Religio-Cultural Integration among Muslim-Americans
Abstract
Traditionally the empirical study of acculturation has focused on the integration,
preservation, or abandonment of one's ethnic heritage in relation to the host culture. This
study attempted to broaden the concept of the acculturation process by examining the
interaction between an immigrant's religious identity and the host culture. It was
hypothesized that for Muslims living in America the integration of one's Islamic and
American identities, as compared to level of integration between one?s ethnic heritage
and American identities, would provide unique value in predicting the level of
acculturation stress, depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Identity integration
between Islamic and American identities was found to correlate with decreased
acculturation stress, decreased depressive symptoms and increased life satisfaction and
in some instances provided significant predictive value when compared to only an
assessment of bicultural integration. Implications of this and other findings were
explored.
Citation
Olds, Glenn R. (2009). Religio-Cultural Integration among Muslim-Americans. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -2009 -08 -7064.