Conventional wisdom goes that the children of immigrants will become more

naturally integrated into their societies than their parents. Exposed to their
country’s culture from birth, second-generation individuals will not experience
the same culture shock. Though still negotiating between their home
environments and wider society, they will usually identify less with the culture
and traditions of their parents’ home countries. In many cases, this
assumption holds true. In some, it does not.

American Muslims who were born in the United States are slightly less devout
than immigrant Muslims. They pray and attend mosque slightly less often. Yet
in some key ways, US-born Muslims seem to embrace their identities as
Muslims to a greater extent than immigrants. They identify more with the
global Muslim community, they take slightly more pride in their Muslim
identities, and slightly more US-born Muslim women wear head coverings.
The patterns tell a story of a population embedding itself more, not less, in the
cultural markers of its international roots, undermining conventional wisdom.

The respondents in our survey were mostly first-generation immigrants. They

outnumbered native-born respondents (second-generation and later) roughly
two to one, and almost all native-born respondents were second-generation.
Such a population provides an ideal point of reference to American Muslims.
And just the same as American Muslims, the divisions (or lack thereof)
between our immigrant and native-born respondents can be puzzling,
peculiar, and unexpected.