The present investigation was designed to explore the relationship between authoritarianism, rigidity, political-economic conservatism and theological beliefs of two groups of students representing two nationally known theological seminaries. One seminary is noted for its conservative theological standing, the other for its liberal position.

Suicide is a national problem and is the second leading cause of death among college students. The concern, however, does not rest solely for those students who seriously consider suicide, but also for those who struggle with distress and do not seek help. Scholars have called for suicide prevention efforts to take a population-based intervention approach, as the majority of campus counseling centers are under-resourced and overwhelmed with demand. Increasing connectedness on college campuses has been considered a key strategy for suicide prevention, as connectedness is linked to health and wellbeing and is also theorized to play an important role in preventing the desire for death. However, little is known about how connectedness manifests for college students and the ways in which connectedness is related to distress and suicidal thoughts. The current exploratory study builds upon existing research by examining the relationship between connectedness, distress, and suicidal thinking. More specifically, the study examines the extent to which connectedness protects students against the development of distress and suicidal thoughts. Moreover, it examines the relationship between gender, sexual orientation, and membership in student groups with connectedness, distress, and suicidal thoughts. This information contributes to a fuller understanding of the factors that may protect people from suicidal thoughts and improve campus suicide prevention efforts, with the aim of bolstering the mental health of the college community. The study uses archival data from a national survey of college student coping collected in 2011 by The National Research Consortium of Counseling Centers in Higher Education. Multiple and logistic regression were used to explore relationships between historical and demographic predictors, self-reported connectedness, distress, and suicidal thoughts during a stressful period. Results indicated that connectedness was negatively related to distress and suicidal thinking. Females endorsed lower connectedness and higher distress than males. Non-heterosexual students endorsed lower connectedness, higher distress, and higher odds of suicidal thinking compared to heterosexual students. Membership in student groups was related to higher connectedness and lower distress, differences were found in the types of groups of which students were members. Implications for population level campus interventions are discussed. / text

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Abstract This thesis makes a novel and original contribution to the discourse surrounding engineering education, and how it can be made more accessible to underrepresented groups. The study includes two contexts representing two different perspectives. Two studies are conducted, one examines upper secondary school pupils’ views of engineering students and the other the societal and cultural production of the engineering student in a recruitment campaign for KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Few earlier studies have examined the messages communicated in initiatives aiming to increase and broaden the recruitment of underrepresented groups to technical universities. Still, many initiatives sharing this goal are initialised in Sweden. The theoretical framework applied by discourse analysis and governmentality analysis enables a critical examination of the discursive framework surrounding the engineering student. The thesis concludes that there is a power struggle between a discourse of a contemporary technologist and a traditional technologist and that this position is exclusively but only for the most advanced engineering students, excluding BSc students as communicated by a KTH recruitment campaign. / Moderna samhällen förutsätter att människor är ansvariga för att göra val av olika slag, till exempel av utbildning och yrke. Dessutom förväntas yrkesvalet överensstämma med individens självuppfattning. Det finns ett stort engagemang i Sverige och globalt för att öka och bredda rekryteringen till tekniska utbildningar som leder till yrken inom teknik och naturvetenskap. Detta är synligt i den stora mängd av initiativ som görs med syfte att öka ungas intresse för utbildningar av detta slag. Ungas intresse för teknikintensiva utbildningar är ett väl utforskat område. Detta är däremot inte budskap som kommuniceras med syfte att öka och bredda rekryteringen till teknisk intensiva utbildningar.  Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka det diskursiva ramverket som definierar subjektet ingenjörsstudenten i en rekryteringskontext i Sverige. Det teoretiska och metodmässiga tillvägagångsättet är inspirerat av diskursanalys och governmentalitetsstudier. Detta perspektiv förser analysen med en kritisk blick vilket resulterat i ett intressant bidrag till forskningen om diskursen som omger ingenjörsutbildningens tillgängliggörande för underrepresenterade studentgrupper. Uppsatsen består av en sammanhållande kappa och två artiklar som beskriver två olika studier och perspektiv. Den första studien undersöker gymnasieungdomars uppfattningar om ingenjörsutbildningar och ingenjörsstudien. Det metodmässiga tillvägagångsättet kombinerar klassrumsstudier gjorda med hjälp av mindmapping-tekniker och diskursanalys på ett unikt sätt. I den andra studien analyseras de budskap som kommuniceras i en rekryteringskampanj för KTH. I den sammanhållande kappan analyseras det samlade resultatet av studierna. Denna analys visar att det pågår en diskursiv kamp mellan en diskurs av traditionell karaktär och en av nutida karaktär. Den traditionella som lyfts fram av gymnasieeleverna bygger på ett reduktionistiskt förhållningsätt och traditionella värden som personlig framgång (ekonomisk framgång och social status). Den nutida som lyfts fram i kampanjen i bygger på ett holistiskt förhållningsätt och vikten av att bidra till en gynnsam samhällsutvecklingen för alla. I teorin bjuder den nutida in nya studentgrupper i högre grad än den traditionella. Intressant nog sker inte detta i kampanjen, vilket beror på att endast de mest avancerade grundstudenterna, civilingenjörsstudenter som studerar på det äldsta av KTH:s campus, representeras i kampanjen. Detta får till följd att den breddning som sker endast är gällande för en liten skara individer  Uppsatsens viktigaste bidrag är insikter om diskursen som omger ingenjörsutbildningen, som trots försök till breddning verkar exkluderande för många presumtiva studenter. Vidare är det teoretiska och metodmässiga tillvägagångsättet ett intressant bidrag till forskning och en breddad rekrytering till tekniska lärosäten.

German text / In dieser Forschungsarbeit wird die Glaubenspraxis von Studierenden empirisch-theologisch auf Aspekte von Mission untersucht um heraus zu finden, inwiefern ein Zusammenhang zwischen gelebter Jüngerschaft und dem subjektiven, laientheologischen Verständnis von Mission besteht. Dazu wurden mittels qualitativer Interviews Studierende aus den drei christlichen Hochschulgruppen Bambergs (Studentenmission Deutschland, Evangelischen Studierendengemeinde und Katholischen Hochschulgemeinde) zu ihrer Glaubenspraxis und ihrem Glaubensverständnis befragt. Auf Basis der Grounded Theory wurden die Daten ausgewertet, in verschiedene Dimensionen des Glaubens eingeordnet und vor dem Hintergrund missionstheologischer Aspekte eines ganzheitlichen Verständnisses von Mission interpretiert. Auf dieser Grundlage konnten Schlussfolgerungen zum laientheologischen Verständnis von Mission bei christlichen Studierenden gezogen werden. Diese empirisch-theologische Arbeit zielt darauf, den Diskurs über ganzheitliche Mission im studentischen Kontext anzuregen, sowie konkrete Hilfestellungen zur Überwindung der Diskrepanz zwischen wissenschaftlicher und Laientheologie im studentischen Kontext bzw. der Arbeit in den Hochschulgruppen zu erarbeiten. / In this research study, the faith praxis of students is examined according to empiricaltheological principles for aspects of mission in order to ascertain potential connections between discipliship in practice and the subjective, lay theological understanding of mission. For this purpose, students from the three Christian groups at Bamberg University, the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Germany (Studentenmission Deutschland), and the Evangelical and Catholic student communities (Evangelische Studierendengemeinde and Katholische Hochschulgemeinde), were asked to participate in qualitative interviews about their faith praxis and their understanding of the faith. The data collected were evaluated using Grounded Theory, classified into diverse categories of faith dimensions and interpreted with a view towards a wholistic understanding of mission incorporating mission theology. On this basis, conclusions about the lay theological understanding of mission among Christian students could be drawn. This empirical-theological study aims to stimulate the debate about wholistic mission within the context of students, as well as develop guidelines to overcome the discrepancy between academic and lay theology and between the ministry of respective student groups / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)

Text in German, abstract in German and English / In dieser Forschungsarbeit wird die Glaubenspraxis von Studierenden empirisch-theologisch auf Aspekte von Mission untersucht um heraus zu finden, inwiefern ein Zusammenhang zwischen gelebter Jüngerschaft und dem subjektiven, laientheologischen Verständnis von Mission besteht. Dazu wurden mittels qualitativer Interviews Studierende aus den drei christlichen Hochschulgruppen Bambergs (Studentenmission Deutschland, Evangelischen Studierendengemeinde und Katholischen Hochschulgemeinde) zu ihrer Glaubenspraxis und ihrem Glaubensverständnis befragt. Auf Basis der Grounded Theory wurden die Daten ausgewertet, in verschiedene Dimensionen des Glaubens eingeordnet und vor dem Hintergrund missionstheologischer Aspekte eines ganzheitlichen Verständnisses von Mission interpretiert. Auf dieser Grundlage konnten Schlussfolgerungen zum laientheologischen Verständnis von Mission bei christlichen Studierenden gezogen werden. Diese empirisch-theologische Arbeit zielt darauf, den Diskurs über ganzheitliche Mission im studentischen Kontext anzuregen, sowie konkrete Hilfestellungen zur Überwindung der Diskrepanz zwischen wissenschaftlicher und Laientheologie im studentischen Kontext bzw. der Arbeit in den Hochschulgruppen zu erarbeiten. / In this research study, the faith praxis of students is examined according to empiricaltheological principles for aspects of mission in order to ascertain potential connections between discipliship in practice and the subjective, lay theological understanding of mission. For this purpose, students from the three Christian groups at Bamberg University, the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students in Germany (Studentenmission Deutschland), and the Evangelical and Catholic student communities (Evangelische Studierendengemeinde and Katholische Hochschulgemeinde), were asked to participate in qualitative interviews about their faith praxis and their understanding of the faith. The data collected were evaluated using Grounded Theory, classified into diverse categories of faith dimensions and interpreted with a view towards a wholistic understanding of mission incorporating mission theology. On this basis, conclusions about the lay theological understanding of mission among Christian students could be drawn. This empirical-theological study aims to stimulate the debate about wholistic mission within the context of students, as well as develop guidelines to overcome the discrepancy between academic and lay theology and between the ministry of respective student groups / Christian Spirituality, Church History and Missiology / M. Th. (Missiology)