Association Between Clothing Type and Observed Behavior among Boys During Mosque Worship in Indonesia
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Objective: This study examined the association between clothing type and observed behavior among Muslim boys attending mosque worship during Ramadan in Indonesia.
Methods and Materials: A naturalistic observational study was conducted across eight semi-urban Indonesian mosques during ten consecutive Ramadan days. A total of 1,391 child-presence episodes involving boys approximately 6–9 years old were recorded. Clothing was classified as religious or casual, and predominant behavior as calm or disruptive. Associations were examined using Pearson’s chi-square test, Cramér’s V, and the contingency coefficient. Two parent interviews provided contextual information.
Findings: Calm behavior was observed in 409 of 630 episodes (64.9%) involving religious clothing, compared with 198 of 761 episodes (26.0%) involving casual clothing. Conversely, disruptive behavior occurred in 35.1% and 74.0% of episodes, respectively. The association between clothing type and behavior was statistically significant under the independence assumption, χ²(1, N = 1,391) = 212.08, nominal p < .001, with a moderate association magnitude (Cramér’s V = .390; contingency coefficient = .364). However, repeated observations of unidentified children and unaccounted mosque-level clustering limit the precision of inferential estimates.
Conclusion: Religious clothing was associated with a higher observed proportion of calm behavior during mosque worship. The findings do not establish causality, given potential repeated observations, unmeasured confounders, and unavailable interobserver reliability estimates.
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