Religious Minority Youth’s Civic Engagement: A Focus on the Role of Parenting and Social Identity

Abstract

This dissertation examined the complex and culturally grounded mechanisms that support civic development among Muslim American youth, with a focus on parental socialization, religiosity, and identity. Across three studies, this work adopted a strength-based, developmental approach to highlight how family and cultural contexts can foster positive youth outcomes in a socio-political climate marked by marginalization. Paper 1 explored the mediating role of multiple dimensions of religiosity, religious attitudes, practices, and struggles, in the association between maternal promotion of volitional functioning and adolescents’ civic engagement. Using data from 221 Muslim American adolescents (ages 13–18 years; M<sub>age<sub> = 16.4), results indicated that maternal support for autonomy was positively linked to adolescents’ civic engagement through their engagement in religious practices, suggesting that autonomous religious internalization can serve as a foundation for civic responsibility. Paper 2 investigates how maternal religious and civic socialization practices predict emerging adults’ civic engagement through their religious identity. Among 329 Muslim American emerging adults (M<sub>age<sub> = 21.4 years), path analyses revealed that maternal religious socialization promoted emerging adults’ civic behavior indirectly through their religious identity private regard, while maternal civic socialization was directly associated with emerging adults ' civic attitudes. These findings underscore the distinct yet complementary roles of culturally rooted and civically focused parenting in shaping youth’s civic attitudes and behaviors. Paper 3 employed a person-centered approach (Latent Profile Analysis) with longitudinal data to identify distinct profiles of Muslim American youth (n = 168; M<sub>age<sub> = 21.4 years) based on maternal socialization practices and youth identity dimensions. Results revealed nuanced combinations of socialization and identity configurations associated with divergent youth civic outcomes one year later. Importantly, profiles with high maternal socialization but low American identity were associated with higher critical action, while profiles with bicultural identity and moderate socialization demonstrated lower political engagement, suggesting that youth civic actions are shaped by the intersection of socialization exposure and identity salience. Furthermore, youth who receive less maternal religious and civic socialization messages reported being less civically engaged compared to other profiles. Together, these three papers advance developmental theory by highlighting the dynamic interplay between parenting, religiosity, identity, and civic engagement within a marginalized cultural context. The findings offer actionable insights for educators, policymakers, and community-based programs seeking to promote inclusive civic development among Muslim American youth. subscript : <sub>