Objective: Religious education and the cultivation of religiosity in students, along with curriculum design aligned with their cognitive religious development, require a thorough understanding of religiosity across developmental stages. Identifying the components that constitute religiosity in each age group is therefore essential. This study explores the entitiology of religiosity in preschool children.
Method: Employing a formative semi-empirical approach, this research utilized a descriptive-inferential entitygraphy method. The participants were nine preschool children (four boys and five girls) from Kerman, selected through purposive sampling—specifically, representative sampling that reflected typical, articulate, and normative indicators of religiosity. Through guided interviews and directed content analysis, indicators of religiosity in this age group were identified, categorized, described, and defined.
Findings: The study identified 21 components forming the entity of religiosity in preschoolers. Among these, the indicators of non-harmfulness, helpfulness, prayer performance, supplication, and kindness were the most prominent and clearly expressed.
Conclusion: The manifestation of these indicators as components of the childhood religiosity entity carries significant implications for the formative understanding of religiosity at this age and for planning effective religious education programs for children.Objective: Religious education and the cultivation of religiosity in students, along with curriculum design aligned with their cognitive religious development, require a thorough understanding of religiosity across developmental stages. Identifying the components that constitute religiosity in each age group is therefore essential. This study explores the entitiology of religiosity in preschool children.