The Relationship of Religiosity and Media Usage and its Influence on Delinquency

"This study examined the sequential relationship among religiosity, media usage, and delinquency. Influences of various measures of religiosity, including intrinsic and extrinsic religious orientation, vertical and horizontal faith maturity, and religious practice were analyzed in relation to the endorsement of church standards. Subsequent impacts on media usage in sequence with young adult delinquency were investigated to see how religion affected their substance use and violence by upholding church standards and reducing media use. The average age of the 246 Japanese young adults who responded to the questionnaires was 21. Analysis of the data using regression techniques revealed that stronger degrees of religious practices were associated with increased endorsement of Seventh-day Adventist church standards on violent video game playing, leading to decreased current media use and then further lowering the frequency of violent behaviors among young adults. Intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and vertical faith maturity were found to have no association with support for Adventist church standards on substance or violent video game use, while extrinsic religiosity led to decreased support of the violent game usage standard. The results indicated a complex pattern of religion's influence in media use and young adult delinquency. In summary, religion matters in predicting young adult delinquency, but its impact is indirect via endorsement of church standards and personal media use. The indirect influence found in this study is consistent with many previous studies that researched the linkage between religion and young adult delinquency."

Availability:
For Sale
Publication Date:
2011
Author:
Hiroshi Tabuchi
Order Information:
Full-text available online through the ProQuest Digital Dissertations database. Completed through La Sierra University.
Language:
English
Resource Type:
Unpublished Plans & Papers; Internet Resources
Level:
Tertiary-Lifelong
Audience:
Teacher / Faculty, Parent / Informal Education, Researcher
Religious Origin:
Seventh-day Adventist