Domain and facet personality correlates of religiosity among Iranian college students

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relation of religion, defined in terms of Islamic Shiite creeds/rituals, Islamic Shiite morals, inclusion of transcendence, and symbolic processing, to the five-factor model of personality at the domain and facet levels as measured by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory using a religiously homogeneous sample of 359 Iranian college students. Results indicated that all five Revised NEO Personality Inventory domains are significantly related to religion as measured across all four operationalizations of the construct used, though some sex differences were observed. Our findings support but also elaborate previous findings regarding the relation of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness to religion by demonstrating that facets of these domains are selectively associated with some indices of religion but not others. Angry Hostility was a negative predictor of Islamic morals. Warmth predicted Islamic creeds/rituals and Inclusion of Transcendence. Ideas was a positive predictor of symbolic processing and Islamic morals. Fantasy was a positive predictor of symbolic processing but a negative predictor of Islamic creeds/rituals and Inclusion of Transcendence. The present findings are in agreement with the necessity of considering multidimensional measures of religiosity and providing evidence in support of the construct validity of the Post Criticical Belief Scale and the Islamic Religious Orientation Scale. Implications of the present findings are discussed in relation to the differential and in some cases substantial association of religion indices with personality. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also overviewed.