The relationship between moral maturity and religiosity: The case of Adana

The ideal relationship between religion and morality may not always be realized at the behavioral dimension. There are effects of individuals' religiosity and various attitudes in the emergence of religious teachings in moral behaviors. In this study, the relationship between moral maturity and religiosity was examined, and various factors thought to affect this relationship have been investigated. The research has a descriptive and quantitative design and was prepared with a relational screening model. The research sample comprises 387 volunteer participants from teachers, imam-hatips, engineers, and Qur'an course instructors working in Adana. The data were collected through the questionnaire technique with information form on the demographic attributes of the participants, the Moral Maturity Scale, the Religious Living Scale, and additional Likert-type questions about the attitudes towards the religion-moral relationship. SPSS Statistics 22 and SPSS Amos 24 applications were used in the analysis of the data got. In order to uncover answers to the research questions, Pearson Moment and Spearman Rho correlation analysis, Independent Groups t-Test, Mann-Whitney U Test, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis H test, and Multiple Linear Regression analysis were used. Besides, a mediation analysis was carried out by applying structural equation modeling with the SPSS Amos application in order to determine the mediating effect of the RLS-worship dimension in the relationship between the RLS-morality dimension and moral maturity. The results of the research show that there is a positive and significant, moderate relationship between moral maturity and religiosity. It is seen that the view that "the two structures are independent of each other", which is one attitude towards the relationship between religiosity and morality, predicts moral maturity negatively at a rate of 5%. Moreover, it is a remarkable result that the worship dimension acts as a full mediator in the relationship between the moral dimension of religiosity and moral maturity. These results show that religious people have a higher average of moral maturity and mostly do not approve of a moral life independent of religiosity. In addition, in terms of moral maturity, that the worship dimension of religiosity is more determinant than the moral dimension comes to the fore. Based on this, the factors shaping the relationship between religiosity and moral maturity should be examined with different samples and methods, and possible novel forms of religiosity should be considered. Keywords: Moral maturity, religiosity, faith, worship, moral psychology.