Religiosity, identity, and pro-social values and behavior: A study of Muslim youth

Religiosity and psychosocial maturity have long been thought of as protective factors during adolescent development. However, little is known about the impact of religious minority status on adolescent's religiosity and psychosocial maturity. Furthermore, it is unclear if these factors continue to serve as a protective factor for religious minority youth, even when these youth perceive their religious beliefs as not being supported by their social context. This study investigated these issues within the context of the Muslim American youth population.; Of the 174 youth analyzed, Muslim youth were found to be significantly more religious than their counterparts. Highly Religious individuals from both the Muslim and Comparison youth were associated with the character strength Spirituality. Although psychosocial maturity served as a protective factor for both the Muslim and the Comparison group, identity status categorization for Religious Identity Status revealed that the majority of Muslim youth had made an ideological commitment, whereas this was not observed amongst the Comparison youth. Muslim youth categorized as having a Full Achieved Identity Status were associated with the character strengths Judgment, Prudence, and Spirituality, while the Comparison youth were associated with the character strengths Spirituality and Industry/Perseverance. Religiosity and Full Identity Status were significantly correlated with one another. The high percentage of Highly Religious and Religiously Achieved participants coupled with the significant correlation of the measures may have resulted in confounding their interaction effect. As such, further investigation is recommended to study the interaction effect of religiosity and identity status.; The perceived lack of support of their religious way of life has resulted in Muslim youth's greater identification with Islam and higher percentage of individuals categorized as Highly Religious and having a Religious Achieved Identity Status. The results of this study suggests that in the case of Muslim youth, religious minority status may positively impact their pro-social behaviors, religiosity, and psychosocial maturity, and hence serve as protective factors during adolescent development.