The Role of Attitudes Toward White Privilege and Religious Beliefs in Predicting Social Justice Interest and Commitment

The current study examines links among attitudes toward White privilege, religious beliefs, and social justice interest and commitment for White Christian students. Two distinct patterns of results emerged from a path analysis of 500 White Christian students. First, a willingness to confront White privilege was positively associated with the sanctification of social justice (i.e., attributing spiritual significance to working for social justice) and both were positively associated with social justice interest and commitment. Second, awareness of White privilege was negatively associated with religious conservatism, and religious conservatism was negatively associated with social justice interest. These patterns show that White privilege attitudes directly (i.e., willingness to confront White privilege) and indirectly (i.e., awareness of White privilege through religious conservatism) predicted social justice interest and commitment. Moreover, religious beliefs demonstrated opposite patterns of association with social justice interest and commitment such that the sanctification of social justice positively predicted social justice interest and commitment whereas religious conservatism negatively predicted social justice interest. Overall, findings demonstrate direct and indirect links between White privilege attitudes, religious beliefs, and social justice interest and commitment. Limitations and implications for future community psychology research and collaboration also are discussed.     

Identification with the American South and Anti-Muslim Attitudes

ABSTRACT

The number of anti-Muslim hate groups in the U.S. nearly tripled between 2015 and 2016. In addition, the number of hate crimes committed against members of the religion jumped 67% in 2015 alone. Addressing the rise in anti-Muslim prejudice is critical. We examined (N = 406) the role of regional identification in predicting anti-Muslim attitudes. That is, identification with the American South, a more conservative and religious part of the country with a history of slavery and violent secession movements, predicted anti-Muslim attitudes. This relationship was mediated by conservation values. For Southerners who strongly identified with “the South”, the endorsement of values related to a general resistance to change led to greater anti-Muslim attitudes. Anti-Muslim bias may lie in perceptions of threat: for strongly identified Southerners, the Muslim faith is viewed as a societal threat.     

Classifying Muslims: Contextualizing Religion and Race in the United Kingdom and Germany

Since the late 20th century, public discourse in Muslim-minority countries has centered around the question of how to classify Muslims. In this paper, we compare the state, academic, and self-classification of Muslims in two countries: the United Kingdom and Germany. We propose that the historical experience of anti-Semitism makes religion a more salient master category to understand Muslims in Germany, while the history of both anti-Semitism and anti-Black racism largely resulting from colonial domination means that religion together with race are master categories used to understand Muslims in the United Kingdom. Through this multilayered ethnographic and historical analysis, we challenge taken-for-granted assumptions in both the political and academic milieu about what it means to be Muslim, emphasizing the importance of the interplay between sociopolitical categories and self-identifications.     

Toward an Understanding of Religious Tolerance: Quest Religiousness and Positive Attitudes Toward Religiously Dissimilar Others

We interact frequently with individuals with religious beliefs that vary from our own. Although we may naturally prefer interacting with religiously similar others, individuals vary in their attitudes toward religiously dissimilar others. In the present set of studies, we examined how variability in quest religiousness affects religious tolerance. In Study 1 (N = 159), we found that quest religiousness in Christian undergraduates was associated with positive attitudes toward both non-Christian religious groups and atheists. In Study 2, 118 Christian undergraduates evaluated vignettes regarding a devout moral or an average morality Christian (ingroup) or Muslim (outgroup). Participants preferred moral targets relative to less moral targets. However, when rating moral targets, participants high in quest religiousness preferred the Muslim target (religious outgroup member), whereas those low in quest religiousness preferred the Christian target (religious ingroup member). We discuss implications for the links between quest religiousness and religious tolerance.     

Religious Homogamy and Marital Satisfaction in South Korea: Exploring Variations across Religious Groups

This study examines whether and how the association between religious homogamy (i.e., whether spouses have the same religious affiliation) and marital satisfaction varies across religious affiliations by utilizing a unique context that four large religious groups (i.e., Buddhists, Protestants, Catholics, and religious nones) coexist in South Korea. Our results show that while religious homogamy has a positive relationship with marital satisfaction among Protestants and Catholics, there is no such association among Buddhists. This study also reveals that higher levels of religious attendance intensify the positive relationship between religious homogamy and marital satisfaction only among Protestants. Moreover, religious heterogamy is positively associated with marital relationships among religious nones compared to religious homogamy. However, this pattern held only for religious nones who married Buddhists or Catholics. We discuss the implications of our findings for research on religion and marriage from cross-cultural perspectives.     

Attitudes Toward Immigration: The Role of Personal Predispositions

This article examines if deep‐seated psychological differences add to the explanation of attitudes toward immigration. We explore whether the Big Five personality traits matter for immigration attitudes beyond the traditional situational factors of economic and cultural threat and analyze how individuals with different personalities react when confronted with the same situational triggers. Using a Danish survey experiment, we show that different personality traits have different effects on opposition toward immigration. We find that Openness has an unconditional effect on attitudes toward immigration: scoring higher on this trait implies a greater willingness to admit immigrants. Moreover, individuals react differently to economic threat depending on their score on the traits Agreeableness and Conscientiousness. Specifically, individuals scoring low on Agreeableness and individuals scoring high on Conscientiousness are more sensitive to the skill level of immigrants. The results imply that personality is important for attitudes toward immigration, and in the conclusion, we further discuss how the observed conditional and unconditional effects of personality make sense theoretically.     

Gendered God Imagery and Attitudes Toward Mothers’ Labor Force Participation: Examining the Transposable Character of Religious Schemas

God imagery has been shown to have a profound influence on a diverse array of attitudes and behaviors. Research has also underscored the religious antecedents of traditionalist gender ideologies. This study integrates these parallel literatures by examining the degree to which gendered God imagery is a transposable schema that is associated with attitudes toward mothers’ paid labor force participation. We hypothesize that otherworldly schemas predicated on gender difference—namely, paternal and maternal images of God—have this‐worldly consequences by reinforcing opposition to mothers’ workforce participation. Analyses of General Social Survey data reveal strong support for this hypothesis. The evidence also demonstrates that paternal God images produce particularly robust and persistent opposition to mothers’ labor force participation net of other factors. Additional hypotheses about the interaction effects exhibited by gendered God imagery, prayer, and worship service attendance are modestly supported. We conclude by discussing our study's implications and outlining directions for future research.     

Development of the Spanish short version of Negative Attitudes Toward Masturbation Inventory

Background/Objective: Masturbation has historically been a sexual behaviour associated with negative connotations, as a consequence of traditional orthodox positions, despite its positive impact on health. The instruments developed to measure the attitude towards masturbation are scarce, and none of them have been validated in the Spanish adult population. This study aims to propose a short version of the Negative Attitudes Toward Masturbation Inventory (NATMI) and examine their psychometric properties (reliability and evidence of validity) in the Spanish adult population. Method: A total of 4,116 heterosexual adults aged 18-83 years (M = 40.58; SD = 12.24; 54.64% women) participated in the study. In addition to the NATMI, they answered other scales to assess sexual attitudes, sexual desire, propensity to become sexually excited/inhibited and sexual functioning. Results: Analysis of the construct validity of the NATMI resulted in a reduced version of ten items grouped into a single factor explaining 66% of the variance (ordinal alpha = .95). The evidence of validity is clear, as subjects with negative and positive attitude towards masturbation differed in religiousness, frequency of masturbation, erotophilia, positive attitude towards sexual fantasies, sexual inhibition and sexual functioning. Conclusions: The Spanish short version of NATMI provides reliable and valid measures in the Spanish adult population.     

Facets of Right‐Wing Authoritarianism Mediate the Relationship Between Religious Fundamentalism and Attitudes Toward Arabs and African Americans

Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, hate crimes against Arabs have increased in the United States. Despite recent increases in anti‐Arab attitudes, little psychological research has been conducted to understand this prejudice. Across two studies, we tested a theoretical model of Arab and African‐American prejudice. We found the aggression facet of right‐wing authoritarianism mediated the relationship between religious fundamentalism (RF) and prejudice toward Arabs and African Americans. Results are interpreted in light of previous research on cognitive rigidity, RF, and prejudice, and implications are made for political leaders conversing about Arab nations and peoples.     

Determinants of Attitudes Toward Muslim Students Among Flemish Teachers: A Research Note

Muslims are now the second largest religious group in almost all Western countries and a large majority of Muslim citizens are children who attend schools. However teachers’ attitudes regarding the education of Muslim students are largely ignored by educational researchers. In this study, we investigate the determinants of teachers’ attitudes among Flemish (Belgian) teachers (N = 620). Regression analysis has revealed that female teachers, Muslim teachers, younger teachers, and teachers with a four‐year college degree have significantly more positive attitudes. Most interestingly, we found that teachers working in schools that enroll a larger share of Muslim students (greater than 50 percent) have more negative attitudes toward Muslim students than other teachers. The implications of these findings for educational policy are discussed.     

Making and Unmaking Prejudice: Religious Affiliation Mitigates the Impact of Mortality Salience on Out‐Group Attitudes

Research inspired by terror management theory has established that being reminded of the inevitability of death (i.e., “mortality salience”) leads people to express more negative attitudes toward out‐groups. We examined the hypothesis that being affiliated with a religion may buffer individuals against this negative impact of mortality salience. Two studies, conducted in two cultures that differ in their emphasis on religiosity (the United Kingdom and Italy), supported this hypothesis. Specifically, we found that mortality salience resulted in more negative out‐group attitudes only among participants not affiliated with any religion. Further, this buffering effect of religious affiliation was not moderated by participants’ specific religious orientations or by their levels of social dominance orientation. In addition, the buffering effect did not hold when prejudice against the target out‐group was not proscribed by religious authorities. Implications for research on religion, prejudice, and terror management are discussed.     

The Role of Attachment and Stigma in the Relationship Between Stress and Attitudes Toward Counseling in South Korea

Using structural equation modeling, the authors investigated the mediators between stress and attitudes toward seeking professional help among 298 undergraduate students in South Korea. Results indicated that attachment styles (avoidance and anxiety) and stigma (public and self‐stigma) mediated the relationship between stress and attitudes toward seeking help. Furthermore, public and self‐stigma had different paths depending on attachment styles related to help seeking. Regarding previous counseling experience, differences in the relationships between stress, attachment styles, stigma, and attitudes toward seeking help were evident.     

Trust and Trustworthiness of Christians,Muslims, and Atheists/Agnostics in the United States

Trust, a cornerstone of economic development, is promoted within religions. In a randomized controlled trial, we examine how trust and trustworthiness vary across religions (Christianity and Islam), religiosity, and atheists/agnostics in the United States. Three novel findings emerge. First, Christians are trusted more than Muslims and nonbelievers, which is due to a Christian ingroup bias––Christians trust Christians more than they trust Muslims and nonbelievers, while Muslims and nonbelievers trust all groups the same. Second, religiosity matters to trust. Religious people trust those of higher religiosity more, but only if they are of the same religion. In contrast, nonbelievers trust people of higher religiosity less. Third, trustworthiness among nonbelievers is somewhat lower than that of the religious, especially toward Christians. We speculate that the lower reciprocity originates in the prejudice toward nonbelievers. Our results may help explain discrimination against Muslims and nonbelievers, given that discrimination often originates in distrust.     

Assessing the Impact of Religious Registration

Religious groups often rely on a registration process to receive the legal status needed to operate openly. Yet, the registration process has become a recent source of controversy. This research uses case studies, trend data from three global collections, and fixed effects models using 19 waves of data to test for the consequences of introducing registration requirements within a nation. The case studies help us to understand the controversies and to identify how registration requirements have been used to increase restrictions on religions in the past, while the trend data document the increasing use of these requirements for discriminating against religions. Finally, the fixed effects models find that introducing registration requirements within a nation was followed by increased religious restrictions, especially for minority religions.     

The Impact of Self-Components on Attitudes Toward Sex Among African American Preadolescent Girls: The Moderating Role of Menarche

The purpose of this study was to identify the protective factors that help to prevent attitudes that are tolerant of risky sexual behavior among inner-city, African American, preadolescent girls. It was hypothesized that aspects of the self would significantly predict attitudes toward sexual behavior among this population. It was also expected that the predictive power of the self-components (i.e., ethnic identity, self-concept, and masculine and feminine gender role orientation) would be increased in African American girls following menarche. Two hundred and five African American, preadolescent girls from a northeastern, inner-city community participated in this study. The age for this sample ranged from 10 to 13. Findings of this study lend partial support to the hypotheses. Examination of the predictive relationship between the self-components and attitudes toward sex indicated that self-concept and the masculine and feminine gender role characteristics were significant predictors of attitudes toward sex. In addition, the impact of ethnic identity on functioning was found to be most significant for girls who had experienced menarche.     

Teachers Matter: An Examination of Student-Teacher Relationships,Attitudes Toward Bullying,and Bullying Behavior

This study investigated the influence of student-teacher relationships and attitudes toward bullying on middle school students' bullying behaviors. Gender and grade differences were also examined. Data were collected from 435 middle school students. Results indicated that students' attitudes toward bullying mediated the relationship between student-teacher relationships and physical and verbal/relational bullying. There was a significant group difference on student-teacher relationships and attitudes toward bullying between bully, bully-victim, victim, and bystander groups and students not involved in bullying. In addition, sixth graders reported significantly more positive student-teacher relationships than seventh and eighth graders. Implications for the role of both cognitive and behavioral bullying intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.     

Challenging the opposition of LGBT identities and Muslim cultures: initial research on the experiences of LGBT Muslims in Canada

ABSTRACT

Many have described the cultural and political opposition between LGBT rights and identities and Muslim cultures. Rahman (2014) has argued that one important way to challenge this perceived enmity is to produce further knowledge about the experiences and identities of LGBT Muslims because they exist at the intersections of this political opposition and disrupt the assumptions underlying it. Drawing on Rahman’s framework of Muslim LGBT as “LGBT Intersectional Identities”, we provide initial evidence from on-going research into the experiences of LGBT Muslims in Canada, based on six in-depth qualitative interviews. Focusing on the tensions between living an LGBT life and being Muslim, we demonstrate that there are strategies for reconciling the two that undermine assumptions about the mutual exclusivity of Muslim cultures and homosexualities. These strategies both confirm the extant evidence of identity processes for LGBT Muslims and provide some new evidence of the awareness of negotiating Islamophobia, racialization and Muslim homophobia as part of the development of an LGBT Muslim identity, and the need to understand Muslim identity in a broader frame than simply religious. In this sense, the experiences of LGBT Muslims present an LGBT intersectional challenge, both to western assumptions about the coherence of LGBT identity and the coming out process, and to assumptions in Muslim culture that tend to position individuals who identify as LGBT outside of their traditions.     

Hoping for a Godly (White) Family: How Desire for Religious Heritage Affects Whites’ Attitudes Toward Interracial Marriage

This study examines how a desire to pass on religious heritage shapes whites’ attitudes toward interracial marriage for their children. Utilizing national survey data (Baylor Religion Survey 2007), I estimate ordered logit regression models to examine the extent to which whites’ desire to have their children and children's spouses share their religion affects attitudes toward their hypothetical daughters marrying blacks, Latinos, or Asians, net of other factors. Analyses reveal that whites who consider it more important that their children and children's spouses share their religion are less comfortable with their daughters marrying blacks, Latinos, or Asians. These effects are robust to the inclusion of measures for religiosity, political ideology, intimate interracial experiences, and other sociodemographic correlates. These findings suggest that, for whites, religious heritage has a clear ethno‐racial component. The greater their desire for descendants to share the same religious views, the more whites would prefer that these descendants themselves be white, indicating that, for many white Americans, religious heritage is equated with whiteness. I conclude by discussing the implications of these findings for research on religion and interracial families.     

From Theorizing Radicalization to Surveillance Practices: Muslims in the Cross Hairs of Scrutiny

There are several psychological analyses of the processes of radicalization resulting in terrorism. However, we know little about how those in authority (e.g., the police) conceptualize the psychological dynamics to radicalization. Accordingly, we present a detailed account of an official U.K. counterterrorism intervention, the Workshop to Raise Awareness of Prevent, designed to enlist frontline professionals in identifying and referring those at risk of radicalization. Specifically, we report data gathered during an observation of this intervention delivered by the police in Scotland. This provides insight into the psychological model of radicalization being disseminated in the United Kingdom, and we evaluate the merits of this model in the light of current psychological theory. First, we consider how this model may overlook certain social dynamics relevant to understanding radicalization. Second, we discuss how this neglect limits consideration of how the surveillance warranted by the official model may lead Muslims to disengage from majority group members. Our analysis points to how political psychology's analysis of social identities and citizenship can inform public policy and practice.     

The vicious circle of religious prejudice: Islamophobia makes the acculturation attitudes of majority and minority members clash

Public discourse often portrays Islam as the main obstacle for Muslim minorities' integration, paying little attention to the contextual factors hindering this process. Here, we focus on islamophobia as one destructive factor that hinders the mutual integration between Muslim minority and Western majority members, affecting both groups. In Study 1, the more islamophobic majority members were, the more they expected Muslims to give up their heritage culture and the less they wanted them to integrate. In Study 2, only when Muslims experienced substantial religious discrimination did religious identity negatively relate to national engagement and particularly positively relate to ethnic engagement. Together, the studies suggest that religious prejudice in the form of islamophobia is a major obstacle to Muslims' integration because it increases the incongruity between majority and minority members' acculturation attitudes.