Z badań nad psychologicznymi aspektami przynależności religijnej młodzieży z ośrodków duszpasterstwa akademickiego

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to present a possible psychological approach to studying religious adherence and to illustrate it with specific results of investigations. The survey was made at the end of 1973 and the beginning of 1974 in 2 groups of university students. One group, referred to as ODA, consisted of those students who had contacts with the academic centre for spiritual counselling (N = 175 persons, 60,5 per cent men). The members of the other group, NDA, had no contacts with the academic centre (N = 175; 64 per cent women, 36 per cent men). Both groups were homogeneous with regard to age, sex, social background, year and field of studies, type of school, place of studying, and the parents’ attitudes to the Church. The differential variable was the membership of ODA. The comparative analyses of the results showed that both groups of subjects differed significantly as to all the three dimensions of religious attachment, namely in the intensity of behaviour in connection with faith, behaviour towards the institution of the Church and behaviour towards the Catholic cult. As a rule there were more ODA members displaying a high intensity of positive religious behaviour than NDA members. Similarly, more NDA members than ODA members displayed attitudes of religious indifference and a high intensity of negative attitudes. A period of studies without religious education in the centre has a negative influence on students’ religious adherence. This demonstrates itself most of all in low intensity of faith and a negative attitude towards the Catholic cult. A period of studies during which students ’’belong” to the centre exerts a positive influence on the formation of more and more mature forms of religious adherence in students. It is best reflected in the growth of the intensity of faith (central dimension) and breathing new life into the students’ exprerience of the liturgy.