Religion/spirituality is a salient facet of identity for many college students, yet addressing issues related to spirituality/religion is contentious in many higher education institutions. Prior research has shown that various other facets of identity, including race/ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation, affect a student’s perception of campus climate, but religious/spiritual identity has not been examined in the same manner. Using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling, this study empirically tests the addition of religion/spirituality to the campus climate theory developed by Hurtado et al. (1999). Data came from the 2010 College Senior Survey administered by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. Results indicate that religious and spiritual identity have significant direct effects on the perception and other aspects of campus climate. Future research is needed to extend the understanding between religious and spiritual identity and the perception of campus climate.

This dissertation examined to what degree traditional students were impacted by the institutional core values at a Southern Baptist college. The subjects of mission statements, core values, and college impact were defined. Special attention was given to the eight institutional core values being examined in this study. The current study was conducted at Georgetown College. Located within the eleven state region that is encompassed by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools accrediting agency, Georgetown College is a member of the Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools. The goal of Georgetown College, broadly defined, is to provide a quality educational program within the context of a values-based Christian atmosphere. The sample of the current study included all the traditional freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors at Georgetown College at the beginning of the fall semester of 2003. Data gathering consisted of two concurrent lines of inquiry: similarities and differences in students' agreement with the institutional core values. These lines of inquiry were analyzed according to four specific areas of interest including students' class year, gender, ethnic background, and religious affiliation. A value statement index was created for use in this study. The core values of community and integrity were rated by the students as the most important values in the study. The Christian core values showed a general increase among almost all of the students from the freshmen to the senior year. The core values concerning diversity and cultural enrichment programs were rated as the least important values in the study. The presence of a Christian community was determined to be the key ingredient for Southern Baptist colleges to impact positively the value systems of their traditional students. / This item is only available to students and faculty of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. If you are not associated with SBTS, this dissertation may be purchased from <a href="http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb">http://disexpress.umi.com/dxweb</a> or downloaded through ProQuest's Dissertation and Theses database if your institution subscribes to that service.

The study was designed to describe policies, programs and staff assignments in higher education institutions related to student religious groups and campus ministers. The study replicated research done by George Jones in 1968.The population of the study consisted of 509 four-year tax-assisted state colleges and universities in the United States but was later adjusted to 467 institutions. A questionnaire was sent to the administrative heads of the student affairs office or student personnel office. The number of usable questionnaires returned was 288, which constituted a 62 percent return.The following hypotheses were generated for statistical treatment:Hypothesis I.--There is no significant difference between the percentage of means of recognizing ministers assigned to serve public four-year colleges and universities in the Jones study and the current study.Hypothesis II.--There is no significant difference between the percentage of duties of advisors to religious councils recognized by public four-year colleges and universities in the Jones study and the current study.Hypothesis III.--There is no significant difference between the percentage o` university staff serving as liaison with campus ministers in the Jones study and the current study.Significant regional differences were found for Hypotheses I and II but no significant regional differences were found for Hypothesis III.The findings in the following summary are based upon the data of the study.Policies that allow recognition of student religious groups on campus were reported by administrators to exist at 43 percent of the institutions of higher education. For student religious organizations to be recognized or accredited the university administration consistently required the groups to file an application, secure approval for the constitution and to arrange for a faculty advisor or sponsor.The religious council was used by 20 percent of the administrators as a means of relating to the student religious groups and religious workers. A council of campus ministers that served as liaison with the religious workers was reported by 37 percent of the administrators.On 53 percent of the campuses, a university staff person was designated as liaison with the campus ministers. The director of student affairs was identified as the person most often responsible for religious coordination.The respondents reported that 43 percent of the religious group growth on campus was with the evangelical Christian groups. The administrators reported that 40 percent of the change in the campus ministry was with the loss of the radical and militant image of the student religious groups.Only 6 percent of the respondents reported threatened lawsuits because of religious coordination policies of the public colleges and universities in the United States.

Little research has been conducted to show the relationship between short-term study abroad/mission experiences and the faith development of those who engage in them. Christian colleges and universities utilize these experiences to help develop their students' faith. This research analyzed the relationship between a Christian college student's experience in a one-month study abroad/mission experience and his or her faith development and maturity.The research was conducted with 171 students from a Christian university, including 72 students (study group) who spent one month in the university's study abroad/mission program and 99 students (control group) who took classes on campus during the same time period. The development of the student's faith was measured by three instruments: 1) a six question qualitative survey given to the study group; 2) the Faith Maturity Scale (FMS) published by the Search Institute; and 3) Growth in Mature Faith Index (GMFI) published by the Search Institute.The quantitative data analysis indicated no significant differences between pre- and post-scores for the FMS and GMFI; but the research did find changes that were significant on some of the question items between the two groups, such as the SAM participants becoming more accepting of people with different religious beliefs. Inflated research alpha levels (for multiple testing) were of concern for the researcher, as was the ceiling effect (pre-trip levels above the highest national levels for any age group) with the Christian college student population. Qualitative data indicated that the Study Abroad Mission Students developed in their relationship with God and their service to others. / School of Continuing Education and Public Service

The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between religious commitment, spiritual well-being and psychological well-being in college students. The Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS) and Psychological Well-Being Scale (PWBS) were administered. Also frequency of church attendance was assessed. Canonical Analysis was used to investigate the data from 425 participants to determine if there is relationship between religious/spiritual well-being and psychological well-being. A statistically significant relationship was found between religious/spiritual well-being and psychological well-being. The following describes the nature of the relationship. First, participants who experience existential well-being tend to be self-accepting and to a lesser extent have mastery of their environment and a purpose in life. Second, participants who experience existential well-being and to a lesser degree, religious well-being tend to accept themselves, have a purpose in life, possess mastery of their environment, positively relate to others, feel they are growing personally, and are autonomous. This study provided evidence of a relationship between religious/spiritual well-being and psychological well-being. Implications and limitations of the study, as well as recommendations for future research are discussed. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

ABSTRACT ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF STUDENT INVOLVEMENT IN CAMPUS MINISTRY ON RETENTION AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS: A MIXED METHOD STUDY Robert Mark Rasor, Ed.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2017 Chair: Dr. John David Trentham This thesis is a continuation of the Student Involvement Theories proposed by Alexander Astin and Vincent Tinto. The examination of involvement in a campus ministry and the examination of students who began their college careers at a two-year institution of higher learning represent the unique contribution of this study. Retention and academic success are challenges faced on most college campuses. The problem is especially acute on the campuses of two-year institutions. Students, parents of students, and college administrators are all seeking ways to improve retention and academic success. This sequential, mixed methods study assessed the impact of student involvement in a campus ministry, primarily Baptist Collegiate Ministry, on retention, completion and academic success. Students who began their college education on a two-year college campus and who were involved in the Baptist Campus Ministry were asked to complete a survey regarding the degree of involvement in the ministry and their academic success and subsequent college completion or departure. Follow-up interviews were conducted with select students to gain further insight into student perceptions. KEYWORDS: Academic success, Alexander Astin, Baptist Collegiate Ministry, campus ministry, community-college, completion, first-time, full-time freshman, graduation, higher education, integration, marginality, persistence, student retention, student involvement, two-year college, Vincent Tinto.

Two hundred twenty individuals participated in the present study from a university population. The study examined the relationship among attachment styles to caregivers, relationship with God, depressive symptomology, and depressive experiences. Attachment theorists have suggested a connection between childhood attachment to caregivers and current attachment to God through the idea that individuals have "working models" that form how they interpret present relationships. For the most part, the results of the current study supported the idea of correspondence between attachment to caregiver and attachment to God. Individual attachment styles to caregivers matched their attachment style to God. However, when caregiver religiousness was included as a moderating variable, results supported the theory of combined compensation-correspondence for those with insecure attachments to caregivers. Individuals with insecure attachment to caregivers were more likely to compensate for their insecure attachment bonds through participation in religious activity, whereas their internal, private relationship with God corresponded with their previous insecure attachment bonds. Individuals with insecure attachment to caregivers were more likely to endorse symptoms of depression and report introjective, but not anaclitic, depressive experiences. With respect to attachment to God, introjective depressive experiences were positively related to both anxious and avoidant attachments, whereas, anaclitic depressive experiences were positively related only to anxious attachment to God. Anxious attachment to God was found to partially mediate the relationship between insecure attachment to caregivers and depression symptoms. Finally, attachment effects were similar across gender, ethnicity, and age, with some notable exceptions.

Spirituality is a topic of growing interest for college students and scholars and yet personal accounts of spiritual development among college students remains limited. This study investigated the spiritual development of seven traditional-aged, University of the Pacific students in their senior year of course study. Interviews were conducted using an interview guide. Participants were requested through chain sampling techniques. Interviews were used to gain knowledge about the experiences students have that contribute to the ways in which they define spirituality and how those experiences affected them personally. Responses from interviews of Pacific students will be compared to Fowler's Stages of Faith and the work of Parks, Chickering and other's conclusions made regarding how students and people across generations and cultures develop a sense of meaning and purpose.

One of the most striking phenomena in the first half of the 20th century was the influx of Chinese intellectuals into America to receive Western education. Studies in the past, however, often depicted the history of American-educated Chinese students simply as the history of Chinese students returning from America. For a long time the foreign exposure and experience of the Chinese intellectuals did not draw enough attention from the academia. If we agree that one of the valuable contributions that the West can make to China was the spiritual values in Western civilization, the encounter between the intellectuals and the Christian idealism would probably be a very important issue. It is not the purpose of this research to re-write the history of American-returned students in any depth. The author would like to focus on a group of "China's American-educated youths" who has encountered modern Christianity. Although they were not all followers or baptized Christians, they adhered to the principles of Christianity as the highest standard for measuring the changing circumstances in China and in the world. / To unite the Chinese Christians in the United States, the Chinese Students' Christian Association in North America was founded in 1909 by a group of Chinese Christian students. The objective of the Association was similar to the Young Men's Christian Association. Through a case study of the Chinese Students' Christian Association in North America, the author attempts to depict the spiritual feature of the American-educated Chinese students as a single group. This dissertation argues that they intentionally chose the social gospel, which adopted the Kingdom of God as the key concept, in the quest fort he modern religious belief. By making critical assessment and judgment on the non-Christian order in the society, political arena and the internationals cene, they longed for the realization of the earthly democratic kingdom which suited to the home country and the world. Disappointed in politics, the China's American-educated youths did not turn into mere spectators. The Christian idealism made them profoundly aware of the sociopolitical realm of China and the world. This thirst for a Kingdom of God became the driving force for the continuous development of the students' Christian movement. / 梁冠霆. / Adviser: Tze-Ming Ng. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-06, Section: A, page: 2073. / Thesis (doctoral)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-167). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstracts in Chinese and English. / School code: 1307. / Liang Guanting.

This study was aimed at exploring the impact of spirituality on the well-being of students at Rhodes University in South Africa. The study was conducted within a qualitative research paradigm deploying an interpretive phenomenological analysis strategy for data analysis. The study involved a sample of four female Honours students who were all active Christians. The selected students were interviewed to elicit their experiences of spirituality and how this related to their everyday lives. The study used semi-structured interviews in order to get as much information as possible from the small sample of research participants. Data generated in this study was processed, presented and interpreted inductively and hermeneutically in order to identify emerging superordinate themes. This study found that spirituality was experienced as having a positive impact on well-being by all the four students. The study revealed that belief and faith in God amongst the students resulted in enhanced and positive experiences of hope, optimism and compassion which provided the students with a deeper sense of meaning of life and a source of direction in difficult times. The study further showed that participants experienced spirituality as a regulatory mechanism shaping their lifestyles and behaviours. Participants viewed their spirituality and religiosity as a source of social support helping them to cope with distressful situations. The findings of this study are consistent with the findings of previous studies done in the field of psychology and spirituality. The fact that this study has shown that spirituality and religion has a positive impact on student’s well-being may mean that University administrators and psychologists may find the study interesting and valuable