Religious Orientation and Pressure in Undergraduate Engineering Students
Date
2007-02-26T10:02:12Z
Authors
Almeida, Claudia Da Silva
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Abstract
In recent years, there has been increased interest among multidisciplinary
researchers in looking at the relationship between religion and health, with the bulk of
the literature indicating that religion has largely positive effects on mental health
(Masters, Hill, Kircher, Benson & Fallon, 2004; Pieper, 2004; Smith, McCullough &
Poll, 2003). Hence this study has chosen to focus on the relationship between
undergraduate students’ perceptions of religious orientation, as defined by Allport and
Ross (1967), and their perceptions of pressure – a form of stress identified by Weiten
(1988).
Questionnaires comprising of the Religious Orientation Scale, the Pressure
Inventory and demographic information in terms of age, gender and religious affiliation
were administered to undergraduate engineering students at the University of the
Witwatersrand to explore religious orientation and pressure respectively.
The sample consisted of 76 undergraduate engineering students at the University of
the Witwatersrand. The results revealed that in this sample religious orientation had no
influence on perceptions of pressure. In terms of the demographic variables, neither age
nor gender was found to influence students’ perceptions of religious orientation or
pressure, respectively. However a significant difference was found between religious
affiliation and both religious orientation and pressure. More specifically religious
affiliation showed a significant difference in terms of intrinsic religious orientation, selfimposed
pressure, pressure in intimate relations and total pressure.
Description
Student Number : 9805453M -
MA research report -
School of Human and Community Development -
Faculty of Humanities
Keywords
religious orientation, intrinsic religious orientation, extrinsic religious orientation, pressure, stress, coping, daily hassles