The Development of a Martyrdom-Seeking Model Based on Personality Traits with the Mediating Role of Religious Attitude and Practice of Religious Beliefs in Basiji1 Girls

This study was aimed at the development of a martyrdom-seeking model based on personality traits with the mediating role of religious attitude and practice of religious beliefs. Considering the importance of martyrdom and martyrdom-seeking in Islamic culture, especially in Shiism, studying the relationship between the personality component and the desire for martyrdom-seeking with the mediation of religious orientation and practice of religious beliefs can yield interesting and applicable results in various fields of study.

In this descriptive-correlational study, 271 Basiji girls were selected from the community of active Basiji girls in Fasa, Iran using the convenience sampling method. The research instruments were the NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory (short form), the Religious Attitude Questionnaire, the Practice of Religious Beliefs Questionnaire and a researcher-made martyrdom-seeking questionnaire.

The results of the present study indicated that extroversion, agreeability and accountability have a direct positive effect and an indirect positive effect through the endogenous variables religious attitude and practice of religious beliefs on the desire for martyrdom-seeking, but flexibility had a significant direct and indirect negative effect on the desire for martyrdom-seeking. Also, no direct and indirect relationship was observed between the exogenous variable neuroticism and the desire for martyrdom-seeking.

The developed martyrdom-seeking model, based on the exogenous variable personality and endogenous variables religious attitude and practice of religious beliefs, could explain 75% of the martyrdom-seeking changes of the model, which indicates the fit of the model.