The role of religious beliefs in psychological empowerment of orphans of 13–18 years old: The case of relief foundation of Isfahan province

Abstract

Introduction: Given the importance of dealing with orphans' personality development,Objective: In this study, The impact of religious beliefs (RBs) on psychological empowerment (PE) were discussed.Methodology: The research population included 2993 orphans. The sample population included 340 orphans (single-parented/ father absent) aging from 13 to 18 supported by Relief Foundation, as well as 340 non-orphaned (with parents) not supported by Relief Foundation aging from 13 to 18 gathered from 10 towns of Isfahan province. The samples were selected and through stratified random sampling, and proportional method. To collect data Spritzer questionnaire of psychological empowerment and religious belief questionnaire structured by the researcher himself were used. The content validity of the questionnaires confirmed and their reliability was computed through Cronbach's alpha coefficients respectively as 0.922 and 0.847. The data also were analyzed through the method of structured equation modeling (Partial Least Squares (PLS)) and by Smart PLS 3 and SPSS (PASW) 20 softwares. Results: The results showed: (a) religious beliefs have a significant impact on psychological empowerment of the orphans; (b) there is a significance difference between the religious beliefs of the supported orphaned teenagers and the religious beliefs of the non-orphaned teenagers not supported; and (c) there was no significant difference observed in the psychological empowerment variable between the orphaned under the support and the non-orphaned not supported. Conclusion: Due to the influence of religious beliefs on psychological empowerment, it could be concluded that one way to increase psychological empowerment of the orphaned supported by Emam Khomeini Relief Foundation, is to strengthen their religious beliefs.