Gender studies

Physics

Sociology

Interpersonal communication

Archaeology

Identity (music)

Religiosity

Identity formation

Feeling

Ethnic group

Political science

Psychology

Geography

Acoustics

Islamophobia

Anthropology

Self-concept

Mainstream

Religious identity

Immigration

Islam

Cultural identity

Social psychology

Acculturation

European Psychologist

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.

Religious Identity and Acculturation of Immigrant Minority Youth