Development of Religiousness in Young Adults

Abstract

In the chapter forming of religiousness in young adults in the view of current concepts, both normative (stadial concepts of religiousness) and non-normative, will be presented. The majority of research on religiousness of youth is carried out in the normative understanding of development, which refers to general trends of human psychological development, especially cognitive development (cognitive developmental concepts of religiousness), personality development (humanistic concepts of the development of religiousness) and social-emotional development (psychodynamic concepts of the development of religiousness). A cognitive-developmental concept of religiousness by Walesa seems particularly promising as it allows for a thorough view on religiousness, which is especially evident in the analyses of the dynamics of development and subtle changes in religious life, possible because of a stadial, structural-functional and psychogenetic view on the development of religiousness. Striving to fully comprehend the issue of the development of religiousness in young adults the chapter was enriched with a review of research on the role and various correlates of religiousness in everyday life of young adults.