Minoritized and Poorly Understood: A Scoping Review of Mental and Physical Health Among Arab Adolescents in Canada and the United States

Arab adolescents are both racialized and invisible minorities in Canada and the United States (US), following the war on terror, incomplete ethnic categorization, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab racism. We conducted a scoping review of physical and psychological health in Arab adolescent populations living in the US and Canada. Inclusion criteria encompassed adolescents and emerging adults aged 10–24 who identified as Arab or having Arab identity and Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) origins. Included scholarly literature reported at least one physical or psychological health outcome and was published in English or Arabic up until 2025. We identified over 200 relevant studies using PubMed, Web of Science, ResearchRabbit.ai, Google Scholar, and Undermind AI. We reviewed 50 total studies that met our inclusion criteria, highlighting the paucity of research on health and biopsychosocial variation among Arab adolescents in North America over a 30-year period. Despite heterogeneity in the health outcomes reported across studies, many focused on acculturative stress, ethnic identity formation, mental health, and discrimination. Few studies examined physical health and sexual and reproductive health; none examined pubertal, immunological, or linear growth outcomes. We discuss how biocultural and human biological research approaches can contribute to advancing a needed and more holistic understanding of health variation among Arab adolescent populations.