Wednesday, March 31, 2004
Survey Says Spirituality in College on the Rise
A recent Higher Education Research Institute study has found a high interest in spirituality and religion among students, but reported a lack of faculty support for students' spiritual quests.
The nationwide survey used a sample of 3,680 undergraduate students at 46 colleges and universities. Students first completed a survey when they entered college in the fall of 2000 and took a second survey in their junior year in the spring of 2003.
Among the participants, 78 percent reported that they discussed religion or spirituality with friends, 77 percent reported that they prayed, and 70 percent said they had attended religious services in the last year.
The survey also offered statistics on faculty support of religious quests. Sixty-two percent of students said that their professors never encouraged discussion of religious or spiritual matters, and 56 percent said their professors didn't provide any opportunities to discuss the 'meaning of life.'
Though the survey reported an increase in student interest in spirituality, it reported a decline in actual religious practice.
The number of students who said it was "essential" or "very important" to integrate spirituality into their life increased from 2000-2003 from 51 percent to 58 percent, but the number of students rating themselves above average in spirituality declined from 47 percent to 39 percent, and the percent of people frequently attending religious services went from 52.1 percent to 29.4 percent.
Chaplain Jewelnel Davis, Columbia University, said this statistic is common at most universities because of the nature of expanding religious horizons.
"There's a widening of the box," she said. "You might have come in saying 'I'm Baptist,' but as you explore, you might say 'I'm Christian and open to other things.'"
Davis said that she mostly comes in contact with students of this nature who are confused about their religious identities.
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