Relationship between religious values and anxiety among Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences students

Background: Anxiety is one of the most common psychiatric disorders and different treatment protocols have been introduced to relieve or treat it. Religious values may be one of the best ways to control of anxiety. Life is made meaningful and is directed by religious values. The purpose of this research was to examine the correlation of religious value levels and anxiety among the student of Kermansheh University of Medical Sciences (2005-2006).

Method: Descriptive-analytic study designed and 498 students were selected using Random sampling method. All the participants have already passed one educational term and have no psychiatric or somatic disorders, which may cause anxiety. Data was collected using demographic characteristic questionnaire. Allport, Vernon, Lindsey's questionnaire were used for religious values and Spiel Berger test for anxiety level determination. Data analyses were made by t.test, ANOVA, χ² and descriptive methods.

Results: 3.8% of the subjects had strong, 79.1% had moderate and 17.1% had weak religious values. 43.8%, 47.8% and 8.4% of subjects indicated high, moderate and low anxiety levels respectively. Our finding showed that there was a significant association between religious value and anxiety levels. Anxiety score in students with high religious value was lower than other students (P<0.01). Religious value scores and anxiety scores were higher in girls than boys (P<0.05).

Conclusion: There was significant association between higher religious value and lower anxiety level. Although correlation of mental health and religious is complex, but it's clear that religious values play a critical role in decreasing of anxiety level and prevention of psychiatric problems.