Students’ spiritual interests increase on campus

Students’ spiritual interests increase on campus

LOS ANGELES — Though college students’ attendance at worship services declines, their interest in spiritual matters grows during their time on campus, a new study from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), shows.

UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute compared the views of students who were freshmen in the fall of 2004 with the same students’ thoughts in the spring of 2007, when they were juniors.

The survey of more than 14,000 students found that more than 50 percent of students considered “integrating spirituality into my life” very important or essential in 2007, an increase of almost 10 percentage points from 2004.
Likewise more students thought “developing a meaningful philosophy of life” was essential or very important.
While their spiritual interests increased, their worship attendance did not.

Slightly more than half the students said they attended services in college at about the same rate as they attended them in high school.

Almost 40 percent, however, said they worshipped less frequently. Seven percent said they worshipped more.
The research included 14,527 students attending 136 U.S. colleges and universities. Its margin of error is between 1 and 2 percentage points.

The project, which is in its fifth year, is funded by the John Templeton Foundation.