Abstract

  Background and Aim: Available evidence shows that religious attitudes have noticeable effects on all aspects of human life. During the last decades, empirical examining of happiness has increased by sociologists and psychologists. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between religious attitude and happiness in medical students in Shiraz university of medical sciences.

  Materials and Methods: The research is a cross-sectional descriptive study which was done in 2008-2010. Our subjects were selected randomly. The data were collected through Khodayarifard religious attitude scale and Oxford happiness inventory. The sample consisted of 271 medical students (164 males and 107 females). The obtained data were analyzed via Pearson correlation and t-test (for independent groups) .

  Results: The mean age of students was 20.4 years and the standard deviation was 3. The mean score of happiness, religious attitude in males and females was 47.54, 46.77 and 96.83, 103.16, respectively. There was a significant relationship between happiness and religious attitude (P = 0.0001, r=0.256), age and happiness (P = 0.004, r=-0.241), age and religious attitude (P = 0.018, r=-0.198).

  Conclusion: The results shows that in addition to the significant relationship between religious attitude and happiness, the relationship between age and religious attitude and happiness is significant, too.