| Summary: | The purpose of this study was to determine whether there is a
relationship between identity achievement and Christian religious
ideology in selected university students attending Oregon State
University.
The sample consisted of two hundred and forty-nine students
enrolled during the winter quarter 1978 in Psychology and Education
courses. The respondents were given a Self Descriptive Inventory
consisting of a religious scale (devised by the investigator), the
Henry-Sims Identity Scale and Rosenberg's self-esteem scale. Each
student was given a questionnaire (consisting of ninety-one responses
to complete. The responses were scored and put on keypunched
cards and analyzed on Cyber #3 Network Operating System (NOS) for
the statistical package for the social sciences.
Six hypotheses related to identity achievement and Christian
religious ideology were tested, using a step wise multiple regression
analysis (which yields a correlation coefficient), analysis of variance
and Newman Keuls for comparisons which were made between sex,
age, religious affiliations and academic majors. The .05 level of
confidence was chosen for all statistical analysis.
The following null hypotheses were examined:
1. There is no significant relationship between identity achievement
and Christian religious ideology. (Rejected)
2. There is no significant relationship between ego career and
Christian religious ideology. (Rejected)
3. There is no significant relationship between ego group and
Christian religious ideology. (Rejected)
4. There is no significant relationship between ego self and
Christian religious ideology. (Retained)
5. There is no significant relationship between ego effect and
Christian religious ideology. (Retained)
6. There is no significant relationship between self esteem and
Christian religious ideology. (Retained)
The author concluded that there is a relationship between certain
aspects of Christian religious ideology and identity achievement
and two of its subfactors. This conclusion was made as a result of
rejecting three null hypotheses: practice, experience and intrinsic
dimensions correlated significantly (P < . 05) with identity achievement;
ego career was correlated significantly (P < . 05) with knowledge
and practice; and ego group correlated significantly with experience
(P < . 05), practice (P < . 05), and belief (P < . 05).
The author recommended a replication of this study using a
personal interview in conjunction with the instruments in this study
for analysis and comparison. Another important recommendation is
the usage of an open-ended religious questionnaire which would include
diverse religious groups. These two recommendations were made
with the thought that they might prove helpful in further understanding
the impact of a religious ideology in the life of the young person.
This study must be considered with the following limitations:
1. The extent to which the instruments used accurately measure
what they purport to measure may have a limiting influence on
the study.
2. The study is limited to students who identify themselves as
Christians.
3. Uncontrolled variables as motivation, interest, present emotional
state, and other extraneous variables.
4. Limited to Oregon State University's students enrolled in
Psychology courses 201, 202, and 314 and Education 309A,
311A and 311C classes.
5. Limited to students who are from 17 to 24 years of age. === Graduation date: 1978
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