Dec 20, 2007 11:27 AM

New study: college students grow in spirituality

Undergraduate students' values and beliefs evolve during their first three years of college, according to UCLA researchers reporting their findings in "Spirituality in Higher Education: Students' Search for Meaning and Purpose."

Researchers at The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA found that at the same time that college students' attendance to religious services declines, undergraduates nationwide show significant growth in a wide spectrum of spiritual and ethical considerations during their first three years of college.

The researchers examined data from 14,527 students attending 136 colleges and universities nationwide, surveying students as entering freshmen in the fall of 2004 and again in the late spring of 2007 at the end of their junior year. In addition to rating college students' spiritual values, the study explores changes during college in students' religious beliefs and commitment, political orientation and attitudes, and health and well-being.

Compared to when they were entering freshmen, college juniors are more likely to be engaged in a spiritual quest, are more caring, and show higher levels of equanimity and an ecumenical worldview. While 41.2% of freshmen in 2004 reported they considered developing a meaningful philosophy of life "very important" or "essential," just three years later in 2007 a 55.4% majority of those same students agreed.

Additionally, "attaining inner harmony" was reported as "very important" or "essential" by 48.7% when of freshmen in 2004, 62.6% agreed three years later.

"Many students are emerging from the collegiate experience with a desire to find spiritual meaning and perspective in their everyday lives," said UCLA Emeritus Professor Alexander W. Astin, co-principal investigator for the project. "The data suggest that college is influencing students in positive ways that will better prepare them for leadership roles in our global society."

Spiritual Quest

Evidence that the juniors are more engaged in a spiritual quest than they were as entering freshmen is reflected in increasing percentages who embrace the following life goals as either "very important" or "essential":
- "integrating spirituality into my life" (from 41.8% in 2004 to 50.4% in 2007)
- "developing a meaningful philosophy of life" (from 41.2% to 55.4%)
- "attaining inner harmony" (from 48.7% to 62.6%)
- "seeking beauty in my life" (from 53.7% to 66.2%)
- "becoming a more loving person" (from 67.4% to 82.8%)

Ethic of Caring

Growth in this area was reflected in the students' increasing endorsement of the following life goals:
-"helping others in difficulty" (from 62.1% in 2004 to 74.3% in 2007)
- "reducing pain and suffering in the world" (from 54.6% to 66.6%)
- "helping to promote racial understanding" (from 27.3 to 37.5)
- "becoming involved in programs to help clean up the environment" (from 16.9% to 30%)

Equanimity

A growing percentage of students:
- say they have "frequently been able to find meaning in times of hardship" (from 25.9% in 2004 to 31% in 2007)
- describe themselves as "seeing each day, good or bad, as a gift" (from 38.9% to 45.5%)
- see themselves as "being thankful for all that has happened to me" (from 52% to 61.2%).

Ecunemical Worldview

Students grow in their endorsement of:
- "improving my understanding of other countries and cultures" (42% in 2004 versus 55.4% in 2007)
- improving the human condition" (from 53.4% to 63.8&)
- "feeling a strong connection to all humanity" (from 75.6% to 80.8%)
- their increasing agreement with the proposition that "non-religious people can lead lives that are just as moral as those of religious believers" (from 83.3% to 90.5%).

Further evidence of increasing acceptance of persons with differing beliefs is suggested by the students' growing agreement with two other propositions:
- "Most people can grow spiritually without being religious" (from 62.8% in 2004 to 74.8% in 2007)
- "It doesn't matter what I believe as long as I lead a moral life" (from 51.1% to 57.8%).

1