Bicultural Identity Integration-Cultural Conflict of Muslim American Emerging Adults

Background & Purpose: Many Muslim American emerging adults between the ages of 18 and 30 must negotiate both their Muslim and American identities while experiencing varying levels of discrimination. Belonging to a stigmatized group can have lasting effects as stigma consciousness presents challenges to the integration of Muslim and American identities. Conversely, congregational support in the Muslim American community can provide members with social, emotional, and spiritual support. Depending on how stigma and support intersect, Muslim Americans may develop bicultural identities that are blended or conflicted. To date, there is limited research on the identity formation of Muslim Americans.  This study explored how bicultural identity integration and cultural harmony levels of Muslim American emerging adults are jointly influenced by stigma consciousness and congregational support.

Methods: Data for this study were obtained from 231 Muslim students and community members ages 18 to 30 who participated in the 2009-2010 Ann Arbor and Dearborn Area Religion Study. The primary DV was the mean score of a 4-item subscale that assessed bicultural identity integration-cultural conflict. Scale scores measure the harmony level of an individual’s American and Muslim cultural identity. Higher scores indicate a higher cultural harmony level. An Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis was performed to assess the influence of stigma consciousness and congregational support on cultural harmony. The OLS model included covariates to control for the effects of age, sex, and race. Post-estimation analysis examined residual normality and model misspecification.

Results: The best-fitting regression model was statistically significant (F (6, 194) =3.1, p<0.01) and accounted for six percent of the variance in bicultural identity integration-cultural conflict (R² = 0.06). Stigma consciousness was significant (b= -.18, p<.05) with those experiencing lower levels of stigma consciousness having higher levels of harmony among the two cultural identities. Congregational support was also significant (b=.30, p<.01) with those experiencing higher levels of congregational support demonstrating higher levels of cultural harmony. Although not a focus of the study, age was also significantly related (b=.06, p<.05) to bicultural identity integration with older participants reporting higher levels of cultural harmony. No interaction or higher order terms were significant.

Conclusions & Implications: The findings support our main hypothesis that stigma consciousness and congregational support both influence identity integration and cultural harmony.  Although bicultural identity integration among Muslim Americans transitioning into adulthood are adversely affected by stigmatizing perceptions related to their Muslim identity, the adverse effects can be offset through congregational support from within the Muslim community. Moreover, while difficulties in identity integration appear more pronounced among younger Muslim Americans, these tend to decline with age and maturation. More study is needed to better understand how stigma consciousness as well as congregational support interact and affect the bicultural identity integration of young Muslim Americans.  In terms of social work interventions, our results suggest that promoting youth engagement in the larger Muslim American community would allow Muslim Americans to feel more supported, less conflicted and stigmatized, thereby fostering positive bicultural identity integration and higher levels of cultural harmony.