Moral Awareness and Religiosity in Predicting Spiritual Character among Indonesian Madrasah Students

Abstract

The development of students’ spiritual character has become a key concern in moral education amid rapid social change, digital transformation, and the growing complexity of adolescent life. Within Islamic educational settings, moral awareness and religiosity represent important dimensions that may contribute to students’ character development. However, limited empirical evidence has examined the simultaneous predictive role of moral awareness and religiosity in explaining spiritual character among Indonesian madrasah students. This study examines the predictive contributions of moral awareness and religiosity to students’ spiritual character. A quantitative, cross-sectional correlational survey design was used with 278 students at a State Islamic Senior High School (Madrasah Aliyah Negeri/MAN) in Probolinggo City, Indonesia. Researchers collected data using validated instruments measuring moral awareness, religiosity, and spiritual character. We conducted multiple linear regression analysis to examine the predictive relationships among the variables. The findings demonstrate that both moral awareness and religiosity significantly predict students’ spiritual character. Moral awareness made a positive contribution, while religiosity showed a stronger predictive effect. Together, both variables explained 64.8% of the variance in students’ spiritual character. These findings indicate that spiritual character development is associated with both students’ ethical awareness and their internalisation of religious values. The study contributes to moral and Islamic education research by integrating moral awareness and religiosity within a single predictive framework. The findings suggest that strengthening spiritual character among Indonesian madrasah students requires educational approaches that combine religious internalisation with opportunities for moral reflection and application of values in daily life.