The Comparison of the Internal-External Religious Orientation and Membership in Social Networks among the Youth with a History of Delinquency and Ordinary People: A Short Report

Recognizing effective factors influencing crime among adolescents and young people is very important in terms of the impact of religious orientation and emerging social networks. The aim of the present research was to compare the internal-external religious orientation and membership in social networks among young people with history of criminality and normal individual. In this descriptive study، samples included two groups; individuals with a history of delinquency and normal. Each group contained 45 people and they were selected by convenience sampling. To collect data، administered demographic characteristics and Religious Orientation Allport Questionnaires were carried out on subjects. Data were analyzed using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). The findings indicated that there was a significant difference between the mean of months of membership in social networks (p=0. 021)، internal religious orientation (p=0. 002) and external one (p=0. 036)، among young people with history of criminality and normal individuals. Thus، mean of months of membership in social networks، external religious orientation in young people with history of criminality was significantly more than that of normal individuals; and internal religious orientation among them was significantly less than that in normal individuals. According to the results، strengthening the internal religious orientation and informing the youth can avoid effectively consequences of presence in the emerging social networks.