Religious orientations of a personality in the age dynamics of their formation

Abstract

The article provides the theoretical analysis and empirical study of the problem of religious orientations in their structure and development dynamics. Religious orientations have been considered as a component of an integral system of personality’s value orientations that is associated with the special religious orientation and organization of his\her needs, motives, intentions. G. Allport’s theory of external and internal religious orientations, supplemented by D. Batson’s ideas on «religious search» has become the fundamental conceptual framework for constructing author’s research. According to the research results, the following factor structure of the religious orientations of Ukrainian respondents have been determined: «Reasonable religiosity», «The Value of secular life», «Religion as a spiritual protection against misfortunes», «Religious education», «Individual prayer  or church as a means of strengthening one’s social status» and «Enrollment into a church group». It has been stated that, in terms of its manifestation, both external and internal religiosity of the respondents is approximately on the same level that is close to the average one. In the context of the age dynamics of religious orientations development, statistically significant differences have been revealed in accordance to agreement with the following statements: on the level of external religious orientation – «I go to church because it helps to strengthen the situation in society» and «The purpose of a prayer is to provide a happy and peaceful life» (mostly the «youth» subgroup); on the level of internal religious orientation – «I am very often aware of the presence of God or the Divine Essence», «My religious beliefs really determine my philosophy of life» and «It is important for me to spend some time in religious reflections» (mostly the «mature adolescence» subgroup).Consequently, a greater religious pragmatism of  the youth and a tendency to frequent reflections on God among older people have been determined.