Religious Identity and Acculturation of Immigrant Minority Youth

Abstract

Abstract. This review proposes an integrative contextual and developmental approach to religious identity development and acculturative adaptation among adolescents with an immigrant background. Relevant research with minority adolescents has addressed three main research questions: (1) What is distinctive about religious identity development in (Muslim) minority youth? (2) How does religious identity relate to their acculturative adaptation? and (3) What is the role of interpersonal and intercultural relations in specific acculturation contexts? In line with multiple developmental pathways in specific acculturation contexts, Muslim youth in Europe showed either stability or an increase in religious identification throughout adolescence, yet religious identity development varied greatly across religious communities and receiving societies. In support of the adaptive function of identity development in acculturating youth, (2) the religious identity of Muslim adolescents contributed positively to their psychological adaptation through the commitment to heritage culture values and identities; and it was either unrelated or conflicting with mainstream culture adoption and sociocultural adaptation, depending on specific acculturation contexts. Finally, religious identities reflect the bicultural social world of minority adolescents: strong and stable religious identities were premised on religious transmission in interpersonal relations with immigrant parents and minority peers. Moreover, religious identity conflict or compatibility with mainstream cultural values and identities was contingent on intercultural relations: perceived discrimination and Islamophobia fuel identity conflict in Muslim youth, whereas more harmonious intercultural relations enable compatible and adaptive pathways of religious identity.

The Mediating Role of Multiple Group Identities in the Relations between Religious Discrimination and Muslim‐American Adolescents’ Adjustment

“…Our findings are consistent with other research within the United States, which revealed that most Muslim‐American youth report hyphenated identities and strong identification with both social groups (Sirin & Fine, ; Tahseen & Cheah, ). These findings contrast those of existing European studies, which tend to report negative associations between minority‐group identities (e.g., religious and ethnic) and mainstream national identities, indicating identity incompatibility in these sociocultural contexts (e.g., Fleischmann & Phalet, ; ). Muslim‐American adolescents may be more likely to identify strongly with both their religious and the mainstream national group because hyphenated identities are more accepted and common in the United States context, which has historically been more tolerant and accepting of immigrants and diversity than European countries (e.g., Verkuyten & Martinovic, ).…”

“…Despite drastic increases in religious discrimination, hate crimes, and terror attacks targeting religious minorities in Western contexts (CAIR, ; FBI, ), studies examining the impact of discrimination based on religious group membership are scant. Preliminary research indicates that religious discrimination is particularly harmful for individuals’ mental health perhaps because it threatens one's religious group identity, which is particularly salient for religious minority youth given that it carries an “eternal significance” and is attached to a sacred and highly appraised belief system (e.g., Fleischmann & Verkuyten, forthcoming; Phalet, Fleischmann, & Hillekens, ; Ysseldyk, Matheson, & Anisman, ). Hence, Muslim‐American adolescents may be at risk for psychological difficulties and mental health problems because they are members of a socially devalued religious minority group and face discrimination on an individual level in their interpersonal relationships (e.g., having hijab pulled off, being called a terrorist) and are also exposed to anti‐Muslim rhetoric and public stigma against Muslims as a group in the form of Islamophobia (Abu‐Ras, Suárez, & Abu‐Bader, ; Husain & Howard, ; Ocampo et al., ).…”

“…Perceptions of discrimination at the individual‐level as well as anti‐Muslim public sentiments in the form of Islamophobia may be particularly detrimental for Muslim adolescents living in Western cultural contexts because of public attitudes that portray Islamic values as incompatible with those of the mainstream nation (Pew Research Center, ; Phalet et al., ). Consequently, Muslim adolescents may struggle to reconcile and navigate their multiple identities, which could ultimately undermine their mental health and behavioral adjustment (e.g., Cruwys, Haslam, Dingle, Haslam, & Jetten, ).…”

“…Consequently, Muslim adolescents may struggle to reconcile and navigate their multiple identities, which could ultimately undermine their mental health and behavioral adjustment (e.g., Cruwys, Haslam, Dingle, Haslam, & Jetten, ). Indeed, past studies from primarily European cultural contexts tended to find that Muslim minority youth and adults’ religious identity was negatively associated, or incompatible with their mainstream national identity, particularly in sociocultural contexts in which their identities were threatened by discrimination and Islamophobia (e.g., Fleischmann & Phalet, , ). However, qualitative and quantitative studies conducted in the United States have suggested that youth tend to report high levels of Muslim as well as American identity, which are positively correlated within this sociocultural context in which hyphenated identities are more accepted and common (Sirin & Fine, ; Tahseen & Cheah, ).…”

Identity threat and identity multiplicity among minority youth: Longitudinal relations of perceived discrimination with ethnic, religious, and national identification in Germany

“…These youngsters are also bound to develop a sense of belonging to the country in which they are raised, or have been born and spent most of their lives (Verkuyten & Martinovic, 2012). In addition, religious identity is an important facet of minority youths' social identity as religion often is strongly entwined with migrants' heritage culture and is considered among the core cultural elements that migrant parents aim to transmit to the next generation (Phalet, Fleischmann, & Hillekens, 2018). Although the importance of these different social identities for minority youth is widely recognized and previous work studied their development among youth (e.g., Umaña-Taylor et al, 2014), little research examines the development of these social identities in conjunction.…”