College Student Spiritual Quest
Author | : David Michael Eberhardt |
Publisher | : |
Total Pages | : 125 |
Release | : 2010 |
Genre | : |
ISBN | : |
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ABSTRACT: The spiritual life of college students has largely been overlooked by many American colleges and universities. However, a surge of interest in college student spirituality has emerged in recent years. This interest has led to research that has attempted to define and identify aspects of spirituality, as well as determine the importance of spirituality to other areas of student development. Minimal research, however, has attempted to connect student spiritual development to collegiate experiences and influences in the campus environment. This study attempted to reduce this gap in the professional literature by examining how traditional-aged college student involvement in community service and experiences with diverse peers impacts their spiritual quest, a concept which focuses especially on students' search for meaning, purpose and understanding in their lives. Through a quantitative, longitudinal, national panel study, college students were surveyed in summer, 2004 and spring, 2007. The survey included items that asked students about their spiritual and religious beliefs and practices, and related experiences, goals, attitudes, and opinions. Utilizing one public research institution's data from this national study, factor and path analyses were employed to determine if significant relationships existed between race, gender, pre-college spiritual quest, community service involvement, diversity-related experiences (defined broadly to include interactions across race/ethnicity, religion, politics, and other differences), and collegiate spiritual quest. Results indicated significant direct effects from pre-college spiritual quest and diversity-related experiences on collegiate spiritual quest, but not for community service involvement.