The Relationship between Religious Orientation and Students' Self-esteem

Introduction: This study was conducted with aim of investigating the relationship between religious orientation and self-esteem of students. Methods: The present research was of a correlational study. The research population consisted of all students (boys and girls) studying at Islamic Azad University, Payam Noor and Applied Science universities in Darehshahr city in the academic year of 2013-2014. 200 students were randomly selected as samples. The research tools included Allport Religious Orientation Scale, and Coppersmith Self-Esteem Scale. In order to analyze the data, the statistical tests of Pearson correlation coefficient and Spearman correlation coefficient were used. Results: The results showed a positive relationship between extrinsic religious orientation and self-esteem and also a negative relationship between intrinsic religious orientation and self-esteem. Conclusion: All in all, it can be concluded that internal religious orientation is associated with high self-esteem. These results pave the way for future research in a direction to determine whether the individual societies that ascribe higher respect to their religion possess higher self-esteem or not. It is clear, of course, that achieving such findings requires extensive studies.