The purpose of the study was to determine whether Southern Baptist students attending denominational liberal arts colleges hold different religious values than Southern Baptist students attending private, nondenominational liberal arts institutions. / An adaptation of Allport, Gillespie, and Young's Religious Attitude Inventory, the religious Values Inventory (RVI), was administered to 875 Baptist students enrolled at selected denominational and nondenominational liberal arts colleges in the Southeast United States. After elimination of invalid responses, 509 Southern Baptist students were included in the investigation. / Differences in religious background, religious beliefs, participation in religious activities, interest in religious affairs, and institutional influences were examined in the form of nine hypotheses. The hypotheses were created at the .05 significance level by the Chi-square statistical test. A descriptive analysis of selected RVI questions was also conducted with respect to the behavioral characteristics of Southern Baptist students as a whole. / The results showed that, during upbringing, Southern Baptist students in denominational colleges are more strongly influenced by their religion than nondenominational students. Additionally, the denominational students were more likely to prefer rearing their children in their own religion than were nondenominational students. / With respect to beliefs, denominational students were less likely to view the church as harmful than were nondenominational students. No significant differences were observed with respect to God, Jesus, and immortality. Denominational students were found to pray and attend worship services more frequently than nondenominational students, while displaying a greater interest in religious issues and placing greater importance on their own religion. / Finally, irrespective of institution attended, the collegiate experience was found to strengthen the religious values of Southern Baptist students, more so among those enrolled in denominational colleges. The importance attached to religion since entering college also increased in a similar manner. / The overall findings suggest that Southern Baptist college students enrolled at private liberal arts institutions in the Southeast United States are strongly influenced by their religious upbringing, are firmly committed to their religious beliefs, are active participants in religious activities, and maintain a high degree of interest in issues, religious affairs, and their religion in general. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 42-06, Section: A, page: 2529. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1981.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74539 |
| Contributors | RIFKIN, PAUL GRANT., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 178 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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