College students engage with religion, faith, and spirituality for a variety of reasons; however, current literature exploring these motivations is limited. We utilized a constructivist, qualitative, phenomenological design and surveyed 201 students to understand their motivations for pursuing faith, religion, or spirituality. Of those surveyed, 124 respondents provided 163 thought units to produce 6 emergent themes as motivators of engagement. We provide definitions of each theme and make recommendations for higher-education professionals.
Betts, M., Grabsch, D.K., Davis, V.D., Bell, L., & Sheedy, F.A. (2022). Exploring the motivations of students to engage in their spiritual, religious, or faith lives in college. Journal of Beliefs & Values. 44(3), 441-454. https://doi.org/10.1080/13617672.2022.2147684
Dustin K. Grabsch, Ph.D. 