Alcohol and drug abuse exists among every racial and ethnic group examined to date. The efforts to reduce substance abuse in U.S. have included both general and targeted approaches addressing minority groups through tailored prevention and treatment services. These targeted approaches are important even though some minority groups, such as Asian Americans and African Americans, have lower prevalence of substance use than White Americans. Importantly among immigrant groups, the prevalence of substance abuse increases among later generations, especially among women. However, it is unknown if this pattern generalizes to Arab Americans. This talk will cover what we know and what we don't know about alcohol and drug among Arab-American women.

Arfken is research expertise is on alcohol and drug abuse epidemiology and health services research. As an epidemiologist, she was selected to monitor trends in drug use for the Detroit metropolitan area as part of a national sentinel system on the emergence of new drugs, new methods of administration, and new use by demographic groups. Based upon her findings from monitoring the area with the highest density of Arab Americans in the country, she developed a focus on the alcohol and drug use patterns among Arab Americans and American Muslims. She also directs and collaborates on multiple research projects addressing mental health and substance abuse among Arab Americans and American Muslims.

This talk is free and open to the public.