Date of Award

2026

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

William Beischel

Abstract

Bicultural identity development in Arab Americans, who must manage sometimes conflicting cultural expectations, is understudied. Even less is known about Arab Americans born in the United States (US-born AA), who are American by birth yet are alienated from society due to differences between their ‘white’ racialization and their cultural identities. The current study aimed to examine the relationship between bicultural identity, racialization, and psychological well-being at the intersection of US-born AA’s co-existing identities. Eight adult US-born AAs (Mage = 28 years, SD = 4) were recruited from professional Listservs and WhatsApp affinity groups. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using intersectional and interpretative phenomenological analytic theories of knowledge. Study participants viewed themselves as misperceived by American society, felt erased by existing racial classification systems, and were hypervigilant due to safety concerns. They described cultural value(s) as protective against the negative psychological consequences of discrimination and leveraged their ethnocultural visibility to find community. Findings illustrate the complexity of holding multiple ethnic identities, providing important context for how participants make sense of, and embody, their bicultural identity. Psychological interventions tailored to this population may benefit from strategies aimed at increasing bicultural identity integration.

Download

Share

COinS