An Empirical Examination of the Stages of Faith Cognition Development among Young Adults Aged 18–24

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Educational Sciences, Research Institute of Hawzah and University, Qom, Iran

2 M.A., Department of Educational Sciences, Tolou-e-Mehr University, Qom, Iran

10.48310/riet.2026.20317.1496

Abstract

This study aimed to quantitatively and qualitatively examine the development of faith cognition among Iranian Muslim young adults aged 18–24 across two dimensions-religious cognition and religious meaning-making- based on Nowzari’s (2010) framework. A cross-sectional developmental research design was employed. The statistical sample consisted of 118 male participants aged 18–24 who held positive attitudes toward religion in Dezful, Iran. Participants were selected through random sampling and studied using semi-structured interviews. Data were scored on a four-point developmental scale and analyzed using analysis of variance (quantitative analysis) and qualitative content analysis. The findings indicated that the development of faith cognition across this age range was neither continuous nor uniform, with fluctuations observed in the mean scores across different
age groups. Qualitative analysis further confirmed that all developmental stages were simultaneously present across the different age groups. Although some participants had achieved a high degree of religious stability, variations in mean scores across age groups suggested relative stability rather than complete consolidation. Moreover, increasing age was not directly associated with the development of faith cognition. In the dimension of religious cognition, the conventional/reasoning stage had the highest frequency, while weaknesses in advanced reasoning were evident. In the dimension of religious meaning-making, half of the participants were classified at the incomplete stage, and explanations concerning the purpose of creation were predominantly conventional and imitative. Overall, the findings suggest that the consolidation of faith is not fully achieved during early adulthood and remains subject to challenges such as developmental fluctuations, limited cognitive internalization, and insufficient depth of religious meaning-making. These findings highlight the need to design educational interventions aimed at strengthening reasoning abilities and deepening religious meaning-making among young adults in this age group.

Keywords

References

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