Study results
We’ve put together some summary presentations using the pilot data collected in the 2016-2017 academic year. These include
a general overview of our data
our findings on altruism, charity, and service
our findings on mental health
and our findings on alcohol consumption and drug use
We’ve written a number of reports using our Fall 2017 survey data, including a general overview, an analysis of the mental health data, of students religious activities and sexual activity, and a report testing the different between frequent Mass attenders and infrequent attenders, all of which you can find below.
Fall 2017 Report
Mental Health Project Report
Religious activities and sexual activity
How do frequent Mass attenders differ from infrequent attenders? (Supplement)
Students’ charitable giving and service
How congruent are students’ beliefs and behaviors?
Campus ministries
We will be summarizing our findings in a report oriented towards helping campus ministries understand the needs and characteristics of Catholic college students.
CARA report on Catholic campus ministries
In 2005, the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) found that college students who participated in campus ministries were more likely than other students to participate in a variety of religious activities. You can access the report here.
Religion in college
The First Year Out
Clydesdaile (2007) argues that the college years are a time of disengagement with religion in which students place their religion in a “lockbox” to be reopened upon graduation.
Religion on Campus
Cherry, De Berg, and Porterfield (2002) compare four universities across the US. They find that the university is a relatively safe place to be religious and most students do not adhere to traditional boundaries between religious groups.
Youth and religion
Soul Searching and Souls in Transition
Smith and Denton (2005) and Smith and Snell (2009) describe the results from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR), a nationally representative survey of US teens through their emerging adult years. The authors argue that contemporary youth religion is characterized by “moralistic, therapeutic deism,” which recognizes that God exists and wants people to be good, but who doesn’t get involved in everyday life; and that religion remains peripheral for most teens as they become emerging adults.
A Faith of One’s Own
Pearce and Denton (2011) also describe the results from the NSYR. They argue that youth shape their religious lives around dimensions of content, conduct, and centrality. Youth shift within this “mosaic” of religious possibilities as they grow and develop.
