does college life break down
religious barriers?
New NCSU Research Will Expand on First Longitudinal Study
of Undergraduate Students’ Spiritual Development
May 12, 2009-- Does exposure to worldview diversity lead today’s college students to become more accepting of others who come from different faith traditions? Do students’ personal struggles related to spirituality influence their openness to religious diversity in the world?
These are questions that will be answered through new research conducted by North Carolina State University Assistant Professor Alyssa N. Bryant. Professor Bryant will conduct this research through further investigation of data from the first national longitudinal study documenting changes in student spiritual and religious characteristics during the first three years of college. That research, conducted by The Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, surveyed 14,527 students attending 136 colleges in the fall of 2004 and again in the late spring of 2007, at the end of the students’ junior year.
The original findings from this longitudinal study showed that, while attendance at religious services declines, college students nationwide show significant growth in a wide spectrum of spiritual and ethical considerations during their first three years of college. To view full results of the data, and learn more about the project, please visit www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/spirituality.html.
Professor Bryant will analyze the data to explore how encounters that expose students to diverse perspectives and ways of life predict their propensity to become more accepting of others with different beliefs and values. Professor Bryant will seek to determine if the development of this “ecumenical” worldview is impacted by students’ gender, race/ethnicity, and religion/ideology. Specifically, she and her research team will determine:
- How do campus contexts and college encounters influence the development of an ecumenical worldview?
- To what extent do religious/spiritual struggles mediate the relationship between campus contexts/college encounters and an ecumenical worldview?
- Is the impact of college on ecumenical worldview conditioned by gender, religious/ideological minority status or racial/ethnic minority status?
Bryant noted, “Our global society provides a rich opportunity for engaging one another across lines of religious and spiritual difference. Yet, such a world poses significant challenges because at times these lines of difference threaten to isolate us or lead us into conflict. It is critical to understand how colleges and universities can best prepare students to develop in ways that will help them to navigate the realities of pluralism as compassionate global citizens.”
The research will be conducted between May and December of 2009. Professor Bryant will present the findings in higher education journals and at conferences and will integrate them into course offerings at North Carolina State University.
The Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at UCLA is widely regarded as one of the premiere research and policy organizations on postsecondary education in the country. Along with the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP), HERI was co-founded by Alexander W. Astin and Helen S. Astin, and is housed at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education & Information Studies. The Institute serves as an interdisciplinary center for research, evaluation, policy studies, and research training in post-secondary education.
For more details about the project, “Spirituality in Higher Education: Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose,” visit: www.spirituality.ucla.edu. Professor Bryant is a member of the faculty in the Adult and Higher Education Department at NC State University's College of Education. To learn more about Professor Bryant’s research project, please contact: alyssa_bryant@ncsu.edu.
