EXPLORING THE RELIGIOSITY OF ROMANIAN EMERGING ADULTS: PSYCHOLOGICAL AND DEMOGRAPHICAL CORRELATES

Abstract

Studies examining religiosity/spirituality (R/S), gender, parental education level and psychological well-being report divergent findings, most of them being on North American populations. This research aimed to explore the relationship between R/S and psychological well-being of Romanian emerging adults. The relationship between R/S and demographical variables such as gender and parents’ educational level was investigated. We explored these relationships in a sample of Romanian emerging adults, (N=468 female, 54.2%; Mₐ₉ₑ=24; Sd=8.68), 57.9% from theological faculties of various denominations and 42,1 % non-theological. Our findings show that R/S is higher as parents’ educational level is lower, with male emerging adults being more religious than female ones and theology students being more religious than non-theology ones. Moreover, the results revealed a significant relationship between R/S and some facets of psychological well-being. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, with emphasis on the particularities relevant for the Romanian socio-cultural context. Received: 2022 March 05; Revised: 2022 March 25; Accepted: 2022 March 28; Available online: 2022 May 5; Available print: 2022 May 30

Keywords

• religiosity, spirituality, psychological well-being, emerging adulthood, gender