A influência do autoconceito, do sentido de comunidade e da decisão vocacional no discernimento vocacional dos jovens seminaristas da Região Norte de Portugal

Abstract

This study aims to describe and explore some developmental and vocational characteristics of seminarians who are at the end of the minor seminary or in the beginning of the major. More specifically, we intended to analyze the influence of the self-concept and the sense of community in the vocational decision of these students. To do this, we used a sample of 31 individuals and applied the socio demographic questionnaire prepared for this purpose, the Self Description Questionnaire III (Marsh & O'Niell 1984 adapted by Faria & Fontaine, 1992) to assess the self-concept, the Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) (Peterson, Speer & McMillan, 2008 adapted by Marante & Lind 2010) to assess the sense of community and finally the Career Decision Scale (Osipow, Carney, Winer, Yanico & Koshier, 1987, 1976 adapted by Taveira, 1997) to assess the vocational decision. The results indicated that the higher the self-concept presented by the seminary students, the more determined they were with their option for priesthood. These results are consistent with previous results from studies which were not developed with this population, thus reinforcing the idea that, in the seminary context, the self-concept and the making of conscious and integrated vocational decision should be promoted, based on all the implications underlying the priestly option. In relation to the sense of community, there was a significant correlation between the qualifications of the father and the total scale, indicating that the higher the father's education, the greater the sense of community of the seminary students, supporting the importance of psychological intervention with the families of these students. On the other hand, regarding the vocational (in)decision, it can be concluded that the seminarians have a relatively low level of decision making, whereas the level of indecision these young people face at their vocational project is high. These results highlight the importance of psychological intervention in the seminary context.

Date of Award	23 Jul 2015
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Ângela Maria Pereira e Sá Azevedo (Supervisor)