perInstitute of Humanities and Social Studiesپژوهش انحرافات و مسائل اجتماعی3060-821X3060-82282026-09620articles ms.mahdizadeh@isu.ac.ir1khadijeh zolghadrkzolghadr@srbiau.ac.ir2navid rezaeinavid.rezaea@gmail.com3a , Islamic Azad University, Research Sciences Unit, tehran. IRAN<p style="text-align: left; padding-right: 30px;">Adolescents&rsquo; national and religious identities are shaped through interactions among individual experiences, family, school, media, peer groups, and broader cultural and social transformations. This study aimed to understand and explain the challenges associated with national and religious identity among adolescent boys from the perspective of educational and cultural experts. A qualitative approach and thematic analysis were employed. The participants comprised 17 experts with educational, research, cultural, or executive experience related to adolescents, identity, religion, and education, who were selected through purposive and subsequently snowball sampling. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews, which continued until data saturation was reached. Data analysis followed the six phases of thematic analysis and involved repeated reading of the interviews, extraction of meaning units, generation of initial codes, integration of similar codes, and their organization into subcategories and overarching themes.</p> <p style="text-align: left; padding-right: 30px;">The findings were organized into three main themes: &ldquo;fragmentation and tension within the identity meaning system,&rdquo; &ldquo;fragility of belonging in the context of externally imposed and inconsistent education,&rdquo; and &ldquo;the gap between expressed identity and everyday practice.&rdquo; From the participants&rsquo; perspective, ambiguity in defining national and religious components and their relationship, the multiplicity and personalization of identity sources, inconsistencies between the messages and practices of educational institutions, the reduction of identity education to formal and ritual instruction, constraints on adolescent agency, and the gap between belief, belonging, and behavior were among the most significant challenges in this field. Overall, the findings indicated that the common issue across both national and religious domains is the difficulty of establishing a coherent connection among meaning, belonging, and action.</p> <p style="text-align: left; padding-right: 30px;">Accordingly, identity education programs are more likely to be effective when they move beyond the one-way transmission of information and symbolic behaviors and instead provide opportunities for dialogue, choice, meaningful experience, genuine adolescent participation, and coordination among family, school, and media. The findings reflect the perceptions of experts and should not be interpreted as a direct account of the situation of all adolescents.</p>http://risi.ihss.ac.ir/Article/53892National identity religious identity adolescent boys educational and cultural experts thematic analysis.