Examining the Role of Religious Orientation in the Mental Health of High School Students

In recent years, increasing numbers of researchers have been studying the role and functions of religious education and religious orientations in strengthening students' psychological dimensions and have tried to study the relationship between religious orientation and ethical concepts in different layers of society. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the relationship between religious orientation and mental health of high school students. So, as a descriptive-survey study, 248 female and high school students were selected as a sample group using multistage cluster sampling. The data were collected using Allport’s Religious Orientation Scale (ROS), General Health Questionnaire (GHQ). In addition to descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient and t test were used for data analysis. The results of this study showed that there is a direct relationship between religion or religious beliefs and mental health. The findings have also revealed that the more internal religious orientation will lead to the higher the mental health. This is while the greater the orientation of the individual in the field of religious externality will be resulted in the greater the feeling of fatigue and physical symptoms.