Abstract

JAHN, Guilherme Machado  and  DELL'AGLIO, Débora Dalbosco. Religiosity in Brazilian Adolescents. Rev. Psicol. IMED [online]. 2017, vol.9, n.1, pp. 38-54. ISSN 2175-5027.  http://dx.doi.org/10.18256/2175-5027.2017.v9i1.1541.

Religiosity is an important protective factor in adolescence, inversely associated with risky behavior. This exploratory study aimed to investigate religiosity in adolescents from different regions of Brazil. Participants were 2573 adolescents, 58.1% girls and 41.9% boys, aged between 12 and 18 years (M = 15.67; SD = 1.45), students from public schools in five regions of the country: Fortaleza (Northeast), Belém (North), Vitória and Grande Vitória (Southeast), Hidrolândia (Goiás, Midwest), Porto Alegre and Rio Grande (South). Participants answered the Questionário da Juventude Brasileira, which investigates risk and protective factors, and the questions used were about sociodemographic data and religion, as well as an adapted version of the Religion Scale. Higher average scores were observed in the Religiosity Scale among girls and among older teens, as well as significant differences between regions and between types of religion. The most frequent religion among the participants was the catholic. Personal aspects of the religiosity were predominant, indicating an intrinsic experience of the religion. Regional differences may reflect cultural aspects, which can be investigated in further studies.

Keywords : religion and psychology; adolescents; religiosity.

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