Religious Muslim American mothers' perceptions of child behavior problems

Abstract

The present study investigated Muslim American mothers' perceptions of and reactive actions to child behavior problems, as well as factors (type of problem, severity of problem, religiosity, acculturation, and child gender) associated with their perceptions and reactive actions. Twenty Muslim American mothers having a child between the ages of 4 and 18 responded to four vignettes created by crossing the two dimensions of problem type (internalizing and externalizing) and problem severity (low and moderate), as well as to demographic, religiosity, and acculturation measures. Type and severity of behavior problem had significant relationships with mothers' perceptions of seriousness, level of worriedness, and unusualness. Religiosity and acculturation were not associated with mothers' perceptions but were associated with some reactive actions. Also, the participants tended to turn for help to nonprofessional (e.g., family and friends) sources more than to fellow community members and medical/mental health professionals. Implications of the results for community-based education and intervention programs are considered.