Generic discrimination scales fail to capture anti-Muslim discrimination specifically

Evidence

While research with other minority groups, most notably African Americans, has established a link between discrimination and health, our understanding of the shortand longterm effects of anti-Muslim discrimination is still in the nascent stages. … However, these studies relied on general discrimination instruments, which although helpful in examining the associations between discrimination and health, do not directly measure anti-Muslim discrimination, which is a missed opportunity for understanding the lived experiences of Muslim Americans and the health implications of anti- Muslim discrimination. — Naheed Ahmed, Measurement of Perceived Interpersonal…, 15

The Societal and Interpersonal Anti-Muslim Discrimination Indexes were associated with the Everyday Discrimination Scale, but the values ranged from low (.42) to modest (.63) correlations. These low correlation values indicate the Anti- Muslim Indexes are tapping into facets of anti-Muslim discrimination not captured by the Everyday scale. — Naheed Ahmed, Measurement of Perceived Interpersonal…, 89

While general discrimination scales exist, these instruments indirectly measure anti-Muslim discrimination as respondents answer questions regarding general mistreatment and then select the primary reason for these incidents, which could be because of their gender, ethnicity, or other aspects of their identity. To measure anti-Muslim discrimination and how exposure to this form of religiousbased discrimination is associated with poor health, a scale for measuring the spectrum of anti-Muslim discrimination in the United States is needed. — Naheed Ahmed, Measurement of Perceived Interpersonal…, 105

Categorization

• DEFINE: Makes the key methodological distinction between general discrimination instruments and group-specific measures of anti-Muslim discrimination.
• SEED: Article angle: what gets lost when minority health research borrows another group’s measurement tools — a piece on instrument mismatch as an epistemic injustice.
• XREF: Relates to measurement debates over whether generic versus group-specific discrimination instruments better predict health outcomes.
• QUESTION: How often do respondents misattribute the reason for mistreatment, and does that bias prevalence estimates downward?
• corroborated: 3 independent passages support this claim — Naheed Ahmed, Measurement of Perceived Interpersonal…, 15; Naheed Ahmed, Measurement of Perceived Interpersonal…, 89; Naheed Ahmed, Measurement of Perceived Interpersonal…, 105