Religious Orientation and Its Relation to Locus of Control and Depression

Abstract

This study examines the relationships among intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations, locus of control and depression levels of 430 Turkish Muslim university students. The results show that some locus of control dimensions are related to participants' religious orientations, but depression has no significant impact on intrinsic or extrinsic religiousness. Hierarchical Regression Analyses were conducted for predicting the intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientations of different gender. Belief in chance (negatively) and belief in fate (positively) contribute to male and female participants' intrinsic religious orientations. Meaninglessness of effortfulness was crucial only for women's intrinsic religiosity. Higher belief in meaninglessness of effortfulness was related to lower intrinsic religiosity scores for women. Among the locus of control variables, only belief in fate (positively) contributed to extrinsic religious orientations in both men and women. Belief in an unjust world positively contributed only to male extrinsic religious orientations. Women had higher intrinsic religiosity scores.