001, hate crimes towards Arab Americans have risen 1,700%.3 While the Muslim religion
does not pertain to race, the line between religion and race is often blurred. Racial
discrimination and social marginalization have an adverse effect on people’s health.4 There
seems to be a generalization that all Arab Americans are similar to the terrorist of 9/11.
Because of this, it would be expected, perhaps, that Middle Eastern Americans are more
prone to stress due to racial discriminations. However, studies and research have shown that
this is not the case. There has been unconducive evidence to suggest that there is any link
between Middle Eastern Americans and an increase in stress/ mental health related health
issues post 9/11.5 This could perhaps suggest that prejudice towards manifest themselves in
specific social context where prejudice are more likely to be expressed. For example, Middle
Eastern Americans who wear turbans might be more prone to racial discrimination than
Middle Eastern Americans who do not.
While there is no direct link between the general Middle Eastern American
population and stress, there is an interesting link between Middle Eastern American women
and post 9/11 childbirth. After September 11th, Middle Eastern Women had increased
amounts of stress during pregnancy. This information is tracked by the noticeable increase in
birth weight (often used to track stress during pregnancy) of newborns from Middle Eastern
Khan, Mussarat, and Kathryn Ecklund. "Journal of Muslim Mental Health." Attitudes
Toward Muslim Americans Post-9/11. 2012. Accessed April 11, 2015.
4 El-Sayed, Abdul, and Aasim I. Padela. "Health of Muslims, Arab Americans Another
Victim of 9/11." Global Public Square RSS. September 11, 2012. Accessed April 21,
2015.
5 Khan, Mussarat, and Kathryn Ecklund. "Journal of Muslim Mental Health." Attitudes
Toward Muslim Americans Post-9/11. 2012. Accessed April 11, 2015.
3
Batuure 3
mothers, six months after the September 11th attacks compared to the birth weights of nonMiddle Eastern Women 6 months after September 11th.6 There is however no evidence for
what explicitly causes the increase of stress for Middle Eastern women during pregnancy.
Further, attempting to identify the specific reason for the increase in stress is near impossible
since so many factors during childbirth can cause an elevation in stress levels.
Perhaps the largest difference between Middle Eastern Americans and other
ethnoracial blocs is seen in the differing perspectives on domestic abuse. Almost 58% of
women and 59% of men believe a man is allowed to slap his wife if she hits him during an
argument. 48% of women said a man may slap his wife if she is unfaithful whereas only 23%
of men agreed with this sentiment. On a more extreme scale, 18% of women believed that a
man had the right to kill his wife if she was unfaithful. 7 This can be attributed to strong
cultural and religious beliefs about fidelity.
On the whole, there is very little information about the public health of Middle
Easterners. A comprehensive search done in 2009 only yielded 34 studies ever done
analyzing the intersection between Middle Eastern Americans and public health. In about
half of the studies found, the information in one study produced evidence that countered the
information found in another study. 8 Another limitation to studying public health in the
Middle Eastern demographic is that, 76% of the surveys on Middle Eastern Americans and
public health occurred in southeast Michigan due to its high density of Middle Eastern
Americans. These factors in combination argue that most studies done on Middle Eastern
health are not substantive and one must be cautious to draw any firm assumptions or
Ibid.
ibid
8 ibid.
6
7
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conclusions from this evidence. Any and all study results cannot be seen as conclusive since
there are so few of them. Until there is more of a focus on the health of Middle Eastern
Americans there are few concrete conclusions to be made from the data presented.
Batuure 5
Figure 1.1
Middle Eastern Americans gathering in solidarity
Figure 1.2
Chart Showing the link between Social Discrimination and adverse health effects
Batuure 6
Figure 1.3
Middle Eastern American girl showing how she identifies as both Middle Eastern and American
Figure 1.4
Discrimination Muslim Americans face in the United States
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Figures Cited
1. Figure 1.1 - “Health of Muslims.”Getty Images. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.
2. Figure 1.2 - “Arab American Discrimination on the Rise Ever Since 9/11 – Global
Health Middle East. 18 August 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
3. Figure 1.3 - “Voice of America .” Madness Realty. Web. 17 Apr. 2015.
4. Figure 1.4 “Lofty Ideas Mask Discomfort Towards Muslims” Brookings 6 September
2011. Web. 12 April 2015
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Works Cited
El-Sayed, Abdulrahman M, and Sandro Galea. "The Health Of Arab-Americans Living
In The United States: A Systematic Review Of The Literature." BMC Public Health, 2009,
272.
Thomas Gryn; Christine Gambino (October 2012). "The Foreign Born From Asia:
2011". U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
Sriram, Shyam. "Whitewashed: Americas Invisible Middle Eastern Identity." PopMatters.
Accessed March 1, 2015. http://www.popmatters.com/feature/69668whitewashedamericas-invisible-middle-eastern-identity/.
Khan, Mussarat, and Kathryn Ecklund. "Journal of Muslim Mental Health." Attitudes
Toward Muslim Americans Post-9/11. 2012. Accessed April 11, 2015.
El-Sayed, Abdul, and Aasim I. Padela. "Health of Muslims, Arab Americans Another
Victim of 9/11." Global Public Square RSS. September 11, 2012. Accessed April 21,
2015.
Batuure 8