Survey: America's College Freshmen on a Spiritual Quest
by Jim Brown and Jody Brown
April 15, 2005
(AgapePress) - A new national survey finds that young college students are in a serious search for deeper meaning and purpose in their lives. According to the study, more than three-fourths of those students believe their religious spiritual beliefs provide them with strength, support, and guidance.
The nationwide survey of freshmen who started college last fall was conducted by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, and polled more than 112,000 freshmen attending 236 colleges and universities. The study, titled "Spirituality in Higher Education: A National Study of College Students' Search for Meaning and Purpose," found that 80 percent of those first-year students believe in God, and 83 percent believe life is sacred.
Three-fourths of those surveyed say they are searching for meaning or purpose in life and would like their schools to help them explore such questions. But the survey's authors told Associated Press that past studies have found that older college students are disappointed with how infrequently they have been challenged to think about "meaning of life" issues in class.
Other findings of interest include the disparity of opinion on social issues among students with varying levels of what the study describes as "religious engagement." For example, while 77 percent of those with a low level of religious engagement support legalized abortion, only 23 percent of those with substantial religious engagement support it. Fully two-thirds of students with limited religious involvement feel casual sex is acceptable, but only 15 percent of the "high level" students agree. And while three-fourths (76%) of the low-level students support the concept of homosexual "marriage," just more than one-fourth (28%) of those with a high level of religious engagement support the idea.
About one-fourth of those surveyed described themselves as born-again Christians.
Researcher Expresses Optimism
Psychologist and lead researcher Helen S. Astin says in the past, scholars, researchers, and commentators have spoken of today's youth as materialistic, focused on themselves, and very apprehensive about the future. But this study, she says, has helped her see college students in a new and different light.
"Four in five students believe in the sacredness and about the same number report a strong interest in spirituality," she says. "More than three fourths are searching for purpose and meaning in life, and six in ten tell us that their spirituality is a source of joy for them."
In addition, well over two-thirds report that they pray. Astins says their prayers are for loved ones, to express gratitude for forgiveness, and for help in solving problems. College students today, she says, are indeed on a spiritual quest.
"There are looking inwardly, and they are searching for ways to cultivate their inner self," she says those students. "They are compassionate, and they are caring -- they care about others, about their communities, and about the world at large. It is indeed a very interesting generation of college students."
Astin believes the study has helped her to develop a new appreciation of this generation and has increased her respect, as well as caring, for college students today.
Questions in the survey addressed 11 broad areas, including spiritual well being, religious/spiritual practices and behaviors, attitudes towards religion and spirituality, and compassionate behavior. George Gallup, Jr., of the George H. Gallup International Institute calls the report a "breakthrough" and "much needed" study because college students are the "leadership of the future and will set the moral tone of society in the years ahead."
Funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the UCLA study is part of a multi-year project examining how college students think of spirituality, its role in their lives, and how postsecondary institutions can better facilitate students' spiritual development.
