A Study on Effective Social Factors on Religious Participation among Students of Birjand University

Religious participation is the most important constituent of social capital and one of the key concepts of religion sociology. In Iran whose majority of population are Muslims and Shiita, religious participation is very desirable and worthwhile and Quranic verses emphasize it too. But despite Islamic orders, research and public sentiment indicate that religious participation of Iranian people has reduced in recent decades in contrary to early years of Iran Revolution, and this can be seen more in young people than other parts of society. This question arises in the mind of the investigator: why, despite the fact that our youth become familiar with religious participation from childhood and it is considered in educational centers, mass media and family, do they not care about some forms of religious participation, and their adherence to religious participation is not as expected? Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate the social factors influencing religious participation of the youth, especially students of Birjand University. The method of research is quantitative and the instrument of data collection is a researcher-developed questionnaire. Statistical population of this study consist of the students of Birjand University in the academic year of 94-95. This population includes 9564 people from which a sample of 312 people, according to Cochran formula and using a proportionate stratified random sampling, was selected. The proposed relationships between variables were examined by using the analytical methods of correlation coefficient of Spearman, Chi- square, Multiple regression )Enter method( and path analysis. The results show that the dependent variable, which is religious participation, has a significant relationship with religious values variable, using the mass media variable, social-economic status of the family variable, social trust variable and type of school variable. Also, the multivariate analysis shows that the variables of religious values, social trust, socialeconomic status of the family and using the mass media have the greatest effect on the dependent variable. The results of this study are similar to the views of Inglehart, Norris and Putnam.