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Spiritual Development Across the Adult Life Course: Findings from a Longitudinal Study

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Spiritual Development Across the Adult Life Course: Findings from a Longitudinal Study P1: FYJ/GDX Journal of Adult Development pp364-jade-366450 January 3, 2002 17:47 Style file version Oct. 23, 2000 Journal of Adult Development, Vol. 9, No. 1, January 2002 (C 2002) Spiritual Development Across the Adult Life Course: Findings From a Longitudinal Study Paul Wink1,3 and Michele Dillon2 Longitudinal data spanning early (30s) and older (late 60s/mid-70s) adulthood were used to study spiritual development across the adult life course in a sample of men and women be- longing to a younger (born 1928/29) and an older (born 1920/21) age cohort. All participants, irrespective of gender and cohort, increased significantly in spirituality between late middle (mid-50s/early 60s) and older adulthood. Members of the younger cohort increased in spiritu- ality throughout the adult life cycle. In the second half of adulthood, women increased more rapidly in spirituality than men. Spiritual involvement in older age was predicted by religious involvement and personality characteristics in early adulthood and subsequent experiences of negative life events. KEY WORDS: spiritual growth; life-course; social context; negative life events; cognitive commitment. INTRODUCTION or hinder spiritual growth. Finally, we will consider the relation between spirituality and recent cultural The idea that spirituality increases in the second shifts in American society. half of adult life dates back at least to Confucius (479 B.C./1979) who is alleged to have said, “at fifty Defining Spirituality I understood the Decree of Heaven” (p. 63). In this study we investigate the nature and causes of spiritual The recent expansion of interest in spirituality growth with longitudinal data that span early adult- in America (Roof, 1993) has been accompanied by hood and old age. To our knowledge, there are no scholarly attempts to offer a more precise definition quantitative longitudinal data addressing the issue of of the construct and to articulate the ways in which spiritual development in adulthood. Most of the evi- it differs from and complements religiosity. As used dence on the subject comes from the study of individ- by social researchers, religiosity generally refers to in- ual lives (e.g., Bianchi, 1987; Tornstam, 1999) and the dicators of church membership, attendance at church analysis of myths (Jung, 1964) and fairy tales (Chinen, services, and/or participation in other organized re- 1989). In reviewing the relevant literature we will first ligious activities (e.g., Hout & Greeley, 1987; Myers, briefly discuss some of the conceptual issues involved 1996; Stolzenberg, Blair-Loy, & Waite, 1995), whereas in defining spirituality. We then discuss general the- the concept of spirituality has had a much more di- ories of spiritual change in adulthood, and the spe- verse and fuzzier history (Farina, 1989; Zinnbauer cific social and personal contexts that may facilitate et al., 1997). In general, spirituality connotes the self’s existential search for ultimate meaning through an 1Department of Psychology, Wellesley College, Wellesley, individualized understanding of the sacred (Atchley, Massachusetts. 1997; Roof, 1993, 1999; Tillich, 1963). This quest tends 2 Department of Sociology,University of New Hampshire, Durham, to be relatively autonomous of institutionalized re- New Hampshire. 3To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department ligious traditions (Roof, 1993, 1999), even though, of Psychology, Wellesley College, 106 Central Street, Wellesley, in practice, of course, religiously involved individu- Massachusetts 02481; e-mail: [email protected]. als can also be spiritually engaged (Zinnbauer et al., 79 1068-0667/02/0100-0079/0 C 2002 Plenum Publishing Corporation P1: FYJ/GDX Journal of Adult Development pp364-jade-366450 January 3, 2002 17:47 Style file version Oct. 23, 2000 80 Wink and Dillon 1997). Critics denouncing the overuse of the term positive outcome of the maturation process. For have argued that spirituality is permissively invoked example, Jung (1943, 1964) argued that around to refer to a wide range of idiosyncratic personal midlife individuals typically begin to turn inward to experiences (of nature, love, exhilaration) that are explore the more spiritual aspect of the self. Prior frequently devoid of the obligations, commitments, to this stage, external constraints associated with and practices that are associated with religious in- launching a career and establishing a family tend to volvement (e.g., Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & be paramount. An overemphasis on worldly success Tipton, 1985). becomes problematic, however, with the increased In recent years, however, scholars have offered a awareness of one’s mortality that comes at midlife. more discipline-oriented definition of spirituality that The inward turn that characterizes the second half of clarifies the content and boundaries of the construct. adulthood complements, according to Jung, the outer Wuthnow (1998), for example, drawing on a long directed orientation of young adulthood in a way that tradition in religious formation (e.g., dating back to expands one’s sense of the self and thus completes the Saints Ignatius and Benedict), emphasizes a practice- process of self-realization (see Wink, 1999). oriented spirituality, one that is based on performance From a very different tradition, proponents of of intentional activities aimed at relating to the sa- postformal stages of cognitive development share cred. Similarly, Atchley (1997) argues that spirituality with Jung the idea that spirituality is the product of involves the integration of interior and exterior expe- the maturational process that occurs in the course riences through systematic practice. Practice-oriented of adult life (Alexander et al., 1990; Sinnott, 1994). spirituality thus demands a commitment, depth, and Having experienced the ambiguity and relativity of focus that is not found in the shallowness and tran- human life, middle aged and older adults tend to go sience of a more limited, seeking-oriented spirituality beyond the linear and strictly logical modes of appre- (Wuthnow, 1998). It is this practice-oriented under- hending reality described by Piaget’s model of early standing of spirituality that informs this study. In this cognitive development (e.g., Piaget & Inhelder, 1969). framing, spiritual development demands not only an The newly evolved way of viewing the world embraces increase in the depth of a person’s awareness of, and the notion of paradox and incorporates feelings and search for, spiritual meaning over time, but it also re- context as well as logic and reason in making judge- quires an expanded and deeper commitment to en- ments, a turn that is conducive to spiritual quest and gagement in actual spiritual practices. There has to yearnings. be evidence that the person works at developing and The second model of spiritual development con- nourishing their spirituality in everyday life and en- ceptualizes the connection between spirituality and gages in practices that protect the original experience older age more in terms of constraints and adversity of transcendence (Neuman, 1982). than of the growth process. Atchley (1997), for exam- Our definition of spiritual development differs ple, suggests that ageism and age discrimination push from Fowler’s concept of faith development (Fowler, many older adults to spirituality, presumably by fos- 1981) in two ways. First, although Fowler emphasizes tering disengagement and curtailing life choices. Fur- the link between higher stages of faith development ther, physical aging, while restricting one’s mobility, and greater social and ethical awareness and argues creates opportunities to experience meditation and that faith must be lived as a pattern of being in rela- contemplative silence, and thus facilitates spiritual de- tion to others and to God, he pays little attention to velopment. For reasons similar to Atchley’s, Burke actual “practices.” He instead focuses on the devel- (1999) suggests that the adverse social conditions opmental shifts in how people construct meaning in and discontinuities experienced by African Ameri- life. Second, Fowler’s definition equates faith develop- cans may explain why Black women interviewed in ment with any type of quest for meaning even if such her study tended to be more spiritual than White strivings do not involve the concept of transcendence. women. McFadden (1996a) proposes that spiritual- ity may be especially meaningful in old age because of the many losses and difficulties encountered in late General Theories of Spiritual Growth life. Obviously,the “growth” and “deficit or adversity” models of spiritual development are not mutually ex- There are two broad models of spiritual devel- clusive because a deficit may trigger growth. Access opment in the second half of adulthood. Proponents to longitudinal data, therefore, is necessary so that re- of the first model construe spiritual growth as the searchers may identify the phases in the life-course P1: FYJ/GDX Journal of Adult Development pp364-jade-366450 January 3, 2002 17:47 Style file version Oct. 23, 2000 Spirituality and Adult Life Course 81 when spirituality emerges, and pinpoint whether spir- 1995) raises the possibility that spiritual growth may itual development is advanced by specific “growth” occur as a result of broader social forces than those as- or “adverse” life-experiences in old age, or both, or is sociated with experiencing a personal crisis. Women’s nurtured by negative life-events experienced at ear- greater participation in organized
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