Religiosidade/espiritualidade e valores em adolescentes do Distrito Federal

Abstract

Teenage years are a crucial time to define identity, and religiosity is one of the agents of important and significant changes during this process; thus, being a matter of study by the pioneers in psychology. Although, adolescence has not been studied enough lately, even in a country where religiosity is widely spread as the demographic censuses have shown. The research for this thesis was developed in Brasília, due to its mystic aura , and because there are several temples and religious communities in the city in many of them, there are many young people and adolescents involved, despite the secularization process. Investigating the link between the adolescents religiosity and values has proven to be a relevant issue, and it is the purpose of this study a qualitative and exploratory analysis. Eight teenagers from 15 to 17 years old took part on this study. There was a girl and a boy from each of the following religions/ spiritualities: roman catholic church, kardecist spiritism, pentecostal evangelic faith, and agnosticism. The investigation method was based on individual and group interviews, along with a Questionnaire on teenage religiosity and value. The questionnaire was originally brought by a group of researchers from Germany and Switzerland, and it has been adapted and improved for Brazilian teenagers. This study shows the latest version of the questionnaire. This research adopted the phenomenological approach to carry out the interviews and organize data. The investigation and analysis are supported by Amatuzzi s theory on religious development which is based on phenomenological approach and other classic contributions, such as Piaget s and Fowler s. Five themes of study have been created in order to organize and analyze the results and whether they converge or diverge, according to the clinical phenomenological method: 1. Religiosity/ spiritualism and family: every teenager values family, and younger teens tend to follow their parents religion; 2. Religiosity/ spiritualism and personal life: agnostics seem to be more sensible, and not so willing to help others; Catholic and Protestant teens seem to be more kind; Protestants are more religious, obedient, well-behaved, more correct and conservative; the Catholic girl did not actually go to church; kardecists seem to be less hedonistic; 3. Religiosity/ spiritualism and social circle: there is a tendency to respect religious differences, although some teenagers reported they had experienced conflict with friends who chose different religions; they value friendship; 4. Religiosity/ spiritualism and social and political issues: kardecists and agnostics experience more prejudice from people of other religions; criticism over rules and lack of freedom from the society; lack of interest in politics and lack of trust in politicians; 5. Personal experience of religiosity/ spiritualism: older teenagers tend to question faith/ religion, and they question conversion as well; participation on religious institutions; belief that religion may help teenagers and improve their wellbeing even to agnostics, who have weaker belief in religion. In general, there is relation between religiosity and construction of values, and teenagers have many of those values in common, whether they are religious or agnostic. Literature supports that Brasília is a fertile ground for new religions/ spiritualisms. Many agnostic teenagers volunteered, but it was not possible to include all of them due to the short deadline to close this research. This research made it possible to improve the questionnaire, so that a large-scale research can be achieved. More research on religiosity is strongly encouraged. It can be taken to other parts of the country in order to reach better understanding about the role of religiosity on young people s values, as well as its social and regional variations.