This study addresses the question of whether and when religious parenting is a bridge or a barrier to Muslim immigrant children’s integration. Integration was defined as children’s identification with the heritage culture and the host culture. Participants included 210 self-identified Turkish Muslim mothers, children (aged 9-14), and 115 fathers in Germany. All family members filled in questionnaires on identification with Turks and identification with Germans; in addition both parents reported on religious parenting and children on religiosity. Results of multivariate regression analyses revealed that religious parenting was negatively related to children’s identification with Germans but positively related to children’s identification with Turks through increased child religiosity. However, additional multiple-group analyses revealed that only the religious parenting of lower educated parents and first-generation mothers reduced the likelihood of children’s identification with Germans. The religious parenting of higher educated parents and second-generation mothers did not affect children’s identification with Germans but promoted children’s identification with Turks. Taken together, the findings highlight the diverse roles of religious parenting in cultural socialization processes in Muslim immigrant families. © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.

Integration Social status Turkish Muslim immigrants intragroup variability ethnic and national identity religious parenting

Germany immigrant regression analysis human German (citizen) socialization Muslim school child social status male female inheritance questionnaire Turk (people) father mother human experiment child parent relation Child