Extrinsic and intrinsic religious orientation, religious coping and academic stress among first year IIUM students

Abstract

The study aimed at investigating religion as a coping mechanism in managing stress among first year student. The sample consist of 321 undergraduate first year students from five Kulliyyahs: Education, Engineering, Economics, Law and Human Science at the International Islamic University Malaysia. The data were collected through Religious Coping Questionnaire, Educational Stress Scale as well as Intrinsic and Extrinsic Religious Orientation Scale. Frequency analysis was used to examine the level of stress, and religious orientation among both male and female students at IIUM. In addition, Pearson moment correlation was used to analyze the relationship between religious coping, religious orientation and academic stress, t-test and OneWay ANOVA iri gender and specialization in religious coping and academic stress respectively. The result of the descriptive analysis showed a high level percentage (80%) in both religious orientation and religious coping and average percentage (55%) in academic stress. The results showed no significant differences in gender and specialization in terms of religious coping and academic stress. However, the results showed significant positive moderate relationship among religious orientation, religious coping and academic stress. Finally, the major finding from the study is that, the main means which is used by first year students in IIUM to reduce their academic stress is through religious coping and orientation.