Personality, Identity Styles, and Religiosity: An Integrative Study Among Late and Middle Adolescence

• NCJ Number: 213038
• Journal: Journal of Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 119-135
• Author(s): Bart Duriez; Bart Soenens
• Date Published: February 2006
• Length: 17 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study's aims were to replicate a model of the relationship between personality and religiosity during late adolescence and to test its application to middle adolescence.

Abstract

The model--which was developed by Duriez, Soenens, and Beyers (2004)--proposes that the relationship between personality and religiosity during late adolescence is mediated by the social-cognitive processes involved in identity development. The study found that the relationship between tolerance and religiosity was mediated by the social-cognitive process involved in identity development. This suggests that an individual's personality characteristics determine how he/she processes information. Adolescents who tended to be open to seeking and processing new information and social interactions without restriction viewed religious concepts as more symbolic than literal; whereas, adolescents with personalities that were intolerant of ambiguity and closed to new ideas and people different from themselves were more likely to embrace religious literalism. The study involved 2 samples of Belgium adolescents: 171 second-year college students and 336 10th-grade students. Both samples were administered a questionnaire that measured personality characteristics, identity styles, and religiosity. The personality characteristics measured were extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. The measurement of identity styles distinguished between persons who think seriously about tailoring their lives to their individual traits, those who seek out situations in which social norms and standards are clear, and those who put off thinking about the direction of their lives. The measure of religiosity pertained to attitudes toward religion as a literal body of truth mediated by an authoritative institution, a symbolic guide that individuals interpret for themselves, or a construction of humans to quiet their fears. 2 figures, 3 tables, and 76 references