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Health Behaviors and Their Risk Factors Among Arab Americans

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Biopsychosocial Perspectives on Arab Americans

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Abstract

We examine tobacco and alcohol use, physical activity and weight, and cancer screening behaviors among Arab American adults through a review of national, statewide, and community-based studies, with the addition of recently collected data from a University of Michigan/Arab Community Center for Economic & Social Services study with Arab and Chaldean Americans. We include findings, a critique of the methodology, and suggestions for future research.

Across these studies, Arab American adults had higher rates of tobacco use and lower rates of alcohol use compared to the majority white population, though there were also significant differences within the Arab American population in these two behaviors. Though little work has been conducted around physical activity and weight for this population, there are indications that overweight and obesity rates may be higher and physical activity lower than in the non-Arab American population. Finally, screening rates were significantly lower among Arab American adults than the majority white population for cervical cancer, breast cancer, and colorectal cancer in national, statewide, and community-based studies. Additional data on all of these health behaviors is critical to better establish prevalence rates and health disparities in this population, as well as to inform interventions to improve health behaviors and outcomes in the Arab American community. These findings over a variety of health behaviors underline the importance of not only including an indicator for Arab American ethnicity in more national and statewide studies but also of disaggregating Arab American data to examine differences within this heterogeneous population.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Studies, Elon University, Elon, NC, USA

    Molly Green

  2. Oakland County Executive, Waterford, MI, USA

    Madiha Tariq

  3. University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Kenneth Resnicow

  4. Rogel Cancer Center, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Kenneth Resnicow

Authors
  1. Molly Green
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  2. Madiha Tariq
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  3. Kenneth Resnicow
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Molly Green .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. ELPHD Department Counseling & Counselor Education, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Sylvia C. Nassar

  2. Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI, USA

    Kristine J. Ajrouch

  3. School of Health Sciences, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Florence J. Dallo

  4. Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada

    Julie Hakim-Larson

Appendix

Appendix

Table 15.2 Relationship between smoking behaviors and ethnic identity
Full size table
Table 15.3 Relationship between BMI, physical activity, and ethnic identity
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Table 15.4 Relationship between drinking behaviors and ethnic identity
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Table 15.5 Relationship between screening behaviors and ethnic identity
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Table 15.6 Adjusted odds* of MENA-IM scores as a predictor of substance use and self-reported illness
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Green, M., Tariq, M., Resnicow, K. (2023). Health Behaviors and Their Risk Factors Among Arab Americans. In: Nassar, S.C., Ajrouch, K.J., Dallo, F.J., Hakim-Larson, J. (eds) Biopsychosocial Perspectives on Arab Americans. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28360-4_15

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