Coping with the 10th anniversary of 9/11: Muslim Americans' sadness, fear, and anger

Abstract

The events of 9/11 marked an increase in prejudice, discrimination, and other forms of unfair treatment toward Muslim Americans. We present a study that examined the emotions of Muslim Americans in the days preceding the ten-year 9/11 anniversary. We measured the antecedents (concerns) and consequences (coping) of sadness, fear, and anger. The 9/11 anniversary precipitated intense concerns with loss and discrimination, and intense feelings of sadness, fear, and anger. We measured three coping responses: rumination, avoidance of public places, and religious coping. Participants engaged in all three coping responses, with seeking solace in one's religion being the most frequent response. Moreover, emotions mediated the relationship between concerns and coping responses. Sadness accounted for the association between concern with loss and rumination. Fear explained the association between concern with discrimination and avoidance. Anger accounted for the association between concern with discrimination and religious coping.

American Muslims’ Anger and Sadness about In-group Social Image

“…In contrast, sadness is characterized by the absence of blame, an inward focus, and inaction or withdrawal (Lazarus, 1991; Bonanno et al, 2008). Furthermore, more intense sadness predicted greater rumination among American Muslims in a study on emotional responses to the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 (Rodriguez Mosquera et al, 2013). Thus, anger is motivationally a more empowering emotion than sadness is.…”

“…To date, research on American Muslims has examined how anti-Muslim sentiments and societal stereotypes affect American Muslims’ religious coping (e.g., Abu-Raija et al, 2010; Brown et al, 2010), youth identity formation (e.g., Fine and Sirin, 2007) and emotions in response to the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 (Rodriguez Mosquera et al, 2013). The future of psychology as an inclusive discipline lies in expanding its theories and methods to include under-studied cultural, ethnic, gender, and religious communities.…”

“…Compared to anger, the emotional experience of sadness is characterized by less arousal and more apathy (Bonanno et al, 2008). Consistent with these differences, more intense sadness predicted greater rumination about the attacks whereas more intense anger predicted greater religious coping, an active coping response that included seeking social support from in-group members (Rodriguez Mosquera et al, 2013). …”

“…This study is novel as previous research on American Muslims has mainly focused on youth identity formation (e.g., Fine and Sirin, 2007; Sirin et al, 2010); religious coping (e.g., Abu-Raija et al, 2010; Brown et al, 2010); and emotions about the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 (Rodriguez Mosquera et al, 2013). Furthermore, sadness has typically been examined in the context of grief and bereavement (Bonanno et al, 2008).…”

“…In a field study on emotions about the 10-year anniversary of 9/11, we examined anger and sadness’ consequences among American Muslim student and non-student adults (Rodriguez Mosquera et al, 2013). In the days prior to the anniversary, anger and sadness were associated with distinctive psychological concerns.…”