Religiosity and Presence of Character Strengths in American Muslim Youth

This study explored religiosity and the presence of character strength among American Muslim youth and analyzed 174 Muslim and Comparison youth. The results indicate that 75.5% of American Muslim youth sampled were categorized as Highly Religious, significantly more than their peers (p = .0001). Although Muslim youth were identified as Highly Religious, only 33.7% of the sample had previously explored their ideological beliefs and then made a commitment to Islam. Religiosity was significantly associated with a greater number of character strengths (p = .0002), which served as a protective factor. Finally, Highly Religious American Muslim youth were associated with the following character strengths: kindness, equity, leadership, self-regulation, prudence, gratitude, hope/optimism, spirituality, and forgiveness.