Parents’ prejudices or own religious orientation of Pakistani children: determinants of achievement-related prejudices for opposite gender and sect and their relation with mental health

ABSTRACT

The present study examined the role of parents’ prejudices and their children’s own religious orientation in the formation of children’s prejudices against the opposite gender and sect. A total of 280 children including 104 (36%) girls were recruited from various schools. Children age range from 12 to 18 years with mean ± SD = 14.60 (1.42) years. Parents of the children (including 175 fathers and 113 mothers) were approached at their homes. Based on the conceptualisation of the study, parallel models addressing gender and sectarian ingroup-outgroup classification were developed and estimated. The study tested, confirmed, and validated the cognitive-developmental model addressing the underlying mechanism for shaping the religious orientation of children as a consequence of parents’ prejudices and its role in the mental health of children. The results supported the conceptual model of the study elaborating on the underlying mechanism of the relationship among parents’ and children’s prejudices, and children’s religious orientation in the development of depression and anxiety in children. Suggestions for further research are provided.

KEYWORDS:

• Prejudices
• sectarianism
• religious orientation
• psychopathology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aasia Alam Khan

Aasia Alam Khan is working as Research Associate in the Human Development Research Foundation (HDRF), Pakistan and is a research scholar from the National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan. She is working as a team lead for various community based intervention programs. Her research interest includes social, and clinical psychology, and psychology of religion. She has expertise in data analyses and implementation sciences.

Jamil A. Malik

Jamil A. Malik (PhD) is working as an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan and he is visiting faculty at University of Miami, Florida, USA. He serves as consulting editor of various national and international journals and is also working as associate editor for the journal Frontiers in Psychology. His research interest includes healthy life style, chronic disease management, social and cognitive psychology, and group and family dynamics. He has expertise in theory building, model testing, and advance analyses.

Sadia Musharraf

Sadia Musharraf is working as a lecturer in Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Women University, Multan, Pakistan. She is a research scholar at the National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and a visiting researcher at the Department of Education, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA. Her research publications are in the fields of cyberbullying victimization, psychology of religion, and psychometrics.

Christopher Alan Lewis

Dr Christopher Alan Lewis BSc, PGCUT, MA, MEd, MSc, MPhil, DPhil is based at the Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Leeds Trinity University,  United Kingdom. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Bashkir State University, Russia and a Visiting Professor at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom. He is Co-Editor of the journal Mental Health, Religion & Culture. His research interests are in the psychology of religion, health psychology, and psychometrics.