Social representations of religion of Maltese university students

Abstract

Social representations is a relatively new area of research which is rapidly becoming an important tool in understanding social behavior. In this chapter we will be using this theory to understand how university students in Malta look upon religion. A selfadministered questionnaire was given to a random sample of 650 students at the University of Malta, of which 421 completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 35 questions about religious attitudes and behavior, and also included the Post-Critical Belief Scale (Duriez et al., 2005). The data were subjected to statistical analysis. The results were used to identify the different social representations which students had of religion. The implications for understanding how religious beliefs correlate with religious behavior among students in tertiary education will be discussed.