Effect of religious orientation on university students’ mental health

Background and Purpose of Study: Adherence to religion is associated with a healthier lifestyle which affects people’s mental health. Mental unity is a key to health personality. Among value systems, religion is the most capable of creating this unity. The present research, therefore, aims to investigate how intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation related to university students’ mental health. Materials and Methods: The present comparative research was conducted on the students of Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences in 2015. The sample size was estimated to be 200. To be on the safe side, however, 252 subjects were selected from the target population. To collect the required data, Alport Syndrome Questionnaire as well as the General health Questionnaire (GHQ) were used. Descriptive and inferential statistics (ANOVA, Spearman’s test of correlation coefficient, etc.) were used to analyze the data via SPSS v.19. Findings: According to the findings, 167 subjects were female (66.3%) and 85 (33.7%) were male. As for age, 118 subjects were 20-22 years of age (48.4%) which had the highest frequency. Conclusion: A comparison of male and female subjects in term of mental health revealed that women and men were significantly different as concerns their religious orientation (intrinsic and extrinsic). The correlation of multiple aspects of mental health and religious orientation revealed a significant positive correlation between social functioning, depression and intrinsic religious orientation.