Stress, Religious Coping and Wellbeing in Acculturating Muslims

Abstract

Situated within an international context of Islamophobia, this study examined acculturative stress, religious coping, and their interaction as predictors of subjective wellbeing in 167 New Zealand Muslims. A Muslim Religious Coping (MRC) scale was adapted for the purposes of this study, measuring religious coping across three domains of Cognitive, Behavioral, and Social MRC. Consistent with hypotheses: 1) acculturative stress predicted a lower level of Life Satisfaction and more psychological symptoms, and 2) Behavioral, Cognitive and Social MRC predicted greater Life Satisfaction. In addition, an interaction effect between Acculturative Stress and Behavioral MRC was found indicating that engaging in religious practices buffered the detrimental effects of acculturative stress on life satisfaction. Contrary to the hypotheses, however, MRC did not demonstrate a main or interaction effect on psychological symptoms. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to positive and negative indicators of wellbeing, the importance of religious maintenance as a resource for acculturating Muslims living in a Western country, and the implications for counselors working with Muslim clients.

Toward a Positive Psychology of Immigrants

“…Many Latin American cultures stress the prominence of family (Bacallao & Smokowski, 2007), which helps to reduce stress and promote feelings of connectedness (Falicov, 2013). Middle Eastern cultures tend to emphasize religion, and research indicates that Muslim immigrants use their faith to cope with discrimination and promote well-being (Adam & Ward, 2016; Hakim et al, 2017). These are just some culturally specific values immigrant populations possess, and the field should identify others, as well as how such values facilitate positive adaptation.…”

Religious education can contribute to adolescent mental health in school settings

“…These findings suggest that disempowered and deprived groups, including women and ethnic minorities, resort to the use of religious coping and found great efficacy in it [43]. In addition, religious coping has been shown to be extensively used when situations are deemed uncontrollable [41, 47], thus providing an outlet for those at a social disadvantage and with limited access to external resources [48]. Based on these findings, it is apparent that religious coping serves as a resilience mechanism as it enhances a more stable and positive measures of wellbeing.…”

Religion and Mental Health among Central Asian Muslim Immigrants in Chicago Metropolitan Area

“…Findings from research among recent Muslim immigrants in Chicago supported religious coping framework, which argued that religion mediated stressful experiences in the new social environment by providing meaning and hope in immigrants' lives (Pargament, 1997). That linked to cross-national research on Muslim immigrants and religious coping in other Western countries (Adam and Ward, 2016). At the same time, Islamic religious identity did not help first generation Central Asian immigrants to bridge their way to mainstream American society.…”

“…Research among Latino immigrants showed that religious coping played an important role in the experiences of movers, and mitigated acculturation stress in the new social setting (Da Silva et al, 2017;Sanchez et al, 2012). Although religious coping framework was well-established for Christian populations, research on Muslim religious coping among immigrants in Western countries pointed at conflicting evidence on the role of religion as a buffer of stress (Adam, 2016;Ghaffari and Ciftci, 2010). Rippy and Newman (2006) argued that Islamic religious affiliation increased stress, anxiety and depression through immigrants' experiences of discrimination (and see Ghaffari and Ciftsi, 2010).…”