Religious development from adolescence to early adulthood among Muslim and Christian youth in Germany: A person-oriented approach.

Religious decline, often observed among North American Christian youth, may not apply universally. We examined this and whether religiosity is associated with well-being, risk behavior, cultural values, and acculturation among 4080 Muslim and Christian adolescents aged 15-22 in Germany. Utilizing seven waves from the CILS4EU project and a person-oriented analytical approach, we identified different religious trajectories for Muslim (58% high, 31% low, 11% increasing), immigrant-origin Christian (68% low, 32% medium), and non-immigrant Christian (74% low, 17% decreasing, 9% medium) youth.

Changes in young adults' mental well-being before and during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic: disparities between ethnic groups in Germany.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in substantial disruptions to the daily lives of young people. Yet knowledge is lacking about changes in mental well-being among young adults, whether those from ethnic minorities were more adversely impacted by the pandemic than the ethnic majority, and the extent to which pandemic-related stressors contributed to any declines in mental well-being.

Methods: We draw on nationally representative German CILS4COVID data, collected early in the pandemic (N = 3517, M = 25).

Anxiety and Depressive Symptom Trajectories in Adolescence and the Co-Occurring Development of Cognitive Biases: Evidence from the CogBIAS Longitudinal Study.

The development of negative cognitive biases, together with symptoms of anxiety and depression, has yet to be investigated longitudinally. Using a three-wave design, the present study examined developmental trajectories of anxiety and depressive symptoms and the co-occurrence of cognitive biases, in a large normative sample of adolescents (N = 504). Data was drawn from the CogBIAS Longitudinal Study (CogBIAS-L-S), which assessed a wide range of psychological variables, including cognitive biases and self-reported anxiety and depressive symptoms, when adolescents were approximately 13, 14.

Positive intergroup contact modulates fusiform gyrus activity to black and white faces.

In this study, we investigated the effect of intergroup contact on processing of own- and other-race faces using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Previous studies have shown a neural own-race effect with greater BOLD response to own race compared to other race faces. In our study, white participants completed a social-categorization task and an individuation task while viewing the faces of both black and white strangers after having answered questions about their previous experiences with black people.

Dual Identity Development and Adjustment in Muslim Minority Adolescents.

Dual identity (e.g., strong ethnic and national identity) is a psychological resource for minority groups, but how it develops during adolescence is less clear.