An Investigation of the Relationship between Islamic Religious Orientation and different Aspects of Identity

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between Islamic religious orientation and different aspects of identity. The participants in this study were 232 female and 99 male students of different majors in Shiraz University who were selected through cluster random sampling. The revised questionnaire of "Religious Orientation" (Azarbyjani, 1382) and the fourth revised scale of "Identity Aspects AIQ-IV" (Cheek, Smith, and Troop, 2002) were used as instruments. Factor analysis was applied to the data to verify the validity. In addition, Cronbach's alpha was calculated to determine the reliability of both questionnaires. The obtained coefficients confirmed the reliability of the scales. Moreover, the results of the factor analysis, using the principle components with varimax rotation for the "Religious Orientation Scale" yielded two factors which were beliefs/rituals and ethics, respectively. In case of AIQ-IV, the results confirmed five dimensions: personal, relational, social, ethnic-national, and religious identities. The results of multiple regression of beliefs/rituals and ethics subscales on different aspects of identity revealed that the beliefs/rituals subscale was a positive predictor of religious identity. In addition, ethics subscale predicted personal and relational identity. However, it negatively predicted the religious identity.