Filipino college students’ attitudes towards religion: An analysis of the underlying factors

Abstract

In the last 50 years, measures of religious constructs have been the subject of much scientific attention. Cross-cultural considerations necessitate that empirical claims on assessments about religion are validated by local data. While religion is typically viewed in terms of spirituality and religiosity, recent empirical studies indicate a shift in the interpretation of these dimensions in a more diffused and relaxed appreciation. Building up from these developments, in the present research, we develop and test the structure and reliability of a scale to assess students’ attitudes towards religion. Using a sample (n = 2733) of college students from two provincial universities in the Philippines, we employed data reduction techniques to understand the underlying factor structure. The results showed a three-factor measure of attitudes towards religion.