The Fuller Youth Institute’s College Transition Project is comprised of four separate research initiatives: an initial quantitative pilot study involving sixty-nine youth group graduates; two three-year longitudinal (primarily quantitative) studies of high school seniors during their first three years in college, involving 162 and 227 students respectively; and qualitative interviews with forty-five former youth group graduates between two and four years beyond high school graduation.
In 2004, the Fuller Youth Institute (FYI, at that time the Center for Youth and Family Ministry) initiated a pilot research study called the College Transition Project (CTP), surveying a group of sixty-nine college students who were alumni of a single youth group in the Northwest. The preliminary results suggested a link between a college student’s current spiritual state and the quality of key relationships during the high school years, including the youth group environment itself. As a result, in 2005 – 06 FYI launched a broader study, recruiting students involved in church youth groups during the spring of their high school senior year. To participate in the survey, students were required to be over eighteen years of age, be part of a church youth group, and intend to attend a college or university upon graduation. Students were recruited through FYI’s nationwide network of youth leader contacts, resulting in a sample of 162 students who were surveyed four times over three years. Thirty of these students participated in subsequent one-hour interviews during their fourth year out of high school.
In 2006 – 07, made possible by funding from the Lilly Endowment, FYI launched another nationwide longitudinal study of high school seniors connected to church youth groups to examine their experiences at five points: the spring of their senior year in high school (2007), the fall and spring of their first year in college (2007 and 2008), the spring of their second year in college (2009), and the spring of their third year in college (2010). The primary goal of the study was to determine whether there are programmatic and relational characteristics of high school youth ministries and churches that have a demonstrable relationship to how students make the faith adjustment to life beyond high school.
The sample for this longitudinal study launched in 2007 consisted of 227 high school seniors drawn from different regions across the United States. More than half (56.3%) of the respondents were female while 43.7% were male. The sample was predominantly white/Caucasian (78.0%). Asian/Asian American students comprised 11.0 percent of the sample, while Hispanic/Latino students accounted for 5.0 percent. African-American and Native American students each accounted for 1.4 percent of the sample. Participants reported a median grade point average of 3.5 to 3.99, with 63 percent of the sample having GPAs above 3.5. Given that 88 percent of seniors who apply to college have a GPA over 3.0, our sample represents a high-achieving group.1 The majority of the participants came from larger churches. The median youth group size was 51 to 100 students, while the median church size was reported to be over 800 members.
Participants were mostly from intact families, with 83.8 percent reporting that they lived with both their father and mother; another 4.1 percent lived with a parent and stepparent. Overall, the parents of the participants were well educated. More than two-thirds (69.7%) of the mothers held at least a college degree; this figure was nearly three-quarters for the fathers (73.0%). By far the majority of the fathers (88.2%) of the participants were employed full-time, while fewer than half of the mothers were (42.5%).
From October 2006 to February 2007, members of the research team who had developed networks in four geographical regions of the United States (the Southwest, the Northwest, the Southeast, and the Northeast) identified churches representing size, denominational, socioeconomic, and ethnic diversity. For this study, only churches employing full-time youth pastors were recruited. From March to June 2007, the youth ministry staff of each participating church was asked to invite senior students involved in their youth ministries to participate in the study. As with the previous study, students were eligible only if they were eighteen years old or over and intended to attend a college upon graduation.
Students who agreed to participate in the study could do so in one of three ways: they could complete a paper-and-pencil version of the survey together (facilitated either by their youth pastor or a member of the FYI research team), they could complete a paper version of the survey individually at a time and place convenient to them, or they could complete an online version of the survey. In addition to the survey, each student was required to complete a consent form assuring confidentiality. Signed consent forms also contained an identification code that was unique to each individual, as well as contact information (i.e., an email address and a physical address) in order to track each student for future waves of data collection. All future data collection was done via online surveys.
Five measures of faith development were employed to create a composite picture of both internalized and externalized faith commitments and behaviors. For four of the measures, participants were asked to rate their agreement on a five-point scale, ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). The Intrinsic Religious Motivation Scale2 is comprised of ten items measuring the extent to which an individual’s religiosity is not simply external and behavioral but internalized in terms of one’s values and motivations. Sample items include “My faith involves all of my life” and “I try hard to carry my religion over into all my other dealings in life.” A similar measure, the Narrative Faith Relevance Scale,3 assesses the extent to which one’s decisions are influenced by the sense of having a relationship with God. Sample items include “If and when I date someone, it is (or would be) important to me that God be pleased with the relationship” and “In choosing what college to attend, it was important to me to seek God’s will.” The third measure is the seventeen-item short form of the Search Institute’s Faith Maturity Scale,4 including items like “My faith shapes how I think and act each and every day” and “My life is committed to Jesus Christ.” And the fourth is the Religious Support Scale,5 assessing the extent to which participants feel supported and nurtured by God. Using social support items, the scale incorporates indicators such as “I am valued by God.”
The fifth measure is a measure of religious behavior created for the CTP pilot. Ten items assess the frequency of engagement in a variety of corporate and individual behaviors, including such items as “pray alone,” “read the Bible by yourself,” and “attend a worship service or church-related event with your parents.” Responses are given on a six-point scale, ranging from less than once a month (1) to once a day or more (6).
Three sets of items were created from qualitative data from earlier stages of the project in order to assess students’ participation in and attitudes toward their youth group experience. First, students were asked about the frequency of participation over the past two months or the past year in eight items, including activities like retreats, mission trips, and midweek youth group. Second, participants were presented with twenty-two statements representing why students go to youth group, including “It’s where my friends are” and “I learn about God there.” Students were asked to rate how true each statement was for them using a five-point scale ranging from not true at all (1) to completely true (5). Third, students were asked what they would want to see more or less of in their youth group. Thirteen items were presented, such as “one-on-one time with leaders” and “mission trips.” Participants responded on a five-point scale ranging from much less (1) to much more (5).
In addition to these faith and youth ministry measures, other scales and questions were added related to perceived social support, parental support, support within the youth ministry, loneliness, extraversion, social desirability (as a control factor), and risk behaviors (sexual contact, alcohol use, and pornography use). Subsequent waves of data collection have included most of these same measures (particularly faith measures), in addition to scales and questions related to religious behaviors in college, the college spiritual environment, adjustment to college, doubts about faith, parental and other adult contact in college, parental faith discussions, preparation for decision making, and college participation in church and campus ministry.
The following are some of the spirituality instruments and their corresponding items.
1. My faith involves all of my life.
2. One should seek God’s guidance when making every important decision.
3. It doesn’t matter so much what I believe as long as I live a moral life.
4. In my life, I experience the presence of the Divine.
5. My faith sometimes restricts my actions.
6. Although I am a religious person, I refuse to let religious considerations influence my everyday affairs.
7. Nothing is as important to me as serving God as best I know how.
8. Although I believe in my religion, I feel there are many more important things in life.
9. I try hard to carry my religion over into all my other dealings in life.
10. My religious beliefs are what really lie behind my whole approach to life.6
1. It is important to me that my future career somehow embody a calling from God.
2. I try to see setbacks and crises as part of God’s larger plan.
3. If and when I date someone, it is (or would be) important to me that God be pleased with the relationship.
4. In thinking about my schedule, I try to cultivate the attitude that my time belongs to God.
5. It is important to me that whatever money I have be used to serve God’s purposes.
6. In choosing what college to attend, it is important to me to seek God’s will.
7. When I think of the things I own or would like to own, I try to remember that everything I have belongs to God.7
1. I experience a deep communion with God.
2. My faith shapes how I think and act each and every day.
3. I help others with their religious questions and struggles.
4. My faith helps me know right from wrong.
5. I devote time to reading and studying the Bible.
6. Every day I see evidence that God is active in the world.
7. I seek out opportunities to help me grow spiritually.
8. I take time for periods of prayer or meditation.
9. I feel God’s presence in my relationships with other people.
10. My life is filled with meaning and purpose.
11. I try to apply my faith to political and social issues.
12. My life is committed to Jesus Christ.
13. I go out of my way to show love to people I meet.
14. I have a real sense that God is guiding me.
15. I like to worship and pray with others.
16. I think Christians must be about the business of creating international understanding and harmony.
17. I am spiritually moved by the beauty of God’s creation.8.
1. God gives me the sense that I belong.
2. I feel appreciated by God.
3. If something went wrong, God would give me help.
4. I am valued by God.
5. I can turn to God for advice when I have problems.
6. God cares about my life and situation.
7. I do not feel close to God.9
For the following eight items, please tell us how often you engaged in each of the behaviors listed, during the past twelve months: Less than once a month, About once a month, Two to three times a month, About once a week, Two to three times a week, Daily.
How often did you:
1. talk with another Christian about your faith, outside of a church-related context?
2. pray alone?
3. attend a worship service or church-related event?
4. speak or try to speak with a non-Christian about your faith?
5. volunteer your time to serve others?
6. participate in a small group of your peers for religious or spiritual purposes?
7. read your Bible by yourself?
8. meet with a spiritual mentor (other than your parents)?
How often did you:
1. talk with another Christian about your faith, outside of a church-related context?
2. participate in an on-campus Christian fellowship?
3. pray alone?
4. attend a worship service or other event at a church off-campus?
5. speak or try to speak with a non-Christian about your faith?
6. volunteer your time to serve others?
7. participate in a small group of your peers for religious or spiritual purposes?
8. read your Bible by yourself?
9. attend a school-sponsored chapel?
10. meet with an older Christian for spiritual growth, mentoring, or discipleship?
11. participate in service or justice work that helps people in need?