The Effect of Muslim Religiosity on Youth Delinquency

• Author: Ali Unlu,Ismail Sahin
• Published date: 01 September 2021
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016820966038
• Date: 01 September 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Effect of Muslim

Religiosity on Youth

Delinquency

Ismail Sahin

1

and Ali Unlu

2

Abstract

Conceptualizing religiosity as a multidimensional construct, this study aimed to investigate the

influence of religiosity on youth delinquency. Three dimensions of religiosity—belief about religion,

religious practice, and religious social environment—were examined as predictors of delinquency.

The survey data collected in 2010 by the Governance of Istanbul, Istanbul Department of Education,

and Istanbul Police Department were used. Participants were high school students (n¼31,272)

between 14 and 18 years. Structural equation modeling was used for statistical analysis and

hypothesis testing. The study found a relationship between the dimensions of religiosity and

delinquency. While dimensions of beliefs about the religion and religious social environment cor-

relate negatively with delinquency, the dimension of religious practices correlates positively with it.

Belief about one’s religion was found to be the strongest of the three dimensions. The findings

suggested that religion has the potential to reduce the risk of delinquency among youth. Implications

for future research and policy makers were also discussed.

Keywords

youth, Muslim, religiosity, delinquency, Turkey

The relationship between religiosity and delinquency has received a great deal of attention from

researchers in sociology and public policy. Social scientists have debated this relationship for

more than 50 years. The beginning of this debate can be traced to Hirschi and Starks’s classic

article titled “Hellfire and Delinquency” published in 1969. Hirschi and Stark (1969) failed to

find a significant relationship between religiosity level and delinquency among youth. Similarly,

researchers have for centuries investigated the causative factors of delinquency as these factors

relate to both individuals and communities. Among these factors, religiosity is considered to be

protective against delinquent behavior. Higher levels of religious involvement have been asso-

ciated with lower rates of delinquency. The purpose of the present study is to examine

1

Freedom Research Association, Ankara, Turkey

2

Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), Helsinki, Finland

Corresponding Author:

Ismail Sahin, Freedom Research Association, Ankara 06100, Turkey.

Email: sahini38@hotmail.com

Criminal Justice Review

2021, Vol. 46(3) 361-381

ª2020 Georgia State University

Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0734016820966038

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empirically the relationship between religiosity and delinquent behavior among youth in a

Muslim community in Turkey.

Beginning with the classical theorists, sociological approaches to this inverse relation have

emphasized various functions of religion, such as social control and deterrent effects (Durkheim,

1951; Weber & Marx, 1958). Several criminological studies have found that religiosity has a

significant negative impact on deviant behaviors, particularly ascetic behaviors such as substance

abuse (Bends & Corwyn, 1997; Brownfield & Sorenson, 1991; Cochran & Akers, 1989; Johnson

et al., 1997). Considering and overcoming the methodological limitations in early studies, the

majority of more recent studies have found the expected inverse relationship between religiosity

and delinquency (Abu-Rayya et al., 2016; Johnson et al., 2000, 2001; Unlu & Sahin, 2015).

Furthermore, recent meta-analyses also indicate that a negative relationship exists between religi-

osity and involvement in delinquent behavior (Baier & Wright, 2001; Kelly et al., 2015). Focusing

on the study variables and the relationships among them, the current study aimed to investigate the

possible effect of religious factors on delinquency rather than an exercise in theoretical comparison,

which is consistent with the risk factors approach to criminological theorizing (Bernard & Snipes,

1996). Bernard and Snipes (1996) suggest that the focus of attention should be the variables

themselves and the relations among them, not the contradiction between theories.

The findings of previous studies have suggested that religiosity is a protective factor with regard

to potential delinquent behaviors. However, some researchers have focused on a single aspect of

religiosity, such as belief or religious self-practice (Klein et al., 2006; Sekulic et al., 2009). Sekulic

et al. (2009) conceptualized religiosity as a single-dimension construct (religious practice–church

attendance) and found religiousness to be a significant protective factor in cigarette smoking, sport

nutritional supplementation, and the likelihood of doping. Conceptualizing religiosity as a multi-

dimensional construct, this study examined the influence o f religiosity on delinquent beh avior

among youth.

The major significance of the present study is that it examined the relationship between religi-

osity and delinquency in a sample of Muslim youth. To date, little has been reported in the scientific

literature on this topic in a specifically Muslim context (Abu-Rayya et al., 2016; O

¨zbay, 2007;

Roberts et al., 2011). It should be noted that the great majority of individuals in the sample popula-

tions of previous studies were Christian, which may limit the generaliza bility of these studies’

findings. A recent empirical study on the association between religiosity and youth deviance found

that higher levels of Islamic religiosity were associated with low er levels of deviant behaviors

among Australian Muslim youth (Abu-Rayya et al., 2016). However, the study was conducte d

within the context of a narrow Muslim community rather than a Muslim country. The present study

addresses this empirical gap.

Another significance of the study is that it analyzed the relationship between religiosity and

delinquency based on a large-scale dataset (n¼31,272). In addition, employing the exogenous

variable of religiosity as a multidimensional construct, the pre sent study sought to identify the

relative importance of various dimensions of religiosity with regard to delinquency among youth.

Mainly, examining the dimension of religious social involvement that has been rarely examined

within the context of delinquency in previous studies is another possible significant contribution of

the study in the field.

Literature Review

Religion—an organized set of beliefs, practices, and rituals engaging the transcendent—proposes a

doctrine about the afterlife and provides rules that guide behavior during the present life to prepare

for the future (Koenig & Shohaib, 2014). Almost all religious traditions encourage law-abiding

behaviors, teach respect for government authorities, and discourage violating social norms.

362 Criminal Justice Review 46(3)