Question

you may have witnessed several instances of discrimination in the world around you. Write an essay

Answer 1

Discrimination has been present for hundreds and hundreds of years. Discrimination is defined as the unwarranted or hurtful treatment of different groups of people, especially on the basis of gender, race or age by the Oxford Dictionary. Acts of discrimination can be witnessed through many historical events such as the Holocaust, where the Jews were discriminated and murdered because the German's believed that they were superior. Not only that but, the blacks were also a target of discriminatory acts during the Civil War where they were forced to become slaves. However, there are various ways to cope with discrimination. Coping is defined as a change in cognitive and behaviour to evade harmful events (Rantanen, Mauno, Kinnunen & Rantanen, 2011). There are many causes of discrimination.

Due to the sudden change in their environment, the Sikhs and Muslims had to find various coping methods to overcome these negative outcomes. Various research discovered that the Sikh would seek out assistance from their family, community and faith before pursuing mental health facilities (Ahluwalia & Pellettiere, 2010). The pious Sikhs seek assistance from their holy scripture the Guru Granth Sahib. This holy scripture taught them to oppress the feeling of being a victim and take control of the situation when undergoing superficial suffering such as discrimination and biasness. On the other hand, there were many Sikh men who decided that they could no longer handle the constant abuse and discrimination and made drastic changes against their culture such as cutting their hair and choosing to not wear turbans.

Similar to the Sikhs, the Muslims depended extensively on coping method related to religion such as reciting scriptures, praying and forgiveness. Research evidence found that religious behaviour increased post 9/11 attacks. There were two patterns in regard to religious coping; one pattern was positive religious coping methods and another was negative religious coping methods (Abu-Raiya et al., 2011). Researchers concluded that positive religious coping resulted in posttraumatic development whereas negative religious coping resulted in loneliness and mental instability (Abu-Raiya et al., 2011)

Asian Americans were also a target of discriminatory act pre 9/11. From way back then when Asians first stepped foot in America till now they have been faced with racism and discrimination. One might consider that discrimination against Asian-Americans might reduce as their population gets larger, however, that is not accurate. Asian-Americans are faced with discrimination on a day-to-day basis right from discriminatory terms to physical abuse (Yoo & Lee, 2005). Research validates that ethnic identity operates as a vital psychological asset that allows ethnic and racial minorities to fight against racial discrimination (Yoo & Lee, 2005). Therefore, we can see that having a strong ethnic identity and believe in one's culture can help an individual overcome discrimination.

Another study investigated the relationship between racial discrimination stress and depressive symptoms and various coping strategies. Research suggested that the understanding of the intricacy in the involvement between perceived discrimination and health can be broadened by combining other factors into the model (Wei, Heppner, Ku, Liao, 2010). Racism and discrimination can negatively have an impact on the psychological health of their victims. Asian Americans very often encounter prejudicial insults, intentionally and unintentionally ( Alvarez & Juang, 2010). Continuous exposure to such insults and actions can take a toll on a person. It was reported that continuous taunting were positively correlated with depression ( Alvarez & Juang, 2010).





The studies aforementioned discuss racial discrimination and sexual discrimination and the various coping strategies to cope with it. In order to improve the understanding of discrimination and it's detrimental effect on an individual's health, further studies needs to be conducted. Not only that, but other types of discrimination such as discrimination against the old age, discrimination against the disabled, workplace discrimination and others should be addressed.




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