An investigation on the relationship between high schoolers' religiousness and personality (A case study of Şanlıurfa province)

The purpose of the research is to determine the relation between the religion levels and personality features among the teenagers within the age range of 13-18, and to review this relation in terms of certain variables. The data of this research within general survey model have been collected by means of the "Hacettepe Personality Inventory (HPI)", "Religiously Living Scale (RLS)", and the respectively developed "Personal Data Sheet". The population of the research is composed of students studying at the general, religious and vocational high-schools domiciled in Şanlıurfa City Centrum, and in certain districts (Siverek, Akçakale, and Halfeti) appertained thereto, and at the secondary schools domiciled in Siverek Merkez, while its sample consists of 931 students studying thereat. In the analysis of the data, t-test and single direction variance analysis (ANOVA) are used under normalized circumstances. Under the circumstances that may not be normalized, Mann Whitney U-test is utilized in order to ascertain whether there is any difference between two variables, and Kruskal-Wallis H-test is utilized whether there is any difference between more than two variables. Furthermore, Spearman, among the alternatives of the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, is utilized under the circumstances that may not be normalized, and in order to determine the relation between the two variables in the meantime. While a meaningful relation has been ascertained between the general religiously living levels and neurotic tendencies, psychological indicators, family relationships, social norms, antisocial tendencies, personal conformity, social conformity, and general conformity, no relation could have been ascertained between social relationships, self-realization, and emotional determinedness. On the other hand, negative relation has been ascertained between faith-personal conformity, worship-personal conformity, religion-ideation of importance-personal conformity, and subjective sense of religion-personal conformity, while positive relation has been ascertained between faith-social conformity, morality-social conformity, morality-general conformity, and worship-social conformity. Keywords: Religion, piety, personality, puberty