LOS ANGELES — Most college students value spirituality or religion in their personal lives but many find that their professors and schools do little, if anything, to encourage their interest, a new University of California, Los Angeles study says.
The national study, based on a survey of 3,680 students at 46 colleges and universities, found that 73 percent of those polled say their religious or spiritual beliefs helped develop their identity. In addition, 77 percent say they pray and 71 percent indicate they find religion to be helpful.
At the same time, 62 percent report that their professors never encourage discussion of religious or spiritual issues, and 53 percent say the classroom has had no impact on their religious or spiritual beliefs.
"The survey shows that students have deeply felt values and interests in spirituality and religion, but their academic work and campus programs seem to be divorced from it," said Alexander W. Astin, director of UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute and one of the co-authors of the study.
"It’s completely understandable … to keep religion and academic study separate," Astin added. "But spirituality is a much more generic concept that, for many students, doesn’t necessarily mean religion, and all students are on some kind of a spiritual developmental path. We can do a lot more to assist them."
The study also compared changes in the outlooks of the polled students from their freshman year to their junior year. One of the most dramatic changes was the drop-off in attendance at religious services: 52 percent reported attending religious services frequently the year before they entered college, but only 29 percent said they did the same by their junior year.
Still, the percentage of students who say it is "very important" or "essential" to integrate spirituality into their lives climbed from 51 percent in the 2000 poll to 58 percent this year. Over the same period, the percentages of students who consider it very important or essential to develop a meaningful philosophy of life climbed from 43 percent to 52 percent, while those believing it is very important or essential to help others who are in difficulty rose from 60 percent to 74 percent.
The new report is the first product of a long-term research project called "Spirituality in Higher Education: A National Study of College Students’ Search for Meaning and Purpose," being conducted by UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute. The aim is to track the spiritual growth of students during their college years and to use the findings to encourage schools to foster students’ spiritual interests and personal development.
"The longer-term interest here is in helping people become more engaged citizens, more responsible parents, better neighbors," Astin said.
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