Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
2021
Abstract
Social science research has historically posited an inverse relationship between higher education levels and spirituality, but recent research has nuanced this assumption. Faith formation is a celebrated part of Christian higher education in particular, and graduate programs have grown among Protestant Christian institutions in recent years. However, little research addresses graduate student perceptions of the spiritual quality of their experience. This study asks what program-level features correlate with a high-quality spiritual experience for graduate students studying in a Protestant Christian context. Using data collected between 2014-2020 from 3,274 graduate students at a private, not-for-profit Christian university, we find that students in research doctorate programs are less likely to indicate a high-quality spiritual experience than those in masters or professional programs. We also find that student collaboration, job advice, and an opportunity to take outside coursework all correlate positively with a high-quality spiritual experience. The implications of these findings are reviewed.
Recommended Citation
Allen, Daniel, "Embodying Integration: A Sociological Study of Graduate Student Religiosity in Christian Higher Education" (2021). Faculty Scholarship – Sociology. 4.
https://digitalcommons.olivet.edu/soci_facp/4
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
These slides accompanied a paper presented, part of dissertation process, at the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Portland, OR in Fall, 2021.