Abstract
American youth of Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) descent are an ethnic group that remains misunderstood and severely underrepresented in psychological research. The U.S. Census (2021) classifies the MENA population as "White" even though they are not afforded the privileges associated with “White” status (Bentley & Bentley, 2017). This mislabeling makes it difficult to track instances of discrimination and could lead to the misconception of the psychological needs of this group (Awad et al., 2017, 2019). The current study examined religious discrimination and Islamophobia MENA American Muslim youth experienced and examined the relationship on the youths' mental health and wellbeing. This study also examined the moderating role of maternal warmth and promotion of volitional functioning (PVF), and the mediating role of ethnic identity for these effects. Sixty-one MENA American-youth (M= 16.90, SD=1.47; 67.2% female) completed self-report measures. Results showed perceived religious discrimination by adults and peers significantly predicted more externalizing symptoms (? =.31, b=.10, p= .02) and marginally predicted more internalizing symptoms (? =.25, b=.11, p =.06) in MENA youth. However, Islamophobia did not relate to mental health and wellbeing. In addition, the effect of perceived discrimination on teen mental health was not moderated by parenting or mediated by ethnic identity. Even with a smaller sample size, our results highlighted the impact of discrimination on MENA American Muslim youth. Special attention should be given to those of marginalized religious backgrounds and ethnicities, especially to an understudied population such as MENA American Muslim youth.