Religious identity in Egyptian Muslim and Christian children aged 6-13 years

Abstract EN

Objectives: This study investigated Egyptian children’s religious identity, their attitudes towards and affective responses to their own and one other religious group.

Method: 137 Muslim and Christian Egyptian orphaned children aged between 3 and 13 years were questioned using a semi-structured interview which incorporated various tasks.

Results: Evidence was found to suggest that religion was a salient aspect of the children’s identity.

There was evidence that some of the children were engaging in intergoup comparison, ingroup favouritism and outgroup denigration as predicted by Social Identity Theory; this was especially true for the Christian children.

The Muslim children did demonstrate ingroup favouristism but did not appear to engage in intergroup comparison and outgroup denigration to the same extent.

Conclusion: These finding suggest that children’s knowledge and attitudes in the religious domain may be influenced by the process of intergrQup comparison as proposed by Social Identity Theory.