Examining the relationship between superstition, anxiety and religiosity in terms of some variables (İnönü University example)

The aim of this study is to sociologically examine students' superstitions and reveal its relationship with the concepts of anxiety and religiosity. The relationship between superstition, religiosity, and anxiety among university students has been analyzed in terms of variables such as age, gender, grade level, department, place of residence, family relationships, social stratification, and subjective perceptions of religiosity. The research, which uses a relational screening method and a survey technique, involves a total of 450 students from different faculties at İnönü University, selected through purposive sampling from the target population. "Superstition Anxiety Scale" and "Religiosity Scale" were used in the study. Statistical procedures were performed using the SPSS 24.0 statistical program, and since the data were normally distributed, parametric tests (t-test, ANOVA) were used in the significance analysis between variables. The LSD test was applied to determine which groups had significant differences, with the significance level (p) set at 0.05. A correlation analysis was conducted to determine the mutual relationship between variables. The findings showed that gender, department, faculty, place where the student spent most of their life, mother's educational level, father's educational level, closeness of family members, and self-perception of religiosity significantly affected students' religiosity levels. In contrast, gender and father's educational level were found to significantly influence students' superstition anxiety levels. The results indicated that students had a high level of religiosity, a moderate level of superstition anxiety, and a low positive relationship between students' religiosity and superstition anxiety levels. Keywords: Superstitions, anxiety, religiosity, superstition and anxiety, superstition and religiosity.