Despite recent scholarly interest in college students' spirituality and spiritual development, as well as research indicating that students are interested in spirituality and have a strong desire to integrate spirituality into their lives, few researchers have addressed the spiritual experiences of gay and lesbian college students. Utilizing a phenomenological qualitative approach, I explored the spiritual experiences of nine gay and lesbian college students at two religiously affiliated universities in the southwest region of the United States. The ages of the participants ranged from 19 to 23, with a mean of 21. There were five female, three male, and one gender queer participants. Seven participants identified as white, while the other two participants identified as Hispanic. I identified three major themes related to their lived experience of spirituality: (1) spiritual quest characterized by struggle and pain, (2) finding reconciliation and acceptance, and (3) the importance of support from the university, student groups, friends, and family. Implications for practice included the importance of establishing an official recognized student organization to support gay and lesbian students, creating spaces for personal reflection, meditation, prayer, and solitude as well as safe spaces, the need for educational and outreach programs for faculty, staff, and students, and an evaluation of institutional policies the might negatively impact gay and lesbian students. Suggestions for future research are discussed including the exploration of the impact that faculty members have on students' spiritual growth.

Why do Christian college students participate, or not, in local churches while they attend Christian colleges? This study was designed to investigate and help answer this question through an analysis of selected factors that influence evangelical college students' intensity of involvement in local churches during their college years. Because most Christian liberal arts colleges and evangelical Christian churches share the common mission of assisting in students' spiritual development, this study was designed to help these institutions in understanding the declining participation of students in local churches, according to most current research. Since one might assume that more students who attend evangelical Christian colleges would participate in local churches, the current research focused on full-time undergraduate students attending Christian College Consortium-member schools. Several independent variables were selected and analyzed to determine if they made a significant impact upon the student's intensity of involvement. Data was gathered electronically using the Local Church Involvement Survey (LCIS), an on-line instrument created by the researcher for this study. Besides standard demographic variables, other independent variables studied included: student friendships, student relationships with ministry leaders, student leadership in church and college ministries, student opportunity for intergenerational involvement, student opportunities for ministry in church and college settings, and student perceptions of church and college commitment to students' spiritual development. Data from 1025 surveys revealed a participation rate much higher than national averages, according to precedent literature. Nearly all of the independent variables and demographic variables studied made a statistically significant impact upon students' intensity of involvement in local churches, the exceptions being gender, classification in school, college opportunities for ministry, and housing situation. The strongest positive correlations existed between intensity of involvement and opportunity for student leadership, the student's perception that the local church genuinely cares for their spiritual growth, and the church's offering of significant ministry opportunities. The standard deviation between the LCIS scores was large and the mean and median scores were somewhat modest. / 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.

This purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between religious beliefs, religious affiliation, religious orientation, as defined by Allport and Ross (1967) and help-seeking behaviour amongst students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus. The need for this research has been motivated by the limited amount of previous research in this area. The influence of gender on help-seeking behaviour and on religious orientation was also explored. Questionnaires comprising of the Religious Orientation Scale, General Help-seeking questionnaire and demographic information in terms of age, gender and religious affiliation were administered to students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg campus. The sample consisted of 100 students from various religions, language, sexual orientation, age. The results revealed a significant difference between religious beliefs and religious orientation on help-seeking behaviour. In terms of demographic variables, gender had influence on religious orientation or help-seeking behaviour, respectively. However, religious affiliation had no influence on help-seeking behaviour. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2011.

This study explored how various intrapersonal, familial, and life-goal characteristics related to the academic and personal success of first semester early college entrants attending the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science (TAMS) at the University of North Texas. The study sought to identify which intrapersonal factors and external factors affected grades, behavioral markers, and life satisfaction during the students' first semester at TAMS. Baseline data from TAMS entrance material such as standardized achievement test scores, previous grade point averages (GPA's), advanced courses taken, and other academic activities and awards were collected. Data were also collected from the students prior to their entry to the start of TAMS related to family cohesiveness, motivation, and career goals. Data from parents were gathered prior to the start of TAMS regarding parenting styles, demographics, parents' educational levels, careers, and income levels, as well as the child's homework, extracurricular activities, and other time demands. First semester grades, a measure of life satisfaction since the program began, and behavior reports from staff members were used as outcome/success indicators. These additional data were used to examine the relationship between success and familial/interpersonal/life goal factors.

Building on social psychological theories of identity, social networks, and religion, I developed and empirically tested a social network framework of civic and religious identity development among Muslim adolescents. In Chapter 2, I explore the social networks of Muslim high school students in the classroom in four European countries, finding that Muslim adolescents’ network centrality in the classroom erodes over time, which has an impact on academic outcomes. In Chapter 3, I explore social relationships in an identity-boosting after-school program to understand how Muslim adolescents develop their social connections with other Muslim peers. I found that participation in the event has an overall main effect of increasing civic intentions, enhancing affiliation and communion language, and developing a larger trust radius in a network of other Muslims. I also determined that Muslim girls and boys experience civic engagement differentially and discovered that meta stereotypes about their religious identity and centrality within a civic social network predict greater civic outcomes among Muslim girls. In Chapter 4, I build on the findings from Chapters 2 and 3 to develop a social network framework of religious and civic identity development among Muslim adolescents. In Chapter 5, I take a broader look at existing literature within social psychology studying Muslim populations through a content analysis. I conclude with a discussion of the implications of this work for social and cultural psychology, network science, and intervention science.

Many studies have been made on leaders in a school situation and on the desirable traits which go together to make for good leadership qualities. However, very few have dealt with the relationship between leaders, church affiliation, and religious beliefs, which is the main purpose of this study.

This study explored how students utilized spirituality as an effective coping mechanism for the stress they faced while in the Master's of Social Work program at California State University, San Bernardino. A stress and spirituality scale was used to measure each student's spirituality and perceived stress. Most students stated that spirituality and religious activity was helpful in coping with the stress of the MSW program. In addition, spirituality was found to have a strong positive impact on a person's abilities to cope with the stress of the program.

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This qualitative study investigated the attitudes and perceptions of the role of Residence Life Professionals in attending to the spiritual needs of undergraduate college students at Ball State University. This study examined how undergraduate college students view the role of Residence Life Professionals in attending to spiritual needs. The results of this study have particular significance for those who are responsible for the well being of college students on a daily basis and benefit the Residence Life system by allowing a better understanding of where Professionals and students stand on this issue. This in turn will help Residence Life Professionals and students establish realistic expectations of each other in the spiritual arena. The researcher conducted 12 interviews with undergraduate student at Ball State University and analyzed the data by coding themes. / Department of Secondary, Higher, and Foundations of Education