A Study of the Relationship Between Religiousness and Lifestyle: A Case Study of The Residents of Kashan City In 2011

The concept of lifestyle, as a means of explaining the people’s way of living as well as cultural and behavioral patterns of society, is considered as one of the fundamental notions in human sciences, especially psychology and social sciences. On the other hand, religiousness is regarded as a set of cognitions, beliefs, moralities, and religious rules, commitment to which gives people life, discipline, prosperity, and integrity. It is defined by the scholars as a very strong factor in determining the type of lifestyle. On this basis, the present research aims to study the relationship between religiousness and lifestyle. The main objective of the study, in fact, is to explain the way the two variables of religiousness and lifestyle interact in the statistical population of the research. This was a survey study, and the data was collected using a questionnaireinterview technique. Validity and reliability of the main research scales, i.e. religiousness and lifestyle, were confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The statistical population included all the residents of Kashan city in the first half of the year 2011. Based onCochran's sample size formula and using Quota sampling method, 640 subjects were selected. The results were indicative of a significant relationship between the extent of religiousness and all aspects of lifestyle among the respondents. The results of Spearman’s correlation coefficient also showed that there was a significant relationship of 99% confidence between the two variables (rs=0.312). Moreover, the results of the stepwise step-wise regression analysis indicated that the aspects of belief and religious awareness affected the residents’ lifestyle by 29% and 28% respectively.