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

Abstract

AbstractDespite increasing anti‐Muslim sentiments, the implications of religious discrimination for Muslim‐American adolescents’ well‐being remain understudied. Drawing on the rejection identification and disidentification models, we examined the mediating role of multiple group identities (i.e., religious and national) in the cross‐sectional associations between individual‐level religious discrimination and internalizing and externalizing problems among 13‐ to 18‐year‐old (M = 16.7 years, SD = 1.6) Muslim‐American adolescents with immigrant backgrounds. Moreover, building on the attributional ambiguity perspective, we examined the moderating role of group‐level religious discrimination in the form of Islamophobia. Religious identity did not mediate the relations between individual‐level discrimination and internalizing and externalizing problems, and these relations did not depend on youths’ perceptions of Islamophobia. However, individual‐level discrimination was associated with American identity, depending on perceptions of Islamophobia. In turn, adolescents’ Muslim and American identities were linked to less internalizing and externalizing problems. Implications of our findings for the development of programs and policies are discussed.