Islamic Beliefs and Mental Health Coping Mechanisms Among Indonesian Young Adults: A Qualitative Interview Study

<ns5:p> Indonesia faces a difficult youth mental health crisis characterized by high distress prevalence and low professional service utilization. While traditional Islamic worldviews prioritize religious coping, existing literature often oversimplifies these beliefs as static barriers. This study investigates the extent to which Islamic beliefs determine how Indonesian young adults navigate professional, religious, or informal secular coping mechanisms. Adopting a pragmatist qualitative design based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, 19 semi-structured interviews were conducted and divided into a younger target group (18–34 years) and an older comparison group (35–64 years). Data were analyzed using hybrid thematic analysis to identify decision-making pathways. Four distinct typologies emerged, revealing a “Generational Divide” in help-seeking intentions. The older group showed high uniformity, clustering as <ns5:italic>Aligned Traditionalists</ns5:italic> who view spiritual sufficiency as rendering medical help irrelevant. Conversely, the younger group demonstrated “Typological Fragmentation” across four pathways: <ns5:italic>Aligned Modernists</ns5:italic> who utilize professional care via high health literacy; <ns5:italic>Constrained Modernists</ns5:italic> inhibited by a “social veto” of religious stigma; <ns5:italic>Private Copers</ns5:italic> who favor informal self-management; and a minority of <ns5:italic>Aligned Traditionalists.</ns5:italic> These findings reveal a phenomenon of “Variable Migration,” where Islamic belief shifts between personal attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control depending on the individual’s profile. The study identifies a generational transition from a uniform religious consensus toward typological fragmentation. Interventions must move beyond generalist approaches by engaging religious leaders as “referral bridges” and implementing family-centered literacy programs to minimize the “social veto” of stigma. Furthermore, structural improvements to infrastructure are required to support this modernizing “sandwich generation”. </ns5:p>