THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGIOSITY AND PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS ON THE ATTITUDES ABOUT ABORTION

Background: A major public health problem is illegal abortion and its consequences and reliable data on abortions is globally unavailable. The Catholic Church advocates the protection of the human right for life that begins with conception. Religion was proven as an important predictor in forming abortion attitudes. Low points on openness and experience scales correlate with social prejudices and conservative orientation. The Aim: To determine the impact of religiosity and personality dimension on abortion attitudes using Questionnaire of Religion, Abortion Attitudes Questionnaire and Big Five Questionnaire. Subjects and Methods: An in - depth study was conducted on a sample of 310 citizens of Herzeg - Bosnian County in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The instruments used in the research were: a short questionnaire with socio - demographic features, a questionnaire of religiosity, an abortion questionnaire and a Big Five questionnaire. Results: Citizens of Herzeg - Bosnian County, 89.1% of them, believe that abortion terminates life. For legal prohibition of abortion 73.1% of the respondents' advocate, and Catholics are the most rigorous. Catholics mostly do not agree with the attitude that only a pregnant woman can decide on abortion in comparison to Islamic religion (chi(2) (4)=16.36; p<0.01). Only 13% of citizens are against the interference of the Church in the matter of abortion. The most insecurity can be seen in the attitude about the father's participation in the abortion decision. Almost half of citizens who oppose abortion would still leave it as an option for women. Conclusion: Citizens of Herzeg - Bosnian County support the legal prohibition of abortion and see it as a termination of life. Orthodox respondents are the least opposed to abortion and they also see themselves the least as believers. In Catholic and Islamic religions, religious identity and condemnation of abortion are expressed. Younger and mature people and male gender are important predictors of abortion condemnation. The influence of personality dimension on abortion attitudes was also not found in this research.