A study of the value orientations of students the city of Ufa as to the attitude to religion (2024)

The purpose of the study was to study the religious identity of modern youthand their value and semantic guidelines. The study involved Ufa students aged 19–23 years (average age 19.6 years), a total of 254 people, 98 of them Russians, 78 Tatarsand 49 Bashkirs. The paper compares two groups of young people: believers and non-believers. To classify the subject into different groups, they were asked to indicate theirattitude to religion, which reflects the cognitive component of religious identity. Thevalue-semantic sphere of youth was studied using the methodology of E. B. Fantalova:«The level of the ratio of “value” and “accessibility” in various spheres of life». TheFisher and Mann-Whitney criteria were used to calculate the differences betweenthe groups. In our study, it was found that most of the youth identified themselves asbelievers. At the same time, 53.1 consider themselves Muslims and 46.9 Orthodox.Common features in the value-semantic sphere of modern youth (believers and nonbelievers) are two trends: the priority of value is self-confidence and a decrease in theimportance of the value of an active life. The analysis of the differences showed thatinterpersonal relationships are very important for young believers, which is reflectedin the priority of their chosen values — love, a happy family life, and the presence offaithful friends. Non-believing youth are characterized by a decrease in interpersonalconnections and an increase in motivation for personal autonomy. The followingvalues are a priority for them: freedom, creativity, knowledge and material well-being.Believing youth values happiness in family life significantly higher, and material wellbeing and the opportunity for creative activity are more important for non-believingyouth. Our research shows that traditional religious self-identification in Russia is thebasis for the formation of traditional humanistic values among young people.