Faith in Transition: a Phenomenological Study of Christian

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FAITH IN TRANSITION: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF CHRISTIAN

COLLEGE STUDENT LEADERS’ FAITH EXPERIENCES AFTER GRADUATION

Dissertation

Submitted to

The School of Education and Health Sciences of the

UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership

Robert Thomas Lutz

UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON

Dayton, Ohio

December 2019 FAITH IN TRANSITION: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF CHRISTIAN

COLLEGE STUDENT LEADERS’ FAITH EXPERIENCES AFTER GRADUATION

Name: Lutz, Robert Thomas

APPROVED BY:

Michele M. Welkener, Ph.D. Committee Chair

Jason Combs, Ph.D. Committee Member

Alan Demmitt, Ph.D. Committee Member

Charles J. Russo, J.D., Ed.D. Committee Member

Robert Thomas Lutz

2019

iii ABSTRACT

FAITH IN TRANSITION: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY OF CHRISTIAN

COLLEGE STUDENT LEADERS’ FAITH EXPERIENCES AFTER GRADUATION

Name: Lutz, Robert Thomas University of Dayton

Advisor: Dr. Michele M. Welkener

Understanding how individuals make meaning of their faith has been researched for generations, with some important studies (Fowler 1981; Parks, 2011) delineating how such individuals construct and develop their faith over a lifetime. Likewise, a great deal of studies have explored how college students approach faith (Astin, Astin, & Lindholm,

2011; Chickering, Dalton & Stamm, 2006), and how universities can support such exploration. However, little research has been completed to investigate how students transition from college experience to adult life (Fox, 2011), and no research to date explores how students make meaning of their faith in the post-college transition. To fill that gap, this dissertation presents a qualitative, phenomenological study aimed at providing insight into how recent college student leader graduates of a Christian institution make meaning of personal faith during the post-graduation transition.

To better understand how these Christian college student leaders constructed their faith after college, the researcher employed one-on-one interviews, using the general interview guide approach (Patton, 2002), and a pre-interview questionnaire from 15 recent graduates from a religiously affiliated, liberal arts university in the Midwest.

iv Participants provided rich descriptions of their current faith through personally chosen words and metaphors. They expressed a desire to build supports for their faith in the midst of transition by creating a place for their faith to be integrated in their new life experiences, seeking opportunities to practice their faith, and building connections to people who helped and challenged their faith. Finally, they detailed the faith challenges they faced as a result of transition out of university life.

Through analysis of faith descriptions, the findings of the study revealed that the transition fostered reflection on the meaning of participants’ faith, and the supports and challenges of their faith both in college and in the midst of transition. The participants in this study also expressed a desire to reflect on the construct of their faith while maintaining their beliefs, or faith content. These recent graduates were also focused on building supports for their faith which would help them navigate challenges they faced in their transition and future life. Finally, as they reflected on their faith and focused on building such faith supports, they used the faith supports they found in their college experience as comparison points for their current faith needs.

Research findings suggest that more could be done by students, higher education professionals, and faith communities to prepare students for the post-college transition and to support graduates as they reflect on the construct of their faith and build faith support structures. Ultimately, these groups need to become more educated about this phenomenon to help future graduates find, create, or integrate into various faith communities following the college experience.

I dedicate this dissertation to my wife and children.

Clara, I love you! You have patiently and lovingly supported me through each stage of this study. You have given more to this study than even me, by sacrificing your

time to help me and care for our children, by encouraging me to keep going, and by believing in me and this work. Words can never express how thankful I am to have you

by my side through this journey and each of life’s “transitions.”

Thank you, Vivian, Ryle, and Wynafred, for unconditionally loving your daddy, even when he had to spend many nights and weekends working on this study. You each bring me such joy and pride. I hope watching me complete this research encourages you

to dedicate yourself to hard work and lifelong learning. More importantly, I hope that

you grow to experience a faith that will support you through each of life’s transitions

and changes.

vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The accomplishment of completing this study would not be possible without the support of a multitude of people. Though impossible to include everyone, I would like to briefly acknowledge some key groups and individuals who helped me through this endeavor.

First, I want to express my indebtedness to my participants. I am thankful they allowed me to share their stories and experiences. I am grateful and blessed to have learned from each of you.

I also want to thank my committee. I am especially grateful for my committee chair, Dr. Michele M. Welkener. Her guidance, patience and faith in me through each part of my academic journey was critical for my success and growth as an aspiring scholar. I also would like to thank my committee members; Dr. Charles J. Russo, for his influence, insight and wisdom; Dr. Alan Demmitt, for his interest in my research and calming presence; and Dr. Jason Combs, for being so willing to help me in my time of need.

My family has been the single greatest source of support and encouragement throughout my doctoral studies. My wife, Clara, and my children have loved me unconditionally and cheered me over each hurdle of the process. My mom has believed in me and encouraged me in this process and throughout my life. My brother and sister and their families have patiently put up with the hassles I have created while completing this study and shown their pride in me throughout. My dad supported me in my education and challenged me to be excellent. My father-in-law has been a significant

vii prayer warrior for me and an important source of unspoken accountability. My mother- in-law has been an example of a servanthood in helping my family so that I could work.

In addition, the Kobers, Kings, Hersheys, and Moores have been constant cheerleaders. I love each of you. Thank you!

My close friends have also been an essential help to me as I navigated the challenges of this work. Dr. Aaron has been my lifelong friend, but even more my competitive and faithful brother. Joe has been my loyal friend through thick and thin.

Mike has continued to pray for me. Matt has also been a source of encouragement throughout my studies. Thank you, men. In addition, my pastor and the men of my church continually prayed for me as I wrote.

I started my doctoral work while working at a previous institution and I am indebted to their assistance and support of me. In particular, Carl opened my eyes to higher education as a career calling and became a mentor to me professionally and academically. Kirsten has been a role model of faithfulness and friendship to me. Her support was invaluable. Brad was a patient and prayerful guide and friend to me. Brian has been a loyal friend and brother to me throughout this process and my career. I thank each of you.

The people of my current institution have been equally encouraging. The

President challenged me to finish and believed in my leadership. Kevin went out of his way to support me and give me opportunities for success professionally and academically. Kate has gone above and beyond as a colleague and friend to push me toward completion. Mary has been proactive in creating space for me to work and always kindly supported my work. The hard work and dedication of each person within

viii Student Development was appreciated in making this work possible. The Cabinet has also been patient with me and constantly supportive. Thank you, all!

Finally, I thank God for his mercy and faithfulness. He is the source of my faith.

To Him be the glory!

ix TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ...... iv

DEDICATION ...... vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... vii

CHAPTER I OVERVIEW OF THE PROBLEM ...... 1

CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE ...... 21

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY/METHODS ...... 87

CHAPTER IV FINDINGS ...... 119

CHAPTER V DISCUSSION ...... 169

REFERENCES ...... 209

APPENDICES

A. Introductory E-mail ...... 228

B. Participant Phone Call Structure ...... 230

C. Online Interest Response Form ...... 232

D. Online Participant Questionnaire ...... 234

E. Interview Structure and Questions ...... 235

CHAPTER I

OVERVIEW OF THE PROBLEM

Alumni of colleges and universities across the world refer to their undergraduate institution as their “alma mater,” demonstrating their permanent link to that school.

However, the term alma mater more literally means “nourishing mother,” connoting an image of a nursing mother feeding her children (Bartlett, 1998, p. 87). This metaphor reveals the profound way a university provides the necessary nutrients and sustenance for the cognitive, psychosocial, and spiritual growth of its students. Just as weaning is a needed and healthy transition toward maturity and independence for a baby, so is the post-graduation period for the college student. Likewise, just as the weaning period can be challenging and emotional for child and mother as they navigate a changed relationship, so the student must negotiate their life away from the university and form a new relationship with the institution to ensure their health and growth.

The graduation ceremony marks the completion of the college experience, signifying an important step in this journey. The pomp and circumstance of the event symbolize for the students their accomplishments and promise of a bright future. For many, the rite of passage marks a culmination of life work and experience, and it can be a deeply meaningful and reflective moment (Magolda, 2003). Yet, after graduates remove their caps and gowns and graduation ends, they must embark on a new beginning without the structure or support university life provides. This transition initiates a change from a student preparing for a future of promise to a young adult making progress and meaning in the life he or she has chosen.

During such life transitions and trials, personal faith and spirituality often play a significant role in understanding these circumstances and making sense of change

(Fowler 1981; Parks 2000). For many who claim faith, times of transition and uncertainty can create an opportunity to test their faith as well as find hope and trust in something or someone greater than themselves (Braskamp, Trautvetter, & Ward, 2006).

Because life transitions are critical for development and personal cognitive growth

(Chickering & Reisser, 1993; Fowler, 1981; Schlossberg, Waters, & Goodman, 1995), the initial post-college period can reveal to graduates whether college effectively readied them for "real life." Conversely, this period can reveal the areas or ways in which their education failed to prepare them.

Profound identity formation possibilities are created, especially for those who attend college immediately after high school. These individuals can struggle finding their place in life, reaching an understanding of self, and coming to revelations of truth in a complex world, while at the same time continually reexamining their personal beliefs and habits. During this period, they are considering decisions that will alter the quality and trajectory of their lives. Therefore, it is essential to understand these graduates' explorations of meaning and faith (Parks, 2000).

The post-college transition can be particularly poignant for college student leaders, who, by the nature of their campus commitments, sought training and experience through campus involvement and faculty or staff mentoring. Scholars have noted that such students experience higher satisfaction with their collegiate experience and more significant cognitive development than their peers (Boyer, 1987; Kuh, Cruce, Shoup,

Kinzie, & Gonyea, 2008). Nevertheless, college student leaders may face a post-

graduation transition where they lack many of the structures and mentoring relationships that guided them as undergraduates and in which they are no longer seen as leaders within their community. (Chickering & Reisser, 1993; Parks, 2000). Moreover, student leaders who attended faith-based institutions have sought an undergraduate experience that emphasized the development of personal faith, spirituality, and reflection (Braskamp,

Trautvetter, & Ward, 2006). Making sense of personal faith during the post-graduation transition may further challenge their perceived value of their education.

Scholars also have studied the developmental growth of individuals at various points throughout the life span (Baxter Magolda, 2001; Fowler, 1981; Josselson, 1987;

Kegan, 1994; Marcia 1989; Schlossberg et al., 1995). And Parks (2000, 2011) examined the spiritual and faith experiences of individuals in the post-college decade. Nonetheless, attention has not been paid to understanding how student leaders from Christian institutions internalize their faith during the post-graduation life period. I hope to shed light on the lived experience of these graduates during this period of their lives. By outlining the problem and describing the research purpose, the subsequent questions, and the research approach, I seek to provide a framework for this study. In this chapter, I will discuss the significance of this research and my motivation for undertaking it.

Additionally, I will discuss research limitations and delimitations and provide definitions of essential key terms.

Research Purpose, Questions and Approach

The purpose of this study was to understand how recent college student leader graduates of a Christian institution make meaning of personal faith during the post-

graduation transition to life after college. The following research questions guided the direction of this inquiry:

1. As they transition to post-college life, in what ways do these former students view

their college experience and the beliefs they held about faith during their college

years?

2. How do these former college student leaders currently define faith?

3. In what ways do these individuals perceive faith connecting to their current

activities, relationships, and decisions?

4. What forms of faith support and encouragement do these individuals seek out

and/or have found during the transition period?

5. What are these graduates’ greatest faith challenges during this transition period?

I used a qualitative, phenomenological approach because it provided an understanding of a particular lived experience by a specific group of people at a given moment (Merriam, 2002). Phenomenology focuses on the common experiences of participants within any shared experience (Creswell, 2013). Creswell (2013) stated, “The basic purpose of phenomenology is to reduce individual experiences with a phenomenon to a description of universal essence” (p. 76). I facilitated personal interviews as the primary method for data collection, being appropriate for phenomenological inquiry

(Creswell, 2013; Merriam, 2002). I conducted individual interviews, incorporating the general interview guide (Patton, 1990) to learn about my participants’ experiences within this life transition period and how their personal faith affected how they perceived this time.

The transition period for this study was defined as the academic year following the participants’ graduation. Before the interviews, I had each participant complete a questionnaire that prompted them to reflect on their faith in college and in the transition.

This reflection also provided participants space to consider deeper meaning and thinking associated with their faith and spirituality (Parks, 2000). At the same time, the reflection questionnaire allowed for triangulation of data to help ensure I reached a deep understanding of the phenomenon (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012, p. 107).

Significance of the Research

This study is both significant and timely for higher education, particularly for institutions with faith-based missions. The current higher education landscape reveals a heightened interest in faith and spirituality, and contemporary research has shown that students have deep spiritual values and pursuits (Astin, Astin, & Lindholm, 2011). For example, the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) surveyed 46 colleges and universities to assess students' responses regarding spirituality (Astin et al., 2011).

Findings showed that three-fourths of students indicated that they were searching for meaning and purpose in their lives (Astin et al., 2011). Moreover, 73% of students surveyed stated that their religious and spiritual beliefs helped them develop their identities. Results such as these suggest that, for many students, college is a time of spiritual change and struggle. Also, a growing number of students stated that it was

“very important” to integrate spirituality into their lives, develop a meaningful philosophy of life, and help others who are in need (Astin et al., 2011).

Many colleges and university administrators are uncertain about what role, if any, religion, faith, and spirituality should play on their campuses as well as how to articulate

these concepts (Astin, 2004). If institutions are to meet the holistic needs and desires of their students and graduates they must better understand the faith experiences of their students and graduates (Dalton, Eberhardt, Bracken, & Echols, 2006). Research has shown how college students are making sense of faith and spirituality (Astin et al., 2011;

Braskamp et al., 2006; Dalton et al., 2006). However, greater attention is needed regarding how college students explore their faith in the period when all the programming and structured support of college are removed, and the next chapter of life begins.

This dissertation should also be of significant interest to faith institutions. It is alarming to many ministries, churches, and other faith groups that, although many students in college are interested in and are exploring faith development, many graduates leave their faith traditions (Kinnaman, 2011). A recent study by the Pew Research Center found that, “65% of American adults describe themselves as Christians when asked about their religion, down 12 percentage points over the past decade” (Pew, 2019). Research through the Barna Group, A California-based, evangelical Christian polling firm, led by

David Kinnaman, concluded that 38% of young adults report questioning their faith during this period, with a vast majority of these walking away from their faith commitment altogether (Kinnaman, 2011). These researchers also found that American teenagers are some of the most religiously active in society. However, twentysomethings are now the least religiously active, based on their research (Kinnaman, 2011). These data suggest that something drastic happens during the traditional college years.

Religious behavior is mainly an external outworking of faith, it does not necessarily equate to the faith or spirituality of the person. However, the Barna group (Kinnaman,

2011) found that significant life changes occur during this period of life and require further exploration. Studies also have confirmed that religious activity is significantly affected by the college experience (Astin, 2004; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Thus, studying the period immediately following college can provide more holistic knowledge of the faith development of young people.

Motivation and Assumptions of the Researcher

For 17 years, I have been blessed to work with bright, accomplished college student leaders at similar Christian universities. During this time, I noticed a recurring behavior: Just weeks before graduation, countless student leaders would appear in my office, often in tears, because they found themselves at a loss for direction for the first time in their lives. Up to that point, the next step in their lives had appeared clear, had been personified in older students, and had seemed attainable. Likewise, the opportunity for guidance and feedback were readily available and often served to boost the student leaders’ confidence. Though graduation was still the immediate goal, the ceremony also began to represent the reality of the unknown.

Students told me they feared not knowing whether they were making the right life choices or, as some would ask, “How can I tell if I am doing it right?” Many student leaders had only experienced social and positional success and had received repeated praise by many within the college community. Graduation was viewed as a junction where their support and guidance were removed. As I sought to provide encouragement after these late-semester pleas for help and advice, my conversations with student leaders have centered on their construct of meaning-making. We discussed how their faith in

God influences how they view their changing situation and in what ways they are

struggling with faith. With this dissertation, I wanted to understand this phenomenon of seeking meaning-making of faith during the graduation transition for student leaders so that I might not only better understand and empathize with these students, but also help them to begin a successful, grounded journey in truth-seeking and life.

I also brought my life experience into this inquiry. I grew up in a Christian family as the son of a pastor. Faith in Christ was the single most important thing in my family, and I was taught accordingly. However, my parents wanted my faith to be genuine and never pressured me to make a profession of Christian faith as a child. In high school, I recognized my need for Christ and slowly developed a faith that began to become increasingly important to me. Although I mimicked much of my faith expression from what I saw from my parents and at church, I had not fully integrated my own convictions of faith. I attended a Christian college, and explored theology, and reinforced my faith.

In particular, I believe I personalized my faith during those college years through friendships, ministry, challenges, and study. I became very confident in myself, my faith, and my future. As graduation day approached my senior year, I became less certain of my direction. I, too, sought out a trusted faculty member with whom I could share my uncertainty and insecurity about the imminent unknown. During the post-college transition, I realized I had much to learn about my faith.

Upon encouragement, I pursued and secured a job working on Capitol Hill in

Washington, DC. It was a place that I knew would challenge me and help me grow.

When I moved to DC, I had never lived in a large metropolitan area and knew only one person. It truly was an eye-opening experience. My beliefs and lifestyle were challenged

by the people I met and the experiences I gained. I am thankful this challenge led me to analyze and further internalize my faith, trust, and understanding in God.

Looking back, I recognized two ways my meaning-making about faith was affected during the post-college transition. First, the expressions of my faith were defined solely by me for the first time. I did not have chapel attendance requirements, church ministry expectations, or social peer pressure. So much of my life turned upside down at graduation. I spent the first three months as I transitioned to Washington, DC, looking for a church and for Christian friends. I felt spiritually numb most of the summer and did not settle on a church until September. I was removed from meaningful friendships and relocated to a place that was new and unfamiliar to me, and my energy was spent trying to evaluate the expectations of my new job and life. Nonetheless, I recognized that my faith was still important to me and that the stability of a church community was critical for my growth and sanity. At the same time, that decision to join a church was difficult because it was the first time I made an entirely independent decision, apart from parents’ or close friends’ peer pressure, about where I would choose to express my faith.

The decision to attend and join Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) had broad and lasting influences on my time in DC and beyond. It created a foundation from which

I built a network and friend group through services, Bible study groups, social gatherings, and ministry opportunities. The importance of CHBC to me was profound, but I do not know if I was making meaning of its importance during that transition period. However,

I do know that I recognized how important the connection was for me because it gave me a place to belong and an anchor from which to process my life changes.

The other significant expression of faith came from connecting with an older man in my church who became a life mentor. “Aaron” was an elder in the church who also was a professional staff worker for Congress. He reached out to me and befriended me by persistently setting up opportunities for coffee or lunches. Aaron was deliberate in asking questions about my life and how I was doing. I recall how he would intently listen to me as I rambled on about my work and how I was still figuring out the culture of my workplace. Importantly, Aaron always asked how I was doing spiritually and with whom

I was connecting at church. He consistently made it a point to encourage me and gently nudge me to stay busy encouraging other people. “Bob,” he said, “don't try to make sense of the first 12 months after college. They can be fun, but they are difficult. Stay busy with good things and encourage other people.” Those words still ring in my ears today and lift my spirits as I work with college seniors. He would couple his encouragement with humble advice about how he processed life decisions and commitments. Thus, these meetings with Aaron were profound, and I realized during those moments that not only encouraged and challenged me, they also gave me an opportunity to reflect on my life and faith during a time of change. As such, I felt encouraged and refreshed from our meetings.

Second, my affection toward my faith experienced profound changes during the post-college transition. In particular, my concept of God grew during the year following college. I believe this growth occurred because I had processed the “truth” of God, applied to my now independent life and choices. I also had so many changes in my life that caused me to feel unsure, anxious, and awkward, such as starting a new job, making friendships, and finding roommates. My faith served to help calm and redirect me.

Throughout the process of reflecting on my faith, I grew to love it more and find more value in it, and I held my relationship with Christ more dearly because of the chaos and excitement around me.

Although I acknowledged that my faith grew significantly during this time, I also remember struggling with guilt about the consistency and depth of my faith during the post-college transition. This was especially true when I felt periods of loneliness and homesickness. I felt that I was not thriving or practicing good spiritual discipline. I questioned the sincerity of my faith because I was inconsistent with my actions and feelings. I would think from time to time, “Am I doing it right? Am I living life well?”

Encouraging roommates, friends, and my mentor all rallied around me when I questioned myself. These relationships were essential in confronting me when I needed to make some life changes. I remembered a roommate challenging my faith as I was struggling to deal with the isolation I felt the summer after graduation. It was hard for me to hear him challenge my relationship with Christ, but it was a powerful moment that helped me reconsider the importance of my faith. As a result, my affection toward my faith grew as I relied on it more in changing situations and as I overcame my guilt.

The 12 months after graduation were critical to shaping the questions I continue to ask myself related to my faith, my vocation, and my relationships. The process of assuming my first professional job, finding friends, identifying mentor figures, and connecting to a faith community caused me to better understand myself and my personal spiritual needs. Other periods of my life have been marked with greater accomplishments, successes, and deeper connections and relationships, but none have been as formative. In Chapter III, I further discuss my experiences and biases, paying

careful attention to how I attempted to ensure that my story only served to inspire and not dominate this research and its outcomes.

This dissertation is grounded in multiple assumptions about the nature of faith, meaning making, and the post-college transition. The following are assumptions underlying this work that are based on prior research:

• Personal faith is rooted in one’s inner being and is connected to every area of one’s

life (Fowler, 1981; Parks, 2000).

• Faith can be expressed (Astin et al., 2004; Braskamp et al., 2006; Parks, 2000).

• The graduation experience represents an anticipated transition that causes the

individual to confront change and take stock of his or her life situation

(Schlossberg et al., 1995).

• The graduation transition for college student leaders may be more profound

because the college experience was formative and rewarding for most student

leaders (Kuh et al., 2008; Tinto, 1993).

These assumptions guided the exploration of this study throughout the research process.

Research Delimitations and Limitations

The population of this research was delimited to only include student leaders from a specific Christian university. Although all college graduates from all types of institutions may experience a significant period of faith exploration immediately after college, student leaders from a Christian university were chosen for this study because I believed students who were more likely to have experienced a transformative college experience (Kuh et al., 2008; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) within an environment

where faith was freely discussed (Astin, 2004; Braskamp et al., 2006) would be more clearly able to articulate the distinction of meaning-making of faith in the post-college transition. Also, the transition period was delimited to the first academic year of post- college life.

A life transition cannot be easily divided (Schlossberg et al., 1995). Still, this snapshot of time provided a focused opportunity to study how these individuals were constructing faith; that is, this 1-year transition allowed me to explore the raw processes by which former student leaders used their understanding of the divine to make sense of the transient and changing world in which they were thrust. Furthermore, up to this point in their lives, college students lived their lives divided into 9- to 12-month periods. Therefore, it made sense to use the 9- to 12-months following college as a time frame for these graduates to reflect on their life changes through the lens of their personal faith.

There were several limitations to the research. First, as participants discussed making meaning of their lives during transition, the conversation itself may have caused them to reflect on and consider coping mechanisms that otherwise might not have been intentionally recalled, such as the site, situation, support, and strategies of their life transition process (Schlossberg et al., 1995). Thus, the experience of participating in this study may have influenced their transition. This concern is further discussed in

Chapter V. Although this reflection was not necessarily a negative for participants, it was important to draw attention to the possibility of its influence. College student graduates who have not participated in such a study may not have had the same opportunity to process this life transition and the subsequent role of faith during such a

transition.

Second, I revealed in “Motivation and Assumptions of the Researcher,” both my personal experience as a student leader at a Christian college and my interactions with graduating student leaders as potential bias. However, as discussed in Chapter III, I employed qualitative strategies to keep my biases in check so that participants' voices governed the findings. Third, as I prepared for and executed the interviews, I recognized that my role as Dean of Students at another Christian institution may have affected or intimidated participants (Bloomberg & Volpe, 2012). On the other hand, it may also have motivated some participants to help me, as they perceived that the findings would help future students. These limitations and ways I chose to mitigate them are explored in further detail in Chapter III.

Defining Key Terms

This study employed multiple terms that must be further defined and framed to provide clarity to the study for readers. The following list explains particular terms used in this dissertation.

Faith. Although religion, faith, and spirituality are often used interchangeably, it

is essential to define each separately and clearly. This study focused particularly

on the personal construct of faith at the individual level. Astin (2004) defined

faith as the interior of a person’s life. Braskamp et al. (2006) described faith as

encompassing a person’s “non-rational, affective and ethical dimensions of

being” (p. 20). Nash (2001) contended that faith “is an attitude of trusting belief

in something that goes beyond available evidence” (p. 27). For the purpose of

this study, faith was defined holistically as the search for ultimate meaning and

truth (Parks, 2000) derived from religious or spiritual exploration (Fowler, 1981) and the hope an individual places in someone or something larger than oneself.

Religion/Religiousness. Religions are easily seen across the diverse American culture, and subsequently visible on college campuses across the nation.

However, defining the term religion is complex and perplexing in a secularized and pluralistic culture.

From a legal perspective, the First Amendment of the constitution states,

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” (U.S. Constitution). The Supreme Court’s opinions in First Amendment cases evolved over time to consider religion more inclusively (Choper, 1982). In Davis v. Beason (1890), the Court upheld a theistic view of religion. The Court found that, “… religion has reference to one’s views of his relations to his Creator, and to the obligations they impose of reverence for his being and character, and of obedience to his will.” However, during the twentieth century, Supreme Court rulings (Torcaso v. Watkins, 1961;

United States v. Seeger, 1965; Welsh v. United States, 1970) weakened the legal view of religion, as connected to a specific deity. Despite expanding the scope of First Amendment religious rights, the Court struggled to identify a clear definition of religion (Choper, 1982).

Within higher education research, Tisdell (2003) defined religion as

“…an organized community of faith that has written codes of regulatory behavior” (p. 12). Taylor (2004) adds, “religion is a complex adaptive network of myths, symbols, rituals, and concepts that simultaneously figure patterns of

feeling, thinking and acting” (p. B4).

Based on these definitions and considering the lack of a clear or unified definition across the literature, I defined religion as a structured, outward expression of internal beliefs that are core to the individual, often expressed through corporate community and cultural activity.

Spirituality. Spiritualty is even more difficult to define. In their review of the literature, Love and Talbot (1999) discussed a litany of research on spiritualty.

They concluded that no commonly accepted definition of spirituality could be found. Their synthesis of themes in the literature, however, led them to develop five propositions that form their definition of spirituality. They argued that spiritual identity involves five elements:

(a) an internal process of seeking personal authenticity, genuineness, and

wholeness as an aspect of identity development; (b) the process of

continually transcending one's current locus of centricity; (c) developing a

greater connectedness to self and others through relationships and union

with community; (d) deriving meaning, purpose, and direction in one's

life; and (e) an increasing openness to exploring a relationship with an

intangible and pervasive power or essence that exists beyond human

knowing. (pp. 364-367)

For this study I utilized the lengthy but helpful definition written by Teasdale

(1999) and employed by Chickering et al. (2006):

Being spiritual suggests a personal commitment to a process of inner

development that engages us in our totality. Religion, of course, is one

way many people are spiritual. Often, when authentic faith embodies an

individual’s spirituality the religious and the spiritual will coincide. Still,

not every religious person is spiritual (although they ought to be) and not

every spiritual person is religious. Spirituality is a way of life that affects

and includes every moment of existence. It is at once a contemplative

attitude, a disposition to a life of depth, and the search for ultimate

meaning, direction, and belonging. The spiritual person is committed to

growth as an essential ongoing life goal. To be spiritual requires us to

stand on our own two feet while being nurtured and supported by our

tradition, if we are fortunate enough to have one. (Teasdale, 1999, pp. 17-

18)

Meaning-Making. For the purposes of this study, the definition of meaning- making was built from Parks’ (2000) work. She constructed a definition of meaning-making based in part on Perry’s work (1970). She stated, “meaning making is the activity of composing a sense of connections among things: a sense of pattern, order, form, and significance” (Parks, 2000, p. 19). Parks further described three activities of meaning-making that occur from the teenage years to the early thirties: “(1) gaining critical awareness of a personal formation of reality, (2) self-conscious involvement in an ongoing personal dialogue toward truth, and (3) developing a capacity to act in ways that are satisfying and just” (p. 6).

Student Leader. For this research, I defined a student leader as an individual who has completed university-sponsored, co-curricular leadership training and

has assumed a campus involvement position within the community while an undergraduate student. Research has consistently determined that students who have completed leadership instruction and sought out on-campus involvement opportunities have seen significant gains in cognitive development, satisfaction, and retention (Kuh et al., 2008; Tinto, 1993).

Christian College or University. The term “Christian” is difficult to operationally define because it elicits various connotations by each faith group seeking to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. However, it is important to clarify the term “Christian” college, university or institution as this study only focuses on a specific type of faith-based institution. Many protestant and catholic denominations and groups have created Christian universities with sincere and consistent missions. However, for the purpose of this research, I will adopt the language used by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities

(CCCU) to describe their institutions. The CCCU is an association of over 180 protestant colleges and universities, representing more than 30 different denominations and affiliations (CCCU, 2019). They have articulated their mission as an association of colleges and universities:

(1) We are committed to supporting, protecting, and promoting the value

of integrating the Bible--divinely inspired, true, and authoritative--

throughout all curricular and co-curricular aspects of the educational

experience on our campuses, including teaching and research. (2) We

support a coherent approach to education in which the development of

the mind, spirit, body, and emotions are seamlessly woven together in the

quest not just for knowledge but also for wisdom. (CCCU, 2019)

For the purpose of this research when the term Christian college or university is

used, it will denote an institution that would most commonly be categorized this

way.

Transition period. Since the college experience is often divided into years, an

academic year can be considered a reasonable period for measuring time in the

academy. Students in what is often called a “traditional” undergraduate

experience frequently treat summer as a break or period of temporary work

between academic terms. By traditional, I mean a student who attends college

directly after high school, thus completing college between ages 18 and 23.

Because students typically graduate in late spring, the transition was likely more

apparent to graduates from August after graduation to April of the following

year.

Summary

Understanding how recent college student leader graduates make meaning of faith during the post-graduation transition period is necessary for determining how to better support these students as they leave college and become members of the community and workforce. This study provides insight for colleges and faith institutions, such as churches and ministries, regarding how to better engage these individuals and provide needed services that will help them navigate a successful transition, or one that helps them prepare for the face challenges they may experience through the transition.

In this chapter I framed the problem, described the research purpose, and presented the questions and research approach that will drive this inquiry. In Chapter II I provide a review of the literature on student leaders, faith-based institutions, the graduation transition to post-college, and relevant development theory, particularly focusing on meaning-making and spiritual or faith development. In Chapter III I explain the methodology and methods of the inquiry. In Chapter IV I present the findings, and in

Chapter V I discuss and analyze the findings and conclusions of the study.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE

An overview and analysis of the scholarly literature related to college student leaders, meaning making and faith, and the post-graduation transition provides an essential framework and positionality for this study. This chapter identifies what other scholars have learned about college student leaders, understood about the dynamic of life transition for students, and concluded about how students make personal meaning from the circumstances and challenges of life. This review provides a review of related research, examining multiple vantage points from the literature related to this inquiry

(Cooper, 1988).

Chapter II is divided into four sections to provide clarity for the study's framework. The first section demonstrates how scholars understood the dynamic of student leadership within the undergraduate experience. Student involvement will be defined and its influence on student development, specifically spiritual development, will be explored. The second section examines the dynamic of the graduation transition for undergraduates. Current trends in graduation preparedness by institutions and student concerns about life after college are presented.

The third section will illuminate the relationship between faith and the institution, giving attention to religious institutions and how they approach student development. Within this section, it is also important to understand the nature of college students’ faith and spirituality. Finally, in the fourth section I will examine the relevant research on student development theory to better understand how students make

meaning of faith. This exploration will examine related student development theory broadly then progressively delve into students’ cognitive development and identity development. Ultimately this discussion will provide a theoretical understanding of the spiritual development of students. Specific attention will be given to the nature of student meaning-making during the post-graduation period for traditional-aged students.

Literature on Co-Curricular Student Leadership Involvement

Understanding the nature of student involvement and leadership and its influence on college students is important for understanding how students make meaning of the life period immediately following graduation. Student involvement at college has concerned both institutions and scholars for decades (Astin, 1977, 1984, 1993; Cress, Astin,

Zimmerman-Oster, & Burkhardt, 2001; Pace, 1984, 1990; Tinto, 1993; Wolf-Wendal,

Ward, & Kinzie, 2009).

The most cited definition (Astin, 1984) recognized student involvement as “the amount of physical and psychological energy the student puts into his or her academic experience” (p. 297). In his study, Astin (1984) specifically studied the behavior of students rather than their motivation or feelings in an attempt to understand the dynamic of student involvement. He postulated that various activities required different levels of involvement. In essence, he argued that involvement existed on an energy continuum that had both quantitative and qualitative characteristics. The benefits derived from such involvement were a function of the quality and quantity of the effort expended (Astin,

1984). Students exert energy throughout all aspects of their college experience (Astin,

1996), including the academic or classroom context; the social context, including

personal relationships and group memberships; and the institutional context, including leadership roles, student employment, and the greater campus culture (Keeling, 2004).

Influence of Campus Involvement

The energy students invest has a profound effect on their overall college experience (Astin, 1984, 1993; Cress et al., 2001; Kuh et al., 1991). Campus involvement has shown to be a powerful component in positive student development

(Astin, 1984, 1993, Kezar & Moriarty, 2000). After reviewing 20 years of research focusing on how college impacts students, Pascarella and Terenzini (1991, 2005) concluded that students who are involved on campus beyond the classroom benefit significantly more than those who are not involved. In particular, they noted gains in areas such as educational aspiration, occupational attainment, college persistence, and degree completion. Students’ cognitive development also was positively influenced by out-of-class involvement (Astin, 1993; Kuh, 1995; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, 2005).

In addition, Kuh (1995) noted that involved students benefited significantly in the growth of self-awareness, autonomy, confidence and self-worth, altruism, reflective thought, social competence, decision-making ability, time management, and application of knowledge. In particular, increased peer interactions were especially important for cognitive development (Kuh, 1993).

According to Astin (1993), interactions with other students during a campus involvement opportunity were the most important indicator of positive growth in analytical and decision-making abilities, knowledge acquisition, and self-esteem (Kuh,

Kinzie, Buckley, Bridges, & Hayek, 2006). Moreover, out of class peer interactions have

been found to significantly affect student perceptions of the campus environment and their future aspirations (Kuh et al. 2008).

The long-term effects of student involvement have also shown to be beneficial for students’ workplace success. Research has concluded that students who were involved in out-of-class experiences had greater post-college marketability and career success than those who were uninvolved (Astin, 1993; Kuh et al., 1991; Reardon, Lenz, & Folsom,

1998). For example, Williams and Winston (1985) argued, “students who participate in organized student activities have a heightened awareness of the world of work and their personal skills and limitations as workers” (p. 55). Dias (2009) added that gains in a student leader’s self-awareness as a worker in student activities are an essential ingredient for his or her workplace success.

Likewise, Reardon et al. (1998), found that extracurricular organizational involvement revealed how well an individual could work with others. Others have further supported this notion, asserting that co-curricular activities “significantly enhanced interpersonal skills important to job success” (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, p.

624) and advanced “a student's preparation for the workforce" (Dias, 2009, p. 54).

Finally, Kuh et al. (1991) concluded that students who were involved in college recognized their involvement contributed to their success after college.

Activities that foster opportunities for increased campus involvement and peer interaction also revealed positive findings related to the developmental growth of students and their success during and after college (Kuh et al., 2008; Pascarella &

Terenzini, 2005). Additionally, out-of-class activities contribute positively to students' identity and development as leaders (Astin, 1993; Kezar & Moriarity, 2000; Kuh et al.,

2008; Zimmerman-Oster & Burkhardt, 1999). Specifically, involvement in out-of-class leadership positions through various student organizations, intramurals, intercollegiate athletics, student government, leadership programs, activity planning boards, and community service programs significantly affect positive leadership development (Astin,

1993; Astin & Astin, 2000; Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2010; Kezar &

Moriarty, 2000). The student leaders of these co-curricular opportunities have been identified across majors, roles on campus, and personal demographic groups, such as race, gender, and ethnicity (Arminio et al., 2000; Kezar & Moriarty, 2000; Renn, 2004).

As leadership opportunities have been developed, universities across the country also have become increasingly concerned about developing undergraduate student leaders for campus positions and workforce preparation (Astin & Astin, 2000; Zimmerman-Oster

& Burkhardt, 1999). Many institutions have subsequently adopted leadership training curricula (Kouzes & Posner, 2002; Komives, Lucas, & McMahon, 1998) or incorporated external programs such as the LeaderShape Institute (Zimmerman-Oster & Burkhardt,

1999). Such leadership programs also have proven to enhance students' perception of leadership, positive character development, and preparation for success following graduation (Cress et al., 2001; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005).

The more recent conversation of campus involvement has centered on student engagement (Kuh, 2009, p. 683). “Student engagement represents the time and effort students devote to activities that are empirically linked to desired outcomes of college and what institutions do to induce students to participate in these activities” (Kuh, 2009, p. 683). Engagement has been shown to positively influence retention, persistence,

academic performance, and student satisfaction across diverse demographics of college students (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Kuh, 2009).

To explore factors that positively affect student engagement, Kuh administered the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to twenty institutions that had higher than predicted graduations rates to determine what factors encouraged student success

(Kuh, 2009). These schools, documenting effective educational practices (DEEP), demonstrated various common characteristics that displayed their commitment to challenging and supporting students (Kuh, 2009). Among those characteristics is a commitment to enrich educational experiences through diverse experiences outside the classroom, such as studying abroad, and offering civic engagement, experiential learning, and cocurricular leadership opportunities (Kuh et al., 2005). Participation in activities such as these contribute to enhancing student achievement. Specifically related to student leadership, “DEEP schools provide a wellspring of other cocurricular offerings that involve students in campus life, connect them to the institution, and provide leadership opportunities” (Kuh, 2005, p. 239).

Influence of Positional Leadership Opportunities

Because I evaluated the post-graduation experience of student leaders with leadership responsibility, it is important to also understand how such involvement influences these students. Dugan and Komives (2007) studied various aspects of college life that contributed to leadership outcomes for students. They found that positional leadership, such as being involved in activities planning or student government, positively impacted student collaboration, commitment, and consciousness of self. Most significantly, students holding positional leadership demonstrated positive outcomes in

the areas of citizenship and common purpose. Furthermore, they concluded, “Positional leadership roles were strong, positive predictors of self-efficacy in leadership for both men and women as well, although the predictive power was greater for women than for men” (Dugan & Komives, 2007, p. 16).

Student government leaders also have been the focus of student outcomes research, with Kuh, et al. (1991) and Whitt (1994) arguing that there are significant positive outcomes from being a positional leader. Kuh et al. (1991) surveyed 126 seniors to determine personal development in relation to being a member of student government.

They found that 85% of senior leaders recognized their positional leadership responsibility as instrumental to personal development and learning. Other outcomes attributed to their leadership experience were interpersonal competence, academic skills, cognitive complexity, and humanitarian interests (Kuh, et al., 1991).

Similarly, Whitt (1994) found that student leaders attributed a sense of self- efficacy and confidence to their experiences in positional leadership in college. Other studies have confirmed additional ways that positional leadership opportunities proved powerful for students. For example, leadership positions have been found to demonstrate a significant advantage for student leaders in personal career planning and career satisfaction (Schuh & Laverty, 1983). Moreover, using qualitative interviews with former student government presidents, Dias (2009) found that most positional student leaders perceived themselves as being able to actively apply leadership skills gained through their position. In addition, former student government presidents reported that their leadership position provided them direction for possible careers and employment opportunities as well as areas of advanced study (Dias, 2009). Likewise, in their study of

the influence of varying levels of student leadership involvement, Foubert and Grainger

(2006) found that higher levels of involvement created significant gains for students in clarifying purpose, educational involvement, cultural participation, and career planning than those who were not as involved.

More controversial are research findings related to student involvement and leadership in Greek life. Kimbrough and Hutcheson (1998) asserted that Greek organizations were “key players in the development of leadership skills among college students” (p. 96). Conversely, Horowitz (1987) argued that leadership opportunities created by these organizations are homogenous and exclusive. In addition, Pascarella et al. (1996) concluded that fraternity/sorority involvement had a negative effect on cognitive development. On the other hand, Pike (2000) disputed this assertion as an attack on fraternities and sororities. His research demonstrated the opposite, finding that the social involvement of these students in Greek life resulted in significant cognitive development.

Gap in Involvement Literature

Research revealed that student involvement, especially positional leadership, created positive developmental and career benefits for student leaders. Clearly, research indicated that these unique opportunities in college create a more meaningful college experience for involved students (Astin, 1984, 1993, 1996; Kuh et al., 1991, Kuh, 1995;

Miles, 2010; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) and increased opportunities for them following graduation (Kezar & Moriarty, 2000). However, no research has investigated how these students made meaning of life immediately following the completion of these formative involvement opportunities. Therefore, this study focused on understanding the

unique experiences of student leaders immediately after they graduate and leave a life- shaping, seminal experience behind. Additionally, the majority of student involvement or engagement research was quantitative (Astin, 1993, 1996; Kuh et al., 1991, 2005; Kuh,

1995; Pace, 1984, 1990). My qualitative study provides insight into understanding how students make meaning of their faith and college experience as a leader during the post- college transition.

Literature on the Graduation Transition

To best understand the phenomenon of students making meaning of faith during the post-graduation transition, it is also important to evaluate the literature on how students prepare for the graduation process and post-college assimilation into the workplace or graduate school environment. Each year, more than 1.8 million college seniors across the country complete undergraduate degrees and graduate from institutions

(National Center for Educational Statistics, 2016).

Gardner (1999) noted that commencement creates a special moment for graduates to feel good about their college experience as they simultaneously consider their futures.

Despite that, a graduate’s concerns and consideration of the future begins well before any college exit ritual and continues long after the cap and gown have been packed away.

Ninety-five percent of Americans consider the most important steps to becoming an adult to be the completion of a post-secondary degree, establishing an independent household, and being employed full-time (Settersten & Ray, 2010). As such, graduation marks the completion of the first step and the expectation of the next two steps for adulthood.

Current Trends of College Graduates

The more than 1.8 million baccalaureate students who began post-college life in

2015 (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2016) carried with them into the workforce a litany of hopes and concerns. Each year since 2013, Accenture has completed an online survey of recent graduates (Smith & Lavelle, 2016). The 2016 findings demonstrated a clear picture from graduates of fear for their immediate future mixed with hope of future success. Of the 1,005 graduates surveyed in 2016, 77% reported feeling that college prepared them for future success, and 37% felt the need for advanced degrees after their baccalaureate experience (as cited in Smith & Lavelle,

2016). During college, 68% completed an internship that helped inform their desired employment. It was also important to these graduates to feel a sense of purpose in their work, and, in fact, 92% of recent graduates hoped to work for an organization or business that demonstrated social responsibility.

In like manner, 70% of students surveyed said they would choose to work for an organization with an engaging, positive social structure while only 14% reported interest in working for a large corporation or business (Smith & Lavelle, 2016). 51% of recent graduates reported feeling underemployed, and 55% were concerned about finding an organization that could provide them with stable health benefits. Thus, finding their right place in the workforce has proven to be challenging for many of these graduates.

According to the NCES, Millennial students make up more than 40% of the unemployed

(2016), a statistic expected to rise in the future, creating more pressure on these students as they transition beyond college. Also of note, 37% of recent graduates expect to need advanced degrees to attain their desired vocation (Smith & LaVelle, 2016).

Student Concerns at College Completion

The transition period of graduation forces students to face anxiety and uncertainty about living life independent of known support structures (Hartel, Schwartz, Blume, &

Gardner, 1994). As mentioned, the predominant fears reported by students at graduation are the need to find a job and the concern of feeling unprepared for success after college

(Cohen, 2003; Wood, 2004). Bowers, Dickman, and Fuqua (2001) studied the relationship between psychosocial and career development with a focus on job attainment. Using multiple regressions of the Career Activities Survey, the author found that the relationship between employment status and involvement in career development was stronger than the relationship between employment status and psychosocial development. Although, Fuqua suggested that psychosocial development could play a role in a student’s readiness to engage in career development, which might include implementing a job search. This finding mirrored the psychosocial development theories of Chickering and Reisser (1993) and Erikson (1980), and the career development research of Super (1953).

These studies did not examine meaning-making of these soon-to-be-graduates or students’ concerns at graduation. In fact, across career development literature, research is lacking regarding how recently graduated student leaders make meaning of their concerns and how they prioritize hopes, concerns, and fears aside from employment concerns.

Unlike the multitude of research studies related to meaning making during the first stages of college (Astin, 1993; Hausmann, Schofield, & Woods, 2007; Pascarella & Terenzini,

2005; Tinto, 1993), few studies explore meaning making at the end of college, or after graduation.

Little research exists related to the student’s life transition after college beyond that of the student's primary desire for immediate employment (Cohen, 2003; Wood,

2004). The only related research comes from Walls (2002) and Louis and Hulme (2012), who focused on cataloging students’ challenges after graduation but not students' meaning-making experience or method of prioritization after graduation. Walls (2002) stressed the need for seniors to be ready to confront concerns across diverse categories, such as determining where to live, how to secure housing and insurance, how to adapt to the first year in a career, how to manage personal wellness, and how best to accept new relationships and lifestyles. Louis and Hulme (2012) listed a series of life transitions associated with the senior year and graduation, including changes in living arrangements, interruptions of social and support networks, the disappearance of peer relationships and a familiar environment, and the loss of a personal identity associated with the college experience.

Although research is lacking, universities have still recognized the significance of the graduation transition period for students (Montclair State University, 2016; Rutgers

University, 2015; University of Kansas, 2016) and have subsequently created programs and webpage resources to help students better cope with the fears and concerns surrounding the phase of life after college. Unfortunately, most of these programs have been framed primarily only to help students find employment. Even though institutions are facing increased pressure to produce graduates who will have the learning and development to contribute to the economy and society (Bresciani, Gardner, & Hickmott,

2009), Settersten and Ray (2010) argued that a dichotomy exists between young people’s transition to adulthood and the support they currently receive from colleges and

universities. They wrote, “The policies, programs, and institutions that served young people a half-century ago no longer meet the needs of youth today…, and are based on assumptions that do not reflect the realities of the world today” (Settersten & Ray, 2010, p. 20). Therefore, universities have been called to begin implementing best practices to prepare such graduates based on career development theory (Gardner et al., 1998).

Religious student organizations have also seen the importance of preparing students for life after college (Magolda & Gross, 2009). In their ethnographic study of an evangelical student organization at a public institution, Magolda and Gross (2009) described the training students received and the rituals they experienced as they prepared for graduation. Specifically, students were challenged to recognize that society might not accept or appreciate their belief systems and convictions. Also, students were encouraged to practice religious rituals, such as prayer and Bible study, while also seeking out a new faith community in a local church. Magolda and Gross (2009) pointed out that these students received direct instruction on how to transition to life as believers after graduation. However, they noted that students still might greatly struggle with this life transition because of being heavily reliant on the structure and support of the religious student organization. Magolda and Gross’s (2009) research did not address how these students navigated their transition, and it did not explore how they made meaning of the directions given them by the student organization. This study's description of how students were spiritually prepared for graduation is one of the lone accounts found in the literature.

The Senior Year Experience

The final year of college also marks the last opportunity for university officials and faculty to help students transition to life beyond college and for students to develop the skills and tools to aid in the transition out of college (Fox, 2011). Gardner et al.

(1998) called this time frame the senior year experience, describing it as encompassing “a variety of initiatives in the academic and co-curricular domain that, when implemented in a coordinated effort, can promote and enhance learning, satisfaction, and a successful transition during the final quarter of the baccalaureate educational experience” (p. 7).

Additionally, Cuseo (1998) addressed three rationales for providing a “senior experience” and ten goals that students should consider before graduation with the help or their institution. He stated such an experience would serve “(1) to bring integration and closure to the undergraduate experience, (2) to provide students with an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of their college experience, and (3) to facilitate graduating students’ transition to post-college life” (p. 22).

Cuseo (1998) also addressed ten goals that should draw the attention of institutions in aiding graduating seniors:

1. Promoting the coherence and relevance of general education

2. Promoting integration and connections between general education and the

academic major

3. Fostering integration and synthesis within the academic major

4. Promoting meaningful connections between the academic major and work

(career) experiences

5. Explicitly and intentionally developing important student skills, competencies,

and perspectives that are tacitly or incidentally developed in the college

curriculum (for example, leadership skills and character and values development)

6. Enhancing awareness of and support for the key personal adjustments

encountered by seniors during their transition from college to post-college life

7. Improving seniors’ career preparation and pre-professional development, that is,

facilitating their transition from the academic to the professional world

8. Enhancing seniors’ preparation and prospects for postgraduate education

9. Promoting effective life planning and decision making on practical issues likely to

be encountered in adult life after college (for example, financial planning,

marriage, and family planning)

10. Encouraging a sense of unity and community among the senior class, which can

serve as a foundation for later alumni networking and future alumni support of the

college (p. 22)

Senior year research such as this can be helpful for institutions to consider as they meet the needs of their students. Unfortunately, researchers and institutions have not provided much emphasis on how to better understand and help seniors after they graduate

(Gardener et al., 1998). Undoubtedly more research is required to meet this important need.

Career Development Theory

Career development research has clearly revealed that graduates’ primary concern is finding meaningful employment and joining the workforce (Cuseo, 1998). Because career choice and development affect the spiritual meaning-making of college student

leaders, it is important to recognize this concern (Savichas, 1997). Much of the theory surrounding career development centers on the factors that affect career choice and how students identify career choice (Krumboltz, 1993; Salvichas, 1997; Super, 1990).

However, these same researchers have recognized the importance of meaning-making in career choice (Krumboltz, 1993; Savichas, 1997; Super, 1990). Super (1990), a 20th- century psychologist, felt compelled to take a holistic view of career development over an individual’s lifespan. He offered an alternative to other predominant career development theories, such as those espoused by Rodger (1952) and later by Holland (1997), which argued that personality and background should categorically guide career choice.

In his earlier scholarship, Super (1990) delineated five stages of career development: growth from birth to 14, exploration from 15 to 24, establishment from 24 to 44, maintenance from 44 to 64, and career decline from 64 to death. As this dissertation focuses on traditional-aged college student graduates, it is important to note

Super’s (1990) understanding of the exploration stage. Contrary to other theorists, Super

(1990) believed exploration of a life calling or career was primarily active past adolescence. In fact, he believed the five stages could be recycled as circumstances and needs changed throughout one’s lifetime. Super (1990) asserted that a person’s early twenties were filled with clarifying a vocational preference, built from personal skills, talents, or interests, and specifying a vocation to attempt. Primary to this period, he argued, was the development of a realistic self-concept (Super, 1990). The exploration stage was filled with new life choices, changes in one's identity, and increased adaptability and personal agency (Super, 1990).

Super (1990) also posited that life circumstances beyond career influences or the decision to pursue graduate school can affect the length of the exploration stage, before a person moves into the establishment stage. Super's (1990) theory reveals the holistic relationship between life interests, experience, and concerns with career choice. In particular, he found the period of one’s early twenties to be filled with self-examination and questioning across the life of an individual that will affect confirmation of his or her career (Super, 1990).

Other career development theorists have also recognized that the post-college transition is full of questions and self-assessment (Caple, 1995; Cohen, 2003). Cohen

(2003) posited that individuals demonstrate existential anxiety during a period of responsibility and evaluation in which people must wrestle with the difficulty of taking ownership of career decisions. Lent, Brown, and Hackett (1994) proposed social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to explain individuals’ career interests, choices, and performance. SCCT was built from social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986), which asserted that individuals, their environment, and their behavior all interact and influence each other. SCCT suggested that self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and goal representations served as mechanisms to influence vocational interests, choices, and performance (Lent et al., 1994). Lent et al., (1994) stated that belief in oneself and ability, coupled with one’s construct of the world and desires for the future, will greatly affect one’s vocational direction. Though the purpose of this dissertation was not to evaluate vocational choice, I recognized that self-efficacy can be affected by the college experience and non-career factors of one’s life. In addition, the construct of an individual’s self-worth and beliefs affect career direction.

Faith and Career Development

For many individuals, career choices are directed by their faith and they view their occupation in light of divine calling (Dik & Duffy, 2009). Dik and Duffy (2009) explained this influence:

Typically, the terms calling and vocation are used to refer to a sense of purpose

or direction that leads an individual toward some kind of personally fulfilling

and/or socially significant engagement within the work role, often regarding God

or the divine, sometimes with reference to a sense of passion or giftedness. (p.

427)

Vocational calling has shown to affect the plans, choices, and career satisfaction of individuals who integrate religion or spirituality into their decision-making (Constantine,

Miville, Warren, Gainor, & Lewis-Coles, 2006; Duffy & Blustein, 2005).

However, Palmer (1999) argued that such integration must occur before true vocational calling can be delineated:

Vocation does not come from willingness. It comes from listening. I must listen

to my life and try to understand what it is truly about – quite apart from what I

would like it to be about – or my life will never represent anything real in the

world, no matter how earnest my intentions. That insight is hidden in the word

vocation itself, which is rooted in the Latin for ‘voice’. Vocation does not mean a

goal that I pursue. It means a calling that I hear. Before I can tell my life what I

want to do with it, I must listen to my life telling me who I am. I must listen for

the truth and values at the heart of my identity, not the standards by which I must

live – but the standards by which I cannot help but live if I am living my own life.

(pp. 4-5)

Although both religion and spirituality can significantly influence vocation, Palmer

(1999) clarified that an individual cannot understand the connection to the purpose of one's work until he or she grasps a deeper identity, found through spiritual searching.

In seeking to understand the influence of religion and spirituality on career choice, Constantine et al. (2006) studied a group of 12 Christian, African-American undergraduates and determined that most reported a belief that God had a plan for their lives, including their vocational choice. The majority also reported a desire to serve others with their career choice, and most stated they used religious or spiritual rituals, such as prayer, Bible reading, and church attendance, to cope with academic and career- related obstacles (Hernandez, Foley, & Beitin, 2011). In addition, Duffy and Blustein

(2005) studied 144 Catholic university students at a predominantly white, private Roman

Catholic university and found that intrinsic religiosity and spirituality were significantly correlated with increased career decision self-efficacy.

Moreover, in a study of 200 adults, Robert, Young, and Kelly (2011) found a significantly positive correlation between spiritual and religious well-being and job satisfaction. They concluded, “Making meaning and finding purpose in life—the definition of existential well-being—are important components of wellness that may be attained by expressing one's spiritual well-being in the workplace” (Robert et al., 2011, p.

166). Existential well-being proved to be the strongest predictor of job satisfaction

(Robert et al., 2011). Clearly, the intersection of spirituality and career was important to examine.

Religion and spirituality may also serve as a support structure during periods of employment uncertainty, such as the post-graduation period (Dik & Duffy, 2009), by providing comfort and hope while encouraging individuals to remain open to new opportunities (Hernandez et al., 2011). Furthermore, religious communities can provide strong social support and encouragement toward these goals, especially for those seeking careers in religious fields (Dik & Duffy, 2009). Furthermore, Bloch (2005), in his work on the intersection of spirituality and work, argued that employees who perceived spiritual connections to their work were more productive and less likely to leave their jobs.

Gaps in College Transition Literature

The literature on the post-college transition revealed the importance students and institutions place on the successful transitions from graduates into full-time employees

(Bresciani et al., 2009). In addition, the senior year was recognized as a crucial period of self-assessment and preparation (Gardner et al., 1998). Student preparations, fears, concerns, and aspirations focused on finding a profitable and rewarding career that might validate the expense and toil of the college experience. Nonetheless, existing empirical literature and theories predominantly focused solely on the career transition (Super, 1990;

Wood, 2004) and did not account for existential or psychosocial concerns not connected to career attainment. Although it was expected that pursuing a career is the primary preoccupation of participants in my research, it was anticipated that the college experience, relationships, and personal identity also would be areas of self-evaluation for student leader graduates (Walls, 2002).

Career development research has been predominantly explored through quantitative research (Super, 1990; Wood, 2004; Walls, 2002); Smith & LaVelle, 2016)

The literature on career development does not provide insight into the holistic concerns of graduates, beyond recognizing that such aspects of life influence graduates as they pursue careers. I also found no substantial studies with career focus on the meaning- making of students who matriculate immediately into graduate programs. My qualitative study sought to understand how students make meaning of life and faith during the post- college transition to fill this gap.

Faith and the Institution

Within this study, I desire to understand the spiritual meaning-making of

Christian college student leaders journeying through the post-college transition.

Therefore, it it also imperative to examine the literature on the intersection of religion, faith or spirituality, and higher education. Specifically, this review addressees faith- based institutions and their desire to educate students holistically. Research that explores student expressions of faith and interest in spirituality or religion must also be highlighted. In addition, faith-related trends within the academy are explored, including current controversies and endeavors that encourage spiritual development as well as an assessment of how students address faith within college and during the post-graduation transition.

Faith-Related Research within the Academy

Although religion, spirituality, and higher education have been intertwined throughout the history of American higher education (Rudolf, 1990), until recently, little research was devoted to understanding how religion and spirituality affect the college

experience and how the college experience influences student beliefs and expressions of spirituality (Astin, et al., 2011; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). To address this dearth of understanding, particularly related to an individual student’s spiritual expression, Astin, et al. (2011) completed an exhaustive longitudinal study seeking to document how students change spiritually and religiously during the college years, and to identify ways in which colleges can contribute to this developmental process. The researchers studied more than 112,000 first-year students as they enrolled in 236 public universities and religiously affiliated and non-religiously affiliated private institutions. Three years later, they reconnected with 14,527 of these students, then juniors, at 136 institutions. As part of their study, faculty members in these colleges were surveyed as well.

To begin, Astin et al. (2011) defined “spiritual development” simply as “how students make meaning of their education and their lives, how they develop a sense of purpose, the value and belief dilemmas that they experience, as well as the role of religion, the sacred, and the mystical in their lives” (p. 28). Conversely, religiousness was described as “an adherence to a set of faith-based beliefs concerning both the origins of the world and the nature of the entity or being that is believed to have created and govern the world” (p. 5).

In building their study, Astin et al. (2011) established measures for spirituality and religiousness. Spirituality included five measures. First, “spiritual quest” assessed a student's interest in searching for meaning and purpose in life. Second, “equanimity” assessed the extent to which a student had a sense of peace and meaning throughout hard or difficult times. Third, “ethics of caring” measured a student's commitment to values of helping others, promoting understanding, and pursuing social justice. Fourth, “charitable

involvement” measured how students participated in community service, helping others, and providing charitable giving. Fifth, “ecumenical worldview” measured the level at which a student displayed interest in diverse religions, cultures, or points of view.

Likewise, Astin et al. (2011) established five measures of religiousness. “Religious commitment” revealed the student’s level of desire to follow religious teachings in daily life. Next, “religious engagement” reflected behaviors such as frequency of attending worship services, praying, and engaging in scripture reading. Third, “social conservatism” measured a student’s opposition to controversial activities, such as abortion, casual sex, and the view that God punishes those who do not believe.

“Religious skepticism” measured such items as the universe growing by chance and apparent scientific incongruity with faith. Lastly, "religious struggle” measured the level at which a student felt unsettled with religious matters.

Findings from Astin et al. (2011) revealed that religious engagement declined in college, but spiritual exploration grew substantially. For example, study participants reported growth in becoming more caring, tolerant, connected with others, and more actively engaged in their spiritual journeys (Astin et al., 2011). Astin et al. (2011) also found spiritual growth to positively influence other outcomes such as academic performance, leadership development, and satisfaction with the college experience.

Activities including service learning, study abroad, and interdisciplinary studies appeared to significantly contribute to the spiritual growth of students. In like manner, personal activities such as meditation, self-reflection, and self-questioning of purpose also contributed to growth in students' spiritual development. Three-quarters of students

indicated that they were searching for meaning and purpose in life, and 73% stated that their religious and spiritual beliefs helped develop their identity.

Results of Astin et al. (2011) also showed that college appeared to be a time of spiritual struggle and change. For example, two-thirds of students questioned their beliefs during college. Although the study showed that students attended religious services and events less often as they progress through college, a majority of students stated it was "very important" to integrate spirituality into their lives, to develop a meaningful philosophy of life, and to help others who are in need (p. 43). Even though there appeared to be strong interest in spirituality and faith by students, institutions did not appear to be meeting these needs in the academic setting. Further, nearly two-thirds of students said professors never encouraged discussions of spiritual or religious matters.

While this figure differed from major to major, almost all students surveyed reported dissatisfaction with the number of opportunities given them to reflect on religious or spiritual matters.

Astin et al.’s (2011) work was groundbreaking, particularly regarding the issue of student spiritual growth. However, a few other studies have focused on religious expression and growth of students. Lee (2002) examined the relationship between college attendance and religion. Her research found that of 5,326 respondents, more than

48% reported no change in religious beliefs and convictions during college. In addition,

13.7% reported a weaker faith, while 37.9% reported a strengthening of faith.

These results contradicted Lee’s (2002) hypothesis and previous empirical evidence (Astin, 1993; Levine, 1980) claiming that college produces a decline in religious beliefs and convictions. Thus, Lee’s (2002) findings showed that the college

experience does not have the clear influence on changing students’ religious beliefs as was hypothesized. Specifically, married students were more likely to attend religious activities than single students. Moreover, Lee (2002) found that such religious activities contributed to the strengthening of religious convictions, and students’ regular attendance at religious services predicted a positive change in religious beliefs. As it relates to student goals, those who pursued financial wealth reported a weakening of religious convictions in college. Conversely, those who pursued a goal of improving society or influencing social values reported a positive change in religious convictions. In contrast to Lee’s (2002) hypothesis, involvement in diversity-related activities made no clear effect on changing students’ religious beliefs.

Although findings by Astin et al. (2011) and Lee (2002) provide excellent insight into the soul of college students, their research only focused on the spiritual concerns of students from their first year to their junior year of college. More research is required to understand the interplay of religious beliefs and expressions of spirituality during the post-graduation transition. My study sought to partially fill this void.

Religious Institution Student Development Findings

Student development at religious institutions is a point of interest because faith- based institutions seek to create a campus environment that positively emphasizes the holistic and spiritual development of students (Braskamp et al., 2006), but they can create homogeneous and restrictive environments that could hinder cognitive development and create greater spiritual struggles (Holcomb & Nonneman, 2004). Nevertheless, Powell,

Tisdale, Willingham, Bustrum and Allan (2012) demonstrated that students at faith-based institutions made significant growth in discovery of self, authentic connection with

others, and an authentic connection with God. They also found that personal crises have often shown to be developmentally beneficial for Christian college students.

In their study of 10 private, church-related colleges, including Catholic, protestant, and evangelical institutions, Braskamp et al. (2006) sought to better understand how an entire campus can influence student development. Using the categories of culture, curriculum, co-curriculum, and community, researchers evaluated how faith-based institutions set out to holistically and purposefully interact with students as they progressed through college. Braskamp et al. (2006) concluded that campuses that

"purposefully developed students" were characterized as having a true mission, not just rhetoric, integrated student learning and development, and a community of support and challenge for students, faculty, and staff. Their research did not, however, evaluate how graduates of these purposeful institutions would be characterized or uniquely positioned in society.

A quadrant of higher education that is of value to this dissertation is the CCCU.

Stokes and Regnerus (2009) published an exhaustive review of the research of CCCU schools and the moral and spiritual development of their students. Overall, they found that Christian liberal-arts schools in the CCCU “exhibited higher levels of moral and spiritual development and more faithful attendance at religious services than [did] students from other institutions” (Stokes & Regnerus, 2009, p. 2). However, they tempered this praise noting that CCCU students might have scored higher levels of spiritual and moral development because CCCU institutions attract students who are already predisposed to pursue spiritual growth. Nevertheless, the CCCU surmised, “the

mechanisms by which Christian colleges may stimulate moral and spiritual development are woefully underspecified” (Stokes & Regnerus, 2009, p. 2).

Likewise, a small group of studies have focused on students’ faith changes while at CCCU institutions. In a study of CCCU schools, Kuh (2000) stated that CCCU member, denominationally affiliated, liberal-arts schools appeared to foster environments where students grew in character beyond what would be expected from the students' intrinsically motivated efforts. He qualified this finding by reminding readers about the small sample size of the CCCU member population. In another study, Holcomb and

Nonneman (2004) examined the spiritual growth among 200 students at six Christian universities and found that crises forced students to reevaluate their belief structures.

They posited that the experience of cognitive dissonance caused students to confront inadequacies of previously held beliefs.

Ma (2003) also evaluated Christian colleges’ influence on student spirituality. In a quantitative study of 953 students at 18 colleges and universities, Ma (2003) discovered that navigating a crisis or trauma while in college was one of the most influential non- academic factors reported as helpful to student spirituality. In addition, Barrett (2015) studied the relationship between the spiritual development of students and service learning. The quantitative portion of her study surveyed 272 Boston College students, involved in PULSE, a service-learning program. Barrett (2015) found that 80% of students reported spiritual growth because of service learning. The most significant growth was found when students experienced substantial challenges balanced by support.

The study showed that spiritual crisis could be shaped and used for the student’s benefit if done with intentionality and care.

Young People Struggling with Religion

Although most research about spirituality and religious expression of young people focuses on those in the early college experience (Astin et al., 2011; Bryant, Choi,

& Yasuno, 2003; Holcomb & Nonneman, 2004), research over the past 20 years has consistently shown a decline in pursuing religious activity and involvement for those in their twenties (Astin et al., 2011; Kinnaman, 2011; Wuthnow, 2007). In response to this concern, more studies from the religious community arose to address the issue.

In a thorough synthesis of General Social Survey data, Wuthnow (2007) identified a decrease in religious activity among young people. In fact, he stated that faith communities have six million fewer young people active in their communities than they did 30 years ago. Wuthnow (2007) asserted that changes in the religious activity of this new generation are connected to the support society gives people in their twenties and thirties. He noted that from elementary through undergraduate years, young people were given structure for support and socialization (Wuthnow, 2007). Churches and parishes also aided in this support structure by providing faith communities and religious education. Nevertheless, Wuthnow (2007) stated, “After providing significant institutional support for the developmental tasks that occurred before then, we provide almost nothing for the developmental tasks for the people in their twenties and thirties”

(p. 12). Based on his research, he proposed six reasons why the Millennial generation has decreasing religious participation: individuals delaying marriage, people subsequently having fewer children, an uncertainty of work and finances, greater attainment of higher education, loosening familial relationships, and the globalization of society.

Using existing research from interviews with 27,140 Millennials from 206 studies, Kinnaman (2011), President of the Barna Group, addressed why 57 participants who attended churches frequently as teenagers no longer participated in faith communities. His research found that of those who reported monthly churchgoing and participation, overall there was a 43% drop in religious engagement between the teens and early adult years. Kinnaman’s (2011) findings suggest that American teenagers are some of the most religiously active Americans, but American twenty-somethings are some of the least active. In his analysis, Kinnaman (2011) created three groups to describe the spiritual journeys of individuals in their twenties: “nomads,” “prodigals,” and “exiles.”

Kinnaman (2011) said that nomads are still self-described Christians but have walked away from active involvement with a church or faith community. They view their faith as seasonal, he wrote, and choose to disengage themselves from the church.

For nomads, personal involvement with a faith community is optional, as the importance of faith has faded, and they have become spiritual experimentalists. On the other hand, those he labeled prodigals have abandoned the Christian faith entirely and either hold no faith or have switched to a different faith.

Prodigals were described as being either head- or heart-driven. Head-driven prodigals, he argued, do not find Christianity intellectually sufficient, while heart-driven prodigals have been wounded and rejected by those in the Christian faith. Although both prodigals and nomads have moved on from Christianity, Kinnaman (2011) found that nomads were more common than prodigals.

Exiles claimed faith but are stuck between trying to reconcile the culture and the church (Kinnaman, 2011). He described these individuals as having grown up in the church and now are disconnected in areas, but still desiring to pursue God-honoring lives.

Kinnaman (2011) further characterized exiles in a number of ways. First, he asserted that they do not want to be separated from the world, but they want their faith to matter. They also are skeptical of institutions, but they are not completely disengaged from these institutions. He added that unlike older generations, exiles sense God moving outside of the church and are not disillusioned with tradition or shallow expressions of religion.

Lastly, Kinnaman (2011) stated that exiles typically have not found their faith to to be able to give them direction in life. They also struggled with the questions or lack of approval both other Christians. His major concern in identifying these groups was to draw attention to the need for those within the church to learn to build effective and authentic relationships with young people. Unfortunately, the study did not address three concepts from which my dissertation could have built: (1) What were the characteristics and spiritual journeys of individuals who remained in the church? (2) What role did college play in religious exodus? and (3) What occurred during the transition period after college as students moved further into adulthood?

Studies on religious engagement and young adults span denominations and divides. Hayes (2007), the leader of a Catholic outreach ministry, explored the religious landscape of young people to determine differences and similarities in faith expression between Generation X and Millennials. He interviewed 12 individuals about their faith experience within the Catholic Church. Hayes (2007) discovered three key characteristics of these young people. First, he found that young adults within the

Catholic faith assume they can access God and their faith as easily as they access information on the internet.

Second, Hayes (2007) identified “information overload” as a key characteristic of young peoples’ lives, and he said they experienced a continual barrage of choices and information (p. xii). Lastly, he argued that young adults were a generation of diversity.

The backgrounds, interests, and faith expressions of youth should not be oversimplified or generalized, he noted, and as such, church leaders needed to be more engaged in the varying interests and spiritual explorations of young people (Hayes, 2007). Hayes (2007) further suggested that explorations of individual spirituality are of great importance to young people and should be encouraged (Hayes, 2007). Therefore, although many young people question religion during their twenties, research has shown that expressions of spirituality fluctuate and defy categorization (Astin et al., 2011; Cherry, DeBerg, &

Porterfield, 2001; Hayes, 2007).

Research specifically evaluating Catholic students and Catholic institutions revealed similar patterns. Bryant and Astin (2008) evaluated responses of students at

Catholic schools who completed the College Student Beliefs and Values (CSBV) survey.

They found that eight percent of college freshmen at Catholic universities left the faith between their first year and third year. “Only 13% of those at Catholic colleges who entered self-identifying as Catholic and who did not self-identify as such in their junior year indicated in the survey that they had converted to another religion during college”

(Bryant & Astin, 2008, p. 11). Though Bryant and Astin were encouraged that Catholic schools helped students navigate and remain in their faith better than secular schools, the

results demonstrated that catholic young people were left with dissonance between the teachings of their religious faith and life experience in college.

Gaps in Faith and the Institution Literature

Research on faith and institutions abounds across the literature of higher education and theology. This review covers only research that is germane to the study of how student leader graduates of Christian colleges make meaning spiritually. The Astin et al. (2011) study proved to be groundbreaking, providing exhaustive insight into college student spirituality and religiousness. However, the study focused solely on the development from the first-to-junior year of college (Astin et al., 2011). Conversely,

Kinnaman (2011), Hayes (2007), and Wuthnow (2007) identified patterns of young people struggling with matters of religion and spirituality during their twenties and provided compelling explanations for such struggle. Nonetheless, no study identified how the transitional period after college might influence such a struggle or how the period might encourage spiritual growth, or, more significantly, how the faith-based college experience might affect students' ability to navigate the struggle. CCCU and

Catholic colleges have been studied extensively (Braskamp et al., 2006; Bryant et al.,

2003; Holcomb & Nonneman, 2004), but not the faith experiences of their recent graduates.

Although studies of student spirituality have recently been a focal point for higher education, and religious institutions have considered spiritual integration a mission since the beginning of American higher education (Rudolf, 1990), more research is required to understand how spiritual meaning-making occurs in the transition period after college.

Literature of Related Student Development and Higher Education Theory

Student development theory offers multiple lenses from which to view the meaning-making of college student leaders as they navigate the graduation transition.

Within the umbrella of human/student development theories, cognitive theorists such as

Perry (1970), and integrative theorists Kegan (1994) and Baxter Magolda (2009) provide insight into how students construct meaning of their world and how they strive on a journey to increasing complexity. These theories, built from preceding works, also show how individuals grow from being controlled by the influence of others to gaining the ability to exercise control over their personal behaviors, relationships, and activities.

Many of these theories were drawn from longitudinal data. Also within human/student development theories, psychosocial and identity development theories offer further understanding of how students navigate transitions, crises, and life commitments such as college graduation, relocating, and entering the workplace (Erikson, 1968; Josselson,

1987; Marcia, 1980).

Understanding transition theory research is also an important exploration for this study. Schlossberg et al’s. (1995) work focused primarily on the transitions of life and how individuals construct meaning during change. Spiritual development theory looks specifically at how individuals explore the purpose and meaning of one's life about the unknown, sacred, and divine (Palmer, 1999). Additionally, the works of Fowler (1981) and Parks (2000) provide the groundwork for understanding spiritual development.

Attention will also be paid to more recent research specifically relevant to this study.

Human/Student Development Theories

Perry’s (1970) and especially Fowler’s (1981) work serve as a foundation for this dissertation, as the work of Parks (2000, 2011) and others built contemporary applications to their seminal studies. Also, Perry (1970) is a helpful starting point in understanding developmental theory and is useful for constructing an understanding of how individuals grow in thinking over a lifetime. For this dissertation, it is important to explain Perry’s (1970) theory because Parks (2000) built upon his work but also made important distinctions from Perry’s (1970) assertions.

Perry

Perry (1970) completed a 15-year study of male Harvard students in the 1950s and 1960s designed to understand how these individuals constructed knowledge. Perry’s

(1970) theory of cognitive development delineated the ways individuals perceived and organized knowledge. In his study, Perry (1970) recognized nine linear positions of perception and grouped these positions into four groups of cognitive development. In the dualistic period, students exhibit a concrete and rigid understanding of knowledge.

Students hold tightly to established beliefs and struggle with information that would conflict with such beliefs. Authorities are viewed as absolute and are not questioned. In the next period, multiplicity, students realize that knowledge has gray areas and is imparted imperfectly. However, during this period students continue to believe that truth is absolute, although their understanding of truth may be less certain. In the relativistic period, students learn how to use strategies of information finding and analysis, including how to design experiments and analyze evidence (Perry, 1970). Finally, in the period of commitment to relativism, students understand the fallibility of their own decisions. They

also begin to construct a holistic worldview through which they process knowledge and form opinions. The transition to this stage is most common after college. Therefore,

Perry (1970) argued, as students graduate, they are more likely to be applying a refined paradigm by which to view the world and construct meaning. The post-graduation period tests this paradigm and must be understood.

Kegan

Kegan's (1994) Orders of Consciousness illustrated the movement from simple to complex constructs experienced through personal development and the holistic nature of development. Although it would be helpful to understand development through each of the separate theoretical lenses, such as cognitive, interpersonal, or identity development,

Kegan (1994) argued that a person experiences transition in growth across all areas of development in tandem. Subsequently, his theory does not easily fit into a theoretical category because he believed that development should be understood through the “order of the mind” (Kegan, 1994, p. 23). Kegan (1994) suggested that much of life is spent in transitional phases of development between orders of consciousness.

According to his theory, students begin to recognize unique personal characteristics, learn to self-reflect, and more successfully direct their own steps in life as they move through specific levels of consciousness. Subsequently, levels of consciousness or development occur through the process of subject-object differentiation (Kegan, 1994).

Kegan (1994) explained that subject refers to the “aspects of knowing or organizing” that are embedded within us, or “which we are tied to.” (p. 32). Object refers “to those elements of our knowing or organizing that we can reflect on, handle, look at, be responsible for, relate to each other, take control of, internalize, assimilate, or otherwise

operate upon” (p. 32). Throughout five possible levels of consciousness, what was

“subject” at a lower level becomes “object” at the next successive level; or, in other words, what was characterized as lacking in one’s meaning making at a lower level is something one can define, navigate, and control at a higher level of consciousness.

Kegan’s (1994) second, third, and fourth orders of consciousness are potentially encountered from adolescence to adulthood; therefore, they draw the most interest for my research as they represent the potential development of college student leaders. At the second level, “the durable category,” self-concept, needs, and preferences are “subject,” while impulses and perceptions are understood and controlled. The college experience may help involved student leaders open themselves to the third level of consciousness,

“cross-categorical thinking” (Kegan, 1994). At this level, one can “think abstractly, identify a complex internal psychological life, orient to the welfare of human relationship, construct values and ideals self-consciously” (p. 75). According to Kegan

(1994), relationships are paramount at this level and define one’s understanding.

Therefore, relationships in residence halls, organizations, Greek-life, or other activities could powerfully define a student leader during the college experience.

The underlying structure of the fourth level of consciousness (Kegan, 1994) allows the individual to become capable of understanding complexities. Individuals become capable of self-authorship, where they are able to, “take charge of the concepts and theories of a course or discipline, marshalling on behalf of our independently chosen topic its internal procedures for formulating and validating knowledge” (p. 303). At this level, individuals can also have an understanding or “a relationship to the relationship”

(Kegan, p. 92) and gain perspective on values, allowing one to begin sorting through paradoxes and differing value sets.

Baxter Magolda

Baxter Magolda (2009) synthesized her findings from over 20 years of interviewing young adults in a longitudinal study of self-authorship. Incorporating

Kegan (1994), she defined self-authorship as, “the internal capacity to define one's beliefs, identity and social relations” (2001, p. 269). Baxter Magolda (2009) described a

“journey” through which individuals can “move toward self-authorship,” “build a self- authored system,” and even “move beyond self-authorship” (p. 3). She wrote, “Meaning- making structures refer to the underlying organizing principles of how we make sense of our world. We organize meaning using a particular structure, or rule, until we encounter discrepancies between our structure and reality” (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 323).

Baxter Magolda (2009) stated that individuals maintain a structure as long as possible, accounting for new incongruent experiences as exceptions. However, as

“external formulas” prove not to be valid or satisfactory, individuals come to a

“crossroads” on their journey at which they are torn between following others and exploring their own vision and personal expectations (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 323).

Baxter Magolda (2009) described many college students to be at the crossroads. Two elements within the crossroads draw the focus of the individual. First, students start

“listening to their internal voice” (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 4). They begin to recognize that their opinions, convictions, and motivations are drawn from within themselves rather than primarily outside forces. Consequently, they begin to incorporate this “internal voice” into their conversations and relationships (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 324).

Second, they “cultivate the internal voice” to help them sort through beliefs and establish priorities (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 324). Simultaneously, they stop listening to the

“external noises” speaking in their life (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 324).

Baxter Magolda (2009) reasoned that individuals could spend many years, well beyond college, at the crossroads. Nevertheless, some of her participants gradually moved beyond the crossroads. This movement caused individuals to build a “self- authored system” (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 325). Participants crossed the bridge of self- authorship when they began to “trust their internal voice” (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 9), which had to be built by “moving the source of one’s beliefs, identity, and social relations inside oneself” (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 325). Therefore, “Trusting their internal voice” involved understanding that circumstances and life events happened beyond their control (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 325). However, they also realized that they could control their understanding and reactions to such realities. This awareness of their voice and confidence in it created periods in which participants, “explored the shadowlands,” or

“times of confusion, ambiguity, fear, and even despair as individuals struggled to analyze and reconstruct some aspect of their beliefs, identity, or relationships in various contexts”

(Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 326). As individuals reflected on these challenging periods, she argued, they emerged with a clearer personal vision and greater confidence.

According to Baxter Magolda (2009), their individual reflection skills and support systems influenced the depth and duration of “shadow land” experiences (p. 326).

In creating a system of self-authorship, participants also “built an internal foundation,” or a personal philosophy, framework, or worldview to shape their reactions to the realities of life (Baxter Magolda, 2009, p. 327). Additionally, participants “secured

internal commitments” by moving from merely fulfilling life responsibilities and allegiances to groups and organizations to embodying such commitments (Baxter

Magolda, 2009, p. 327). Some participants described this passage as “crossing over into wisdom” (p. 71). Baxter Magolda’s (2009) theory of self-authorship clearly demonstrates how students can experience shifts in how they think, view the world, and make sense of their lives, if given proper challenge and support.

Erikson

When considering the spiritual meaning-making of individuals, it is important to understand the psychosocial development of students as this will provide a framework to comprehend the specifics of spiritual development. Psychosocial developmental theory investigates the personal and interpersonal lives of individuals as they navigate periods of life (Evans et al., 2010). One’s personal and social life are affected by and connected to the spiritual core of one’s being. Therefore, this review of the research must outline the major advances of psychosocial theory. Erikson (1963, 1968, 1980) developed eight stages of psychosocial human development, building on the work of Freud (1917).

Central to Erikson’s (1963) understanding of development is the concept of internal and external crises that put identity at a crossroads. The eight stages of development cover a lifetime of conflict and change (Erikson, 1980). However, given the focus of this dissertation being on traditional age college experience (roughly age 18 to

23), it is only necessary to focus on the two stages of conflict: the adolescent and young adult stages. During adolescence, approximately 13 to 18 years old, individuals deal with the conflict of identity (Erikson, 1980). This period causes confusion about one's understanding of self and position in life. According to Erikson (1980), children explore

independence during this time and look to authorities, such as mentors and teachers, to help them make sense of life's confusion. In addition, if an individual finds support and reinforcement to help positively navigate independence, then he or she will develop what

Erikson (1980) described as fidelity, or the ability to live within society’s guiding principles and expectations.

The period of young adulthood (age 18 to midlife) is characterized by conflict from developing personal relationships defined by intimacy or, conversely, dealing with isolation. Erikson (1980) stressed the importance of navigating each stage successfully.

He noted that those who struggled with identity during the teenage years were more likely to face isolation, loneliness, and depression during early adulthood. If individuals positively navigated conflict during the young adult stage, they developed what Erikson

(1980) described as love, marked by the ability to form lasting, mature relationships.

Marcia

Marcia (1966, 1980, 1989) used Erikson’s (1963) work to expand the understanding of identity development, although he studied only men in his research.

Along with the understanding of crisis, Marcia (1980) stressed the importance of commitment to identity as one develops. He contended that commitments made in the presence of life crises, seen as an exploration opportunity, helped to shape the identity of the individual. Marcia (1980) established four states of identity formation: diffusion, foreclosure, moratorium, and achievement, and he asserted that each state was neither progressive nor linear, nor lasting. In the state of diffusion, an adolescent has not come to the point of making an identity commitment. Within the state of foreclosure, a low degree of crisis is present but also a high degree of commitment. These individuals often

yield to the expectations of others, and they have not questioned the values or beliefs they have learned from others.

Marcia (1980) argued that the moratorium state was characterized by a high level of exploration of identity and a low level of commitment to identity. Individuals in this stage are experiencing an identity crisis, though they have not determined how the crisis will lead to a response affecting their identity. Finally, when one finds an achievement of identity, he or she has formed a clear identity. Their exploration is matched by their commitment. They have found, tested, and adopted the beliefs and values that suit their lives.

Josselson

Josselson (1987) adopted Marcia's four stages in her research to create four pathways to identity. Because Marcia’s (1987) study was limited to men, Josselson

(1987) felt that women’s exploration and establishment of identity should also be understood over the lifespan. She interviewed more than 60 women near the end of their college experience to help form her identity theory. Josselson (1987) defined identity as the “stable, consistent and reliable sense of who one is and what one stands for in the world” (p. 10). Therefore, in reexamining states of identity, Josselson (1996) found four pathways to personal identity, including “guardians, pathmakers, searchers, and drifters”

(p. 275). Guardians, also described as “foreclosures,” characterized women who made identity commitments without the presence of crisis (Josselson, 1996, p. 275). Often these commitments were formed by parental or childhood influences. Security is a prioritized desire for these individuals, often found in the proximity of family.

Pathmakers, also referred to as “identity achievers” found commitments through the process of fully considering alternatives and options and pursuing a calculated path

(Josselson, 1996, p.75). She argued that some of these women go through an open period of questioning, while others develop from foreclosure to this state. Searchers or

“moratorium” individuals also actively explore possibilities in finding identity but struggle to make clear choices (Josselson, 1996, p. 136). This group often looks to peers to validate behavior, but they are often riddled with personal guilt. Josselson (1996) added, however, that this group was very self-reflective and sensitive. Finally, drifters, or “identity diffusers” are characterized by not having formed clear identities and not being concerned by this lack of formation (1996, p. 142). Understandably, this group struggles to internalize difficulties, beliefs, and values, and lacks the ability to make formative life choices.

Transition Theories

My dissertation's focus on the time period from graduation to post-graduation required an examination of literature related to transition theory. Schossberg et al. (1995) and Fox (2011) provide a relevant understanding of how college graduates navigate the post-college transition.

Schlossberg

Schlossberg et al. (1995) defined transition as “any event or people that results in change in relationships, routines, assumptions and roles” (p. 27). A critical element for change to be considered a transition is that the individual experiencing it defines it as such (Schlossberg et al., 1995). That is, if the person going through a change does not view it as a significant or profound process, Schlossberg et al. (1995) argued, the change

should not be considered a life transition. Since most of undergraduate life and study is preparing the individual for completing a degree, graduating from college would likely be regarded as an anticipated transition, one of three types of transitions which are defined by Schlossberg et al. (1995).

Schlossberg et al. (1995) believed that while graduation is classified as a single, anticipated event that sets off a chain reaction of change, the transition itself continues over a given period. They divided this time into three phases: moving in, moving through, and moving out. Moving in and moving out describe the activity of the first phase (Schlossberg et al., 1995, p. 156). For example, a college student moves off campus and must grapple with letting go of the identity therein. Schlossberg et al. (1995) noted that an awareness of one's identity is vital to navigating the transition. Their study suggested that answering the questions "Who am I?" and "What gives meaning to my life?" is key to completing the transition successfully. To do so, the individual must disengage from the identity of the pre-transition period in the “moving through” phase.

They characterized the moving through phase as a process of searching, where the individual is “relinquishing one set of roles, relationships, routines, and assumptions, and struggling to figure out what is next” (Schlossberg, 2004, p. 19). It is here that the individual negotiates new opportunities and experiences and assumes his or her revised identity.

Another element of Schlossberg et al.’s (1995) theory that is helpful in the context of graduation and post-graduation is her finding that individuals react differently to similar transitions. They asserted that the context of the transition and the degree of influence the transition has on daily life alters one's perception of the transition and

informs how one copes with it (Schlossberg, 1984). Schlossberg et al. (1995) determined that four factors influence one's ability to handle transitions: situation, self, support, and strategies. The “4 Ss” describe the resources at an individual’s disposable, or what could be considered their liabilities and assets. In interpreting Schlossberg and her colleagues work (1995), it is the ratio of these 4 Ss—assets to liabilities—that informs the level at which an individual can cope with transition successfully, and, therefore, clarifies why different individuals can react differently to the same transition.

According to Schlossberg et al. (1995), the importance of the 4 Ss rested in their influence on the perception of the individual during transition and their ability to manage it successfully. The factor labeled Situation was large in scope and included triggers leading up to the transition, timing, and whether it was viewed as “good” or “bad”; the perceived level of control; whether the role change was seen as a loss or a gain; the duration and level of uncertainty about the permanence of the change; previous experience with a similar transition; and success in dealing with it, with other simultaneous concerns, and with assigning responsibility for the transition (Schlossberg et al., 1995). Graduation represented an identifiable and predictable situation. However, the factor self was not as certain. It was divided into two variables: personal and demographic characteristics and psychological resources, such as outlook, self-efficacy, values, and ego development (Schlossberg et al., 1995).

The third factor, support, included the social support of family, friends, intimate relationships, and other social communities. This factor varied based on the type of supports available to the individual and his or her dependency on them. For the final factor, strategies, Schlossberg et al. (1995) engaged Pearlin and Schooler’s (1978) three

types of coping responses: alter the environment in which the stress occurs, individually control the meaning of the stress, and respond to the stress with control.

Schlossberg's (1995) seminal work on transition theory and understanding life events that entail change provides valuable insight about the immediate post-graduation experience and provides context for other relevant theories such as identity development.

Her work additionally offers insights of how graduates can experience a similar transition and yet perceive it differently and navigate it with varying levels of success.

Fox

A dissertation by Fox (2011) studied how college students navigate the first year away from college. Using a qualitative, grounded-theory approach, she interviewed 13 graduates of a large state institution over an 18-month period to determine how they made sense of the post-college transition. Her study did not focus specifically on student leaders, but rather on a cross-section of nominated seniors who helped her achieve

“maximum variation” (Fox, 2011, p. 70). Fox (2011) described three findings that became the foundation of her research: the process of the graduation transition, the construct of transitioning into adulthood, and the ways recent graduates approach the life transition. She described the process of working through this life transition as a period of

“figuring it out” (Fox, 2011, p. 135).

According to Fox (2011), graduates equated the post-college journey to the transition to adulthood. She identified four common characteristics that were prevalent during the transition from college to adult living. First, Fox (2011) described managing loss as isolation and loneliness experienced during transition, coupled with a feeling of loss and unanticipated life challenges. Second, establishing place was characterized by

the process of implementing new personal responsibilities, roles, goals, and priorities.

Fox (2011) found that students reported feeling that much of their life had been planned out up to the point of graduation. However, after college, these individuals were forced to independently establish their own parameters of living for the first time.

Third, focusing on self demonstrated the preoccupation of self-interest or selfish living common amongst participants. Fourth, in searching for purpose, participants had a strong desire to explore personal passions, make a contribution of meaningful work, and ultimately to make a difference with their lives. These common characteristics of transition were especially poignant for individuals who had not faced significant challenges earlier in life. Fox (2011) also shared that these characteristics were active and overlapping, revealing the complexity of life transition and the potential for it to overwhelm individuals as they began to navigate adulthood.

Furthermore, Fox (2011) described five distinct approaches individuals used as they traversed the graduation transition: initiator, instrumentalist, observer, adaptor, and traditionalist. Fox (2011) wrote that initiators were proactive “go-getters” willing to take risks during transition and proactively approach the change with enthusiasm, both professionally and personally. On the other hand, instrumentalists viewed the post- college transition as a temporary period of time where current experiences were seen as a means to an end. Individuals who went straight to graduate programs were categorized as instrumentalists. Although they did not know the future, instrumentalists were actively focused on long-term goals and taking steps towards securing such goals. In addition, observers were characterized as recent graduates who had not yet made long-term personal or professional goals but were willing to let life present itself in the moment.

Fox (2011) described adaptors as individuals “molded by the experiences and situations that surrounded them” (p. 217). Adaptors were most likely to be stuck straddling the line between college and post-college life. They maintained ties to the college environment and felt torn between past and future. Finally, traditionalists were hesitant of change and most likely to settle for something familiar than embrace chaos or limbo within the transition. In particular, they were hesitant and reluctant to engage change, preferred to be settled and secured, and often compromised to create stability.

Fox’s (2011) study provided many salient points for shaping my dissertation.

First, she specifically sought to understand how students make sense specifically of the transition period after college. Her observations are rich with insight about the struggles, coping mechanisms, and connections needed for students' post-college experience.

Second, Fox's qualitative study provides insight into how to logistically navigate ways to connect with graduates and collect data. Finally, although she sought to understand the experience of students in transition, Fox (2011) did not specifically look at student leaders. Her study did not aim to illuminate the spiritual meaning-making of these students. In fact, only one passing reference to faith or spirituality was made within Fox's

(2011) research.

Understanding the Philosophy and Theory of Spiritual Development

Scholars throughout history have wrestled with giving voice and understanding to spirituality and meaning making of individuals within a society. For example, Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, who lived in the 19th century, believed the understanding or “unfolding” of truth to be the ultimate consideration for a person

(Kierkegaard, 2004, p. 3). According to Kierkegaard, this truth has objective features,

but it is wrapped within and understood completely by the individual, as part of the understanding of the divine or eternal. “Eternity is obliged to do this, because to have a self, to be a self, is the greatest concession, an infinite concession, given to [humans], but is eternity’s claim upon [them]” (Kierkegaard, 2004).

Kierkegaard had a great influence on existentialist thinkers that followed him, such as Martin Buber (1958) and Paul Tillich (2001). Buber (1958), in considering the spiritual, developed a dialogue to describe a person’s growing, lifelong “relation” or

“conversation” with their existence (Buber, 1958). In the “I-it” relation (1958, p. 3), the individual understands the world and other only functionally, or as commodities; one views relationships through the lens of self-interest. However, within the “I-Thou” relationship, the person understands their interconnectivity with others through life. The individual experiences mutual dialogue and respect with others and objects they encounter. Within this conversation, a person discovers transformation through the unity of relationship, and this unity points the individual towards the divine. “In every sphere in its own way, through each process of becoming that is present to us, we look out toward the fringe of the eternal Thou; in each we are aware of the breath from the eternal

Thou; in each Thou we address the eternal Thou” (Buber, 1958, p. 101). Buber understood human relationships as a necessary means to understand and connect to God.

Tillich also influenced by Kierkegaard, examined how the individual experiences faith. “Faith is the state of being ultimately concerned” (p. 1). Tillich believed faith is a

“centered act” that involves the entirety of a person’s existence. This faith, according to

Tillich (2001) presupposed doubt, but maintained that courage works to overcome it within the individual. Courage leads faith to take action, often expressed in love within

the context of a community (Tillich, 2001). “Love is an implication of faith, namely the desire for the reunion of separated. This makes faith a matter of community … Since faith leads to action and action presupposes community, the state of ultimate concern is actual only within a community of action” (Tillich, 2001, pp. 135-136). Understanding these actions of faith within community during the post-college transition will be a primary focus of this research.

An individualized understanding of modern faith and spirituality also was presented through the work of Bellah, Madsen, Swindler, Sullivan and Tipton (1996).

They interviewed 200 white, middle-class Americans from 1979 to 1984, to determine how they made meaning in public and private dimensions of their lives. Specifically, they identified, “what resources Americans have for making sense of their lives, how they think about themselves and their society, and how their ideas relate to their actions”

(Bellah et al., 1996). Tocqueville’s writings and analysis of the uniqueness of American culture served as a reference point for their work.

Bellah et al. (1996) argued that individualism has become the strongest driving factor in society, driving down the influence of biblical and republican societal traditions.

Therefore, individuals work within society for their own expression, meaning and cultivation of self and fulfillment. However, Bellah et al. (1996) posited that the opportunity for community is still an essential part of societal understanding. They define community as, “a group of people who are socially interdependent, who participate together in discussion and decision making, and who share certain practices that both define the community and are nurtured by it” (Bellah et al., 1996, p. 333).

Specifically, religion in modern society has become a community understood through

individualism. The authors used a term “Sheilaism,” named after one of the interviewees, to characterize the modern individualistic religion of society, in which, “God is simply the self-magnified” (1996, p. 235).

Beyond a broad philosophical understanding of spirituality, perhaps a most important area of literature to examine is spiritual development theory. As mentioned before, though both religion and spirituality can greatly influence the direction of a person’s life before, during, and after college, Palmer (1999) posited that an individual cannot truly connect to the purpose of life and work until he or she grasps deeper identity, found through spiritual searching. The study of spiritual development seeks to understand such searching and attempts to examine the internalization of an individual’s purpose and calling in life. Palmer (1999) described this development as “authentic spirituality.”

Authentic spirituality wants to open us to truth — whatever truth may be,

wherever truth may take us. Such a spirituality does not dictate where we must go

but trusts that any path walked with integrity will take us to a place of knowledge.

Such a spirituality encourages us to welcome diversity and conflict, to tolerate

ambiguity, and to embrace paradox. (Palmer, 1999, p. xi)

Spiritual developmental theories (Fowler, 1981; Parks, 2000) support Palmer’s (1999) description. However, it is important to note that spiritual development does not mean necessarily mean a spiritual progression beyond religious parameters, but rather an individual truly internalizing faith beliefs and values that allow him or her to pursue significance in life and meaningful relationships with others. With these concepts in mind, I will draw attention to the work of Fowler (1981) and Parks (2000, 2011) while

also evaluating more recent studies on the phenomenon of spiritual development during the post-graduation period.

Fowler

Any study of faith development must include the seminal work of Fowler (1981).

Fowler and Dell’s (2006) research on faith development over a life span sought to provide a framework for understanding how humans conceptualize God or a Higher

Being. Consequently, his research also examined the influence of a Higher Being on core values, beliefs, and meaning in the personal lives of believers and their relationships with others (Fowler & Dell, 2006). Fowler was one of the first theorists to address spirituality from a developmental standpoint over an individual's lifetime (Fowler, 1981). His (1981) study drew from the works of Piaget (1932, 1950) and Kohlberg (1984), and consequently, Fowler’s (1981) six stages of faith development followed the pattern of these researchers’ respective theories on intellectual and moral development.

Fowler (1981) developed his theory from interviews with 359 individuals age three to 84 years old between 1972 and 1981. The six stages he outlined included: 1)

Intuitive-Projective, 2) Mythic-Literal, 3) Synthetic-Conventional, 4) Individuative-

Reflective, 5) Conjunctive, and 6) Universalizing. Specifically, the college student experience can encourage growth from the adolescent stage of Synthetic-Conventional

Faith to adult stages of understanding personal faith (Fowler, 1981).

Many traditional-aged, incoming first-year students can be transitioning from

Synthetic-Conventional Faith, a period of adopting beliefs from those with whom one has a significant relationship, to an Individuative-Reflective Faith, which is characterized by one’s ability to think critically of his or her values and beliefs accompanied by the

struggle for understanding one’s independent self-worth and identity (Fowler & Dell,

2006). Individuative-Reflective Faith is a common stage for many college students to experience. However, a college student or recent graduate could possibly move into the

Conjunctive Faith period, which is characterized by an understanding that truth of all kinds can be approached from multiple perspectives. Individuals at this stage confront faith paradoxes and express openness to truths and values of other religious traditions

(Fowler, 1981).

Fowler and Dell (2006) noted that these faith transitions are confusing and painful. Clearly, if universities do not provide resources, listen to student needs, and provide an environment that encourages and challenges this growth, students will be left to deal with such expansive and critical issues on their own after college. Many college students leave home for a college experience to a new geographic environment, further complicating the transition. For example, students might be unaware of churches, temples, synagogues, and spiritual leaders in the area who might be able to listen and assist the student in his or her spiritual needs (Fowler & Dell, 2006). Similarly, as students graduate, they are typically forced to move again and find new faith communities and support structures.

Fowler (1981) expounded on how life crises, disruptions, and disequilibrium can serve as a precursor and catalyst to spiritual growth and formation. During these changes, Fowler (1981) posited,

The person must face certain unavoidable tensions: individuality versus being

defined by a group or group membership; subjectivity and the power of one’s

strongly felt but unexamined feelings versus objectivity and the requirement of

critical reflection; self-fulfillment or self-actualization as a primary concern

versus service to and being for others; the question of being committed to the

relative versus struggle with the possibility of an absolute. (p. 182)

Within this dissertation, I recognized that the college graduation transition may create such disequilibrium and disruption for individuals, and thus this dynamic may have a role in participants’ faith and spirituality.

Parks

Parks (2000) investigated the faith development of young adults as they journeyed into adulthood. She was influenced by the research of Piaget (1932, 1950), Erikson

(1963, 1968, 1980), Kohlberg (1984), Gilligan (1982), Perry (1970), Kegan (1994), and especially Fowler (1981). Parks (2000) expanded on the work of Fowler (1981) to focus on traditional-aged college student faith development. In addition, she reflected the work of Fowler (1981) by delineating two distinct stages within his fourth stage, naming them

"young adult" and "tested adult." (Parks, 2000, p. 239). She made this delineation, first, because she believed that students go through a period of exploration and trial of testing their personal faith before becoming fully established in such thinking. Second, she did not seek to focus solely on the cognitive development aspects of spiritual formation, which she called “forms of knowing” (Parks, 2000, p. 71). She wanted to make sense of and give credence to the emotions and feelings of individuals during spiritual development, while also understanding the relational and social aspects that influence spiritual meaning-making. Thus, Parks (2000) included the dimensions of "forms of dependence" and “forms of community” within her model (p. 118).

Parks’ (2000) work fits into both the psychosocial and cognitive theoretical frameworks of student development. She recognized spirituality as “a longing for ways of speaking the human experience of depth, meaning, moral purpose, transcendence, wholeness, intuition, vulnerability, tenderness, courage, the capacity for love, and apprehension of the animating essence at the core of life – spirit” (Parks, 2011, p. 23).

Parks (2000) described faith to include the levels of self, others, world, and God. She believed the self level encompasses one's own way of making meaning. The level she labeled others refers to people immediately surrounding an individual who can exact influence on him or her. The world level involves those beyond someone's immediate interaction, while the God level is the center or cause, not a particular deity or religion's supreme being.

Love (2002) examined Parks’ (2000) faith development theory, highlighting its tenets and comparing it to Perry's (1970) scheme of intellectual development. Parks

(2000) built her theory based on three interacting components she described as forms of knowing (i.e., cognitive aspects), forms of dependence (i.e., an affective aspects), and forms of community (i.e., social aspects) (Love, 2002).

Parks (2000) divided student faith development into four stages. In the

Adolescent or Conventional stage, people are dependent on authority for information and see the world dualistically. As conflicting ideas are presented, individuals might experience a loss of faith. However, this loss could be part of the developmental process

(Parks, 2000). Most college students are described in the second stage called Young

Adult. Students at this stage adapt to the new environment and social surroundings through their personal interactions and living situations. During this stage, their faith can

be tested, typically resulting in some temporary regression. It is also during this time that students probe commitments, practice mentoring, and test inner-dependence (Love,

2002).

According to Parks (2000), few undergraduates reach the third stage, Tested

Adult. At this level, individuals grasp commitments more fully and are more confident in their inner-dependence. Here, one begins to focus one’s faith more on internal guidance than on external guidelines and influences. The highest level in Parks’ (2011) faith development theory, Mature Adult, is rarely achieved until midlife. At this level, a person is at peace with his or her faith, involved in deep commitments, and connected to and participating in the broader world (Love, 2002). Parks’ (2000) view is unique particularly because of her Young Adult stage, which demonstrates that students experience particular periods of spiritual inquiry and that such opportunities for development may require support from their environment.

Parks’ (2000) theories are also significant because they dissect how spiritual development can best be facilitated among undergraduates in a way that helps them move from Young Adult to Tested Adult. Parks’ (2000) combination of Perry’s (1970) and

Fowler's (1981) work into forms of knowing allowed her to fully articulate the importance of the young adult phase. Instead of following Perry (1970) and Fowler (1981), assuming that the jump between unqualified relativism and commitment in relativism is not significant, she argued that probing commitment is worthy of attention as a critical development moment. Parks asserted that owning the decision for selecting and committing to one's faith and meaning-making perspective is the pivotal moment whereby one moves into Young Adulthood. This ownership is critical for the final stage,

convictional commitment, wherein individuals must be able to withstand paradox and maintain their conviction. Parks (2000) suggested that the wisdom to do so is gained through an awareness of the “depth and pervasiveness of the interrelatedness of all of life,” categorized by a “qualitative shift in the balance of strength, vulnerability, trust and faith” (p.112).

Parks (2000) underscored the importance of understanding how Young Adults tackle the “forms of dependence” as well as their value in interpreting how it feels to make meaning and determine one's faith (p. 97). She called this “affective dimensions of meaning making” (Parks, 2011, p. 96). Parks (2000) believed that “because the discovery of knowledge and faith occurs in [the] interaction between self and world, it follows that we learn in the context of relationships” (p. 96). According to Parks (2000), the forms of dependence are 1) dependent, 2) counter-dependent, 3) fragile inner-dependence, 4) tested inner-dependence, and 5) inner-dependence. They describe how external authority figures influence an individual's beliefs. Fragile inner-dependence and tested inner- dependence refer to the transition to Young Adult. In the first of these young adult forms of dependence, the individual can identify as a source of authority, even though he or she might feel vulnerable in this position. Tested inner-dependence comes from the ability to own one's decisions apart from a mentor or authority figure and trust oneself. As noted above, inner-dependence refers to the Mature Adult and the convictional commitment phase of the forms of knowing.

Parks’ (2000) final dimension of development is the “forms of community,” which include 1) Conventional Community, 2) Diffuse Community, 3) Mentoring

Community, 4) Self-selected Class or Group, and 5) Open to Another (p. 118). These

forms of community are a useful tool because they allow us to understand an individual threatened by “others” (Conventional Community) compared to an individual who is confident in engaging others (Self-Selected or Open to others), a critical step in moving from emerging adult to tested adult and mature adult.

Communities could provide a space for the self to be nourished and yet also be challenged to grow, and Parks (2000) asserted that mentoring communities could play a vital role in the development of the young adult. She reasoned that “higher education is distinctive in its capacity to serve as a mentoring environment in the formation of critical, inner-dependent adult meaning-making” (Parks, 2000, p. 203). Mentoring communities,

Parks (2000) argued, provides a safe place for individuals to grow, be challenged, be supported, and gain a greater level of confidence in engaging opposing or dissimilar points of view. Parks (2011) concluded that the field of higher education is uniquely placed in an increasingly complex society to “promote optimal development during the emerging adult years—exposing people to ideas and experiences that challenge their expectations and worldviews in ways that honor their potential and vulnerability” (p.

203).

Parks’ (2011) use of a shipwreck metaphor in the following description also offered valuable insight for this dissertation:

A metaphorical shipwreck is a critical moment in the dynamic process of faith

development when one is rocked by a loss, a violent event, an ailment, a betrayal,

a discovery of inadequacy or sometimes we simply encounter someone, or some

new experience or idea, that calls into question things as we have perceived them,

or as they were taught to us, or as we had read, heard or assumed. This kind of

experience can suddenly rip into the fabric of life, or it may slowly yet just as

surely unravel the meanings that have served as the home of the soul. (p. 39)

Thus, the individual can either survive and thrive or succumb to feelings of being shipwrecked and spiral into vulnerability and bewilderment, which can lead to isolation and depression. The tested young adult, it would seem, is one who survives a shipwreck and experiences transformation.

Nash and Murray

Inspired by the work of Perry (1970), Parks (2000), and Braskamp et al. (2006),

Nash and Murray (2010) examined individuals at quarterlife, roughly age 20 to 25, to determine how college students found purpose and meaning in life. The authors referred to spirituality as a “penchant, probably hard-wired into all humans, to ponder the imponderable, to ask the unanswerable questions about the meaning of life, especially its omnipresent, unavoidable pain, suffering, and death – conditions that paradoxically coexist with life's unalloyed joys, pleasures, and satisfactions” (Nash & Murray, 2010, pp. 53-54). The researchers identified a number of challenges common to 20 to 25-year- olds, including the prospect of facing the world on one’s own, the pressure to select the right college and subsequent career, the need to develop friendships in the light of such uncertainty, and greater questions of life that cause individuals to question their personal success or failure (Nash & Murray, 2010). The larger questions of life fill the thoughts of these individuals, such as how they may attain their hopes and dreams, and these questions can make them unsure of their current life path. In addition, educational challenges cause them to question if they are using time wisely, and future concerns about work life, home, friends, lovers, and family make them realize the uncertainty of

the days ahead after college.

Finally, 20 to 25-year-olds ultimately question their identity as a unique identity.

In studying this age group, Nash and Murray (2010) identified five cycles of meaning- making. Cycle one involved students recognizing the importance of taking responsibility for their own life. With cycle two, quarterlifers began to understand and examine their own “finitude” (Nash & Murray, 2010, p. 10). Concerns at this cycle included, “I do not want to disappoint anyone, but I also want to be independent and happy with my own choices about how I live, love and work” (Nash & Murray, 2010, p. 10). With cycle three, students realized that their choices in life were limited. They understood that external circumstances, individual temperaments, and other conditions beyond their control could greatly affect the trajectory of their lives. Cycle four caused quarterlifers to realize that events and added responsibilities could mount and begin to choke out their control over their lives.

Cycle five allowed these students to pursue authenticity, which Nash and Murray

(2010) defined as “the realization that we are the authors of our own lives” (p. 12). These cycles described the meaning-making questions of college students as they faced the unknown. However, though Nash and Murray (2010) provided descriptive insight into the questions of quarterlifers, they did not explore how these individuals navigate the transition past college as they make meaning of the change.

Recent Studies in Spiritual Development

Recent studies have built upon the spiritual development inquiry of leading scholars, such as Fowler (1981), Parks (2000, 2011), and Astin et al., (2011). This section will cover the scope of these latest studies and their importance to this research.

Spirituality and Leadership

Gehrke (2008) studied the correlation between spirituality and leadership development. She used the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale, developed by Tyree

(1998) to evaluate 449 responses from students at a selective, secular liberal arts college.

Each measure she tested revealed a significantly positive connection between spirituality and leadership, even though some connections were weak (Gehrke, 2008). The strongest connection was the relationship between “aspects of equanimity and components of socially responsible leadership” (Gehrke, 2008, p 355). Gehrke (2008) observed that

“Living with a strong sense of a bond with humanity, as described in equanimity, resembles the leadership value of citizenship, supporting the finding of the strongest relationship between equanimity and citizenship” (p. 355). A significant association was also found between leadership development and “spiritual quest,” or “engaging in a search for a meaning and purpose in life” (Astin et al. 2011, p. 22). I believe Gehrke’s

(2008) work supported my assumption that college student leaders made a fruitful group from which to study meaning-making during the graduation transition because they may have had a more significant, spiritually challenging college experience than the larger student body.

Moreover, Barrett (2015) used a mixed methods study to analyze the relationship between service-learning participation and spiritual growth among 272 undergraduates in the Boston College PULSE Program, a service-learning program focused on social justice. She wanted to know which aspects of the service-learning experience related to the occurrence of spiritual growth. She was inspired by Sanford’s (1962) theory of college student development to know what role “challenge” and “support” played in the

process of spiritual growth (Barrett, 2015). Barrett (2015) used the College Students’

Beliefs and Values instrument (Astin et al., 2011), to administer a pre-test/post-test to determine if components of the service-learning experience significantly related to spiritual development. She interviewed 11 participants, who scored high or low levels of spiritual change, to draw out the nature of their experience.

Barrett (2015) found that nearly 80% of participants grew spiritually during the service-learning experience. Additionally, she reported that spiritual growth was most likely to occur when individuals encountered significant challenge accompanied by support. She wrote, “Qualitative and quantitative results found that challenge was related to the eye-opening experience of witnessing injustice at service sites while simultaneously being exposed to diverse perspectives through course assignments and discussions” (Barrett, 2015, p. v). She reported that students encountered spiritual struggle and began to question previously held assumptions and beliefs. Congruent with

Mayhew's (2004) research related to relationship, the most significant forms of support throughout service-learning reported by students were personal relationships and effective integration of course materials.

Growth in Spirituality

In addition to spiritual meaning-making, I anticipated that my participants would wrestle with the concept of spiritual struggle as they pursued growth. In their phenomenological study of college students' spiritual struggles, Rockenbach, Walker, and

Luzader (2012) built on the work of Pargament (1997, 2008). They conducted 10 in- depth interviews with a diverse group of students who had pre-identified a spiritual struggle, and therefore were selected through purposeful sampling. Although each

struggle was uniquely reported, Rockenbach et al. (2012) identified a common thread in spiritual struggle through the concept of contrast. They wrote, “At their core, spiritual struggles were steeped in the conflicting, contradictory and paradoxical aspects of life”

(Rockenbach et al., 2012, p. 62). These conflicts provided the most poignant moments for participants to make meaning of such spiritual struggles. The researchers believed that contrast was found within self, between self and others, and in revelations about the meaning of life. Rockenbach et al. (2012) provided a phenomenological understanding of the spiritual development of college students, specifically drawing attention to the struggles of such students.

Mayhew (2004) also used a qualitative, phenomenological approach to explore the essence of spirituality of eight students with diverse worldviews. His purposeful sample included a self-reported agnostic, atheist, Buddhist, Hindu, Jew, Muslim, and

Protestant and Catholic Christian. In addition to interviews, he had each participant create a mini-album that expressed his or her faith through pictures and visual demonstrations.

From his research, multiple themes emerged. First, students made meaning of their spirituality through continuity or natural processes of life. Spirituality was also discovered during a specific episode of life that warranted reflection. Mayhew (2004) said that participants reported spiritual meaning-making through open environments, and they made meaning of their spirituality through nature. However, he noted that students also made sense of the infinite through relationships with other human beings. Not only were individual relationships powerful, but a participant's understanding of his or her relationship with community was a powerful means of spiritual reflection.

Relationships with family, friends, and loved ones were also powerful connectors to spiritual reflection (Mayhew, 2004). Thus, as Mayhew (2004) concluded, “For students in this study, spirituality is the mechanism through which human beings make sense of themselves in relationship to the world around them” (p. 663). Mayhew’s

(2004) participants reported their spirituality was, by its nature, a process of meaning- making. He wrote, “This idea of making sense involves understanding the self as it is connected with time, environment, and other people” (Mayhew, 2004, p. 665).

Mayhew's (2004) themes provide a rich and thorough synopsis of how an individual makes sense of spirituality, even though his study focused on college students and included a diverse group with eight different identifications of faith or religion.

Like Rockenbach et al. (2012) and Mayhew (2004), Powell et al. (2012) employed a phenomenological, qualitative approach, this time of 12 students attending a

Christian liberal arts college, to learn how students’ Christian faith changed during their college experience. They identified students who were traditional-aged seniors (21 to 23 years of age) and conducted 90-minute, semi-structured interviews. Through their research, Powell et al. (2012) discovered multiple factors that could potentially influence an individual’s faith while attending a Christian liberal arts college. These factors included relationships with mentors and peers, gender differences, exposure to diversity, and active spiritual searching by the student.

Three main themes emerged from the study related to participants’ development of faith. First, Powell et al. (2012) reported that students experienced a significant discovering of self and an authentic connection with self. Second, they found students experienced a discovering of others and an authentic connection with others. Finally,

they noted that participants displayed a discovering of God, and an authentic connection with God. The Powell et al. (2012) study was conducted with current college seniors, and it examined the phenomenon of how these students grew spiritually while attending a

Christian school. The study did not account for the life transition following such an experience, which is what my research aims to address.

Summary of Literature Gaps

This review of the literature from studies related to leadership development, the senior year and graduation transition, faith and the institution, and developmental theory exposes key gaps that justify the need for this dissertation study. The influence of student involvement, especially through positional leadership, revealed positive developmental and career benefits for student leaders (Astin, 1993; Kuh, 1995; Pascarella & Terenzini,

1991, 2005). The literature also showed that these unique opportunities in college created a more meaningful experience for involved students (Astin 1993, 1996; Kuh et. al, 1991; Miles, 2010; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) and increased opportunities for them following graduation (Kezar & Moriarty, 2000). However, research indicating how these students made meaning of life immediately following the completion of these formative involvement opportunities is lacking.

The literature on career development supports the importance of helping graduating college seniors matriculate successfully into the workplace after graduation

(Bresciani et al., 2009). Research also shows that student preparations, fears, concerns, and aspirations focus on their need to find successful career entry. However, career development literature and theory predominantly focuses on the career transition (Super,

1990; Wood, 2004) and does not account for the deeper life concerns of students during

the transition. My dissertation addresses these existential concerns of spiritual meaning- making.

In addition, research on faith and institutions proves to be a growing and abundant area of study. The Astin et al. (2011) study exposes the spiritual and faith interests and struggles of college students. While thorough in scope, the research focused only on development from the first through junior year of college (Astin et al., 2011). Within the broad literature of faith and college students, Kinnaman (2011), Hayes (2007), and

Wuthnow (2007) illustrates a current and growing trend of young people struggling with matters of religion and spirituality during their twenties. Each offered explanations as to why this is currently happening. Unfortunately, the literature does not focus on how the post-college transition may or may not contribute to the identified pattern of young people leaving their faith.

The research on CCCU and Catholic colleges (Braskamp et al., 2006; Bryant et al., 2003; Holcomb & Nonneman, 2004) revealed the common desire that these institutions should produce graduates who are prepared to enter society with an effective faith. However, these studies do not investigate how college students make sense of their faith immediately after a Christian college experience. Finally, as previously noted, the student development and identity development literature present a clearer understanding of how the minds, relationships, and realities of college students are changed as they develop over time. Students ideally move from an external reality that controls their thinking to personal control over their beliefs and values (Baxter Magolda, 2009; Kegan,

1994). Crisis and change create opportunity for such growth to occur (Josselson, 1987;

Marcia, 1980).

Transitions such as college graduation create just such a possibility of crisis, encouraging students to reflect on their purpose and identity (Fowler, 1981; Parks, 2000;

Schlossberg et al., 1995). Review of this literature has been helpful in creating a cogent framework for my study, a gap in research regarding how Christian college student leaders make meaning of faith during the post-college transition. It is my hope that this dissertation will shed light on possibilities for better understanding this phenomenon.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY/METHODS

As the previous chapters have stated the research problem and literature about the problem, this section will describe the methods incorporated in this study, defend the purpose of conducting a qualitative, phenomenological inquiry, and delineate research methodologies, procedures for data collection, and data analysis. In addition, I will establish and reflect on my position as the researcher and take measures to ensure the trustworthiness (Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 290) of my inquiry.

The purpose of this research was to better understand how recent college student leader graduates of a Christian institution make meaning of personal faith during the post- graduation transition to life after college. Through my research, I sought to expand the knowledge base within higher education and religious studies related to the relationship of student faith and the institution. Also, this research explored the phenomenon in question to help colleges and universities, in a holistic fashion, better prepare graduates for successful transition after college graduation. Finally, I wanted to illuminate what is known of how well students of Christian colleges and universities are prepared to integrate their faith into life post-college.

Methodology

The assumptions of the researcher underpinning this study must be explained to provide a proper research framework. In addition, my overarching strategy as the researcher must be expressed as it influenced my understanding of the world and my plan of action for this study (Creswell, 2007).

Constructivist Paradigm

Within this study, I assumed that a person’s lived experiences and interactions with others were formed and given value at the individual level. Therefore, I incorporated a constructivist paradigm for my research. Patton (1990) described a paradigm as “a worldview, a general perspective, a way of breaking down the complexity of the world” (p. 37). Denzin and Lincoln (2000) similarly defined a paradigm as “the net that contains the researcher’s epistemological, ontological and methodological premises” (p. 19). Because I wanted to capture how college student leaders navigated and understood their faith as they experienced transition beyond college, I attempted to explore the reality of their experiences as they individually constructed meaning. My focus was directed toward their construct of reality, or personal faith, which is local to the individual and generated from their perspective (Guba & Lincoln, 2011). Similarly,

Crotty (1998) asserted,

Knowledge, and therefore all meaningful reality as such, is contingent upon

human practices, being constructed in and out of interaction between human

beings and their world and developed within an essentially social context. (p. 42)

Therefore, as I sought to understand how students made meaning of faith during a social transition, it was appropriate to adopt a constructivist strategy for my research.

Phenomenological Framework

I also utilized a phenomenological lens in my research because it afforded me the best opportunity to deeply understand the meaning-making of one’s personal faith during the college graduation transition. Merriam (2002) stated, “a phenomenological study focuses on the essence or structure of an experience” (p.7). This essence was constructed

in the “lifeworld” of the individuals studied and focuses on their personal meaning- making as they experience a common activity or event (van Manen, 1990 p. 10). Van

Manen (1990) added that the phenomenological perspective continually seeks to know the world in which we live and the ways humans experience the world in everyday living.

He said, “since to know the world is profoundly to be in the world in a certain way, the act of researching, questioning, theorizing is the intentional act of attaching ourselves to the world” (p. 5). Intentionality, therefore, was required to discover the essence of experience itself, moving beyond a preconceived conceptualization or classification of the experience (van Manen, 1990). Likewise, intentionality was essential to deal with the

“inner experiences unprobed in everyday life,” which are present in a phenomenological study (Merriam, 2002, p. 7).

Phenomenology represents both a philosophy and approach to qualitative research. First, the philosophy was developed in the 20th century starting after World War

I from the works of German philosopher and mathematician Husserl (1931) and built upon by Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and Heidegger (Creswell, 2007). Though the roots of phenomenology are broad, the philosophical direction finds common ground by focusing on the lived experiences of people, recognizing that these experiences are constructed and conscious within the individual (Moustakas, 1994; van Manen, 1990). Furthermore, when these experiences are described in research, the essence of the activity or occurrence is emphasized and developed, rather than an explanation of the experience or an analysis (Creswell, 2013; Moustakas, 1994). In my research, I sought to understand the essence of my participants’ faith during the post-college transition.

Positionality of the Researcher

As the principal instrument for gathering data in my role as researcher, I directly interacted with and sought to relate with the people I interviewed. Therefore, I recognized and articulated in writing my relationship to the phenomenon being studied (Moustakas,

1994). As discussed in Chapter I, I brought to my research the experience of being an alumnus and former student leader at a Christian institution, as well as an administrator responsible for student leaders at religious schools for much of my career. Some scholars advocate the use of epoché (Husserl, 1931; Moustakas, 1994), assuming a researcher can fully set aside one’s experiences and focus on understanding the participants’ experiences with fresh eyes and ears. However, other scholars argue against the assumption that the researcher can completely set aside personal experiences and biases when engaging in phenomenological study (Heidegger, 1962; Finlay, 2009). Specifically, Heidegger

(1962) believed the contextualization of the researcher within the research should be sought out and valued. I agreed with Heidegger (1962) that it would be impossible for me to fully achieve epoché within my research, as the topic is one in which I have years of experience, and is of great importance to me. However, I believe that practicing a form of bracketing, acknowledging and articulating any potential biases, is an important step to ensure the trustworthiness of my research (Creswell, 2007). Starks and Trinidad stated that the goal of bracketing for a researcher is, “whereby they recognize and set aside (but do not abandon) their a priori knowledge and assumptions, with the analytic goal of attending to the participants’ accounts with an open mind” (p. 1376). Therefore, I

sought to bracket my experiences so that I might engage participant experiences with respect and with a fresh view of their experience with the phenomenon.

I strived to bracket in two ways: First, I shared in this writing my own faith experience during the post-college transition to account for my own experience with the phenomenon. Second, I sought, through the use of a phenomenological lens, to value the uniqueness and authenticity of each participant’s experience. Though I have relayed my post-college transition experience as a motivation for this study, I must articulate my faith meaning-making during my own post-college transition to account for potential bias, and provide a personal framework from which I attempted to bracket my experience separate from my participants (Moustakas, 1994). I grew up in a Christian family as the son of a pastor. Faith in Christ was the single most important thing in my family, and I was taught accordingly. However, my parents wanted my faith to be genuine and never pressured me to make a profession of Christian faith as a child. In high school, I recognized my need for Christ and slowly developed a faith that began to become increasingly important to me. Although I mimicked much of my faith expression from what I saw from my parents and at church, I had not fully integrated my own convictions of faith. I attended a Christian college and explored theology and reinforced my faith. In particular, I believe I personalized my faith during those college years through friendships, ministry, challenges, and study. However, during the post-college transition,

I realized I had much to learn about my faith.

Looking back, I recognize two ways my meaning-making about faith was affected during the post-college transition. First, the expressions of my faith were defined solely by me for the first time. I did not have chapel attendance requirements, church ministry

expectations, or social peer pressure. So much of my life turned upside down at graduation. I spent the first three months as I transitioned to Washington, DC, looking for a church and for Christian friends. I felt spiritually numb most of the summer and did not settle on a church until September. I was removed from meaningful friendships and relocated to a place that was new and unfamiliar to me, and my energy was spent trying to evaluate the expectations of my new job and life. Nonetheless, I recognized that my faith was still important to me and that the stability of a church community was critical for my growth and sanity. At the same time, that decision to join a church was difficult because it was the first time I made an entirely independent decision, apart from parents’ or close friends’ peer pressure, about where I would choose to express my faith.

The decision to attend and join Capitol Hill Baptist Church (CHBC) had broad and lasting influences on my time in DC and beyond. It created a foundation from which

I do know that I recognized how important the connection was for me because it gave me a place to belong and an anchor from which to process my life changes.

workplace. Importantly, Aaron always asked how I was doing spiritually and with whom

I was connecting at church. He consistently made it a point to encourage me and gently nudge me to stay busy encouraging other people. “Bob,” he said, “don't try to make sense of the first 12 months after college. They can be fun, but they are difficult. Stay busy with good things and encourage other people.” Those words still ring in my ears today and lift my spirits as I work with college seniors. He would couple his encouragement with humble advice about how he processed life decisions and commitments. Thus, these meetings with Aaron were profound, and I realized during those moments, they not only encouraged and challenged me, they also gave me an opportunity to reflect on my life and faith during a time of change. As such, I felt encouraged and refreshed from our meetings.

Throughout the process of reflecting on my faith, I grew to love it more and find more value in it, and I held my relationship with Christ more dearly because of the chaos and excitement around me.

homesickness. I felt that I was not thriving or practicing good spiritual discipline. I questioned the sincerity of my faith because I was inconsistent with my actions and feelings. I would think from time to time, “Am I doing it right? Am I living life well?”

Encouraging roommates, friends, and my mentor all rallied around me when I questioned myself. These relationships were essential in confronting me when I needed to make some life changes. I remember a roommate challenging my faith as I was struggling to deal with the isolation the summer after graduation. It was hard for me to hear him challenge my relationship with Christ, but it was a powerful moment that helped me reconsider the importance of my faith. As a result, my affection toward my faith grew as I relied on it more in changing situations and as I overcame my guilt.

As part of the bracketing process (Moustakas, 1994, Creswell, 2007), I felt compelled to reconcile my faith with the methodological approach of this dissertation.

As a Christian, I believe that the object of my faith, namely Jesus Christ, is the most important consideration. I believe that Christ's death on the cross paid for my sin towards a holy God, and His righteousness is now applied to me through faith. I have a relationship with God and a trust in God through Christ. I believe faith in Christ's redemptive work as the only exclusive, necessary, and effective means by which one can attain peace with God. Therefore, I believe that the quality and reality of one’s faith in a life transition such as the post-graduation period is ultimately determined by the author of genuine faith, Jesus Christ. I believe these statements to be true and universal in application.

However, as a Christian, I also carry the responsibility to conduct research with rigor, scholarly excellence, and respect for the experiences of each person involved

(Craig & Gould, 2007). Therefore, I sought to account for my experience or potential bias and learn fresh from the perspective of my research participants. I recognized that each experience was reality for the person living through the transition and should be respected as such. As Crotty (2003) stated,

Research in constructivist vein . . . requires that we not remain straitjacketed by

the conventional meanings we have been taught to associate with an object [or

experience]. Instead, such research invites us to approach the object [or

experience] in a radical spirit of openness to its potential for a new or richer

meaning. It is an invitation to reinterpretation. (p. 51)

I understood that my participants’ meaning-making of faith will be shaped and personalized, just as mine also continues to be reformed. Therefore, I believed I could maintain my Christian worldview and still rigorously and respectfully conduct this phenomenological research incorporating a constructivist approach. In the section to follow, I will share how I ensured the participants’ stories drove results, rather than my experience.

Research Methods

This section will detail the setting, participants, and methods incorporated for obtaining data for this dissertation. I used qualitative research methods as I sought to understand how student leader alumni made meaning of their faith after college. The following characteristics common to qualitative research methods (Creswell, 2007) best matched the framework and research goals of my study: First, through this study, I sought to understand the essence of the lived experience (Jones et al., 2006) of student leaders as they navigated life after college. As Creswell (2007) asserted, “In the entire

qualitative research process, the researchers keep a focus on learning the meaning that the participants hold about the problem or issue, not the meaning that the researchers bring to the research or writers from the literature” (p. 39). My participants’ individual experiences were the framework for my understanding of the phenomenon.

Second, the research occurred in the natural setting (Creswell, 2013) of life after college. This was significant because this research happened in the places where participants experience the problem or activity in an uncontrolled environment (Creswell,

2013). The participants in my study faced new challenges as adults, navigating new jobs, new friends, further education, and life’s responsibilities. The setting was “real-life” and could not be controlled or manipulated for research, as is done in experimental studies.

Third, the data analysis inductively (Creswell, 2007) built from the experiences of the individuals studied to understand their faith experience during the transition period. Each person's experience was explored and deliberately investigated to create an understanding that was subsequently described in detail in Chapter IV, accounting for the variety of experiences from individual to individual. From those descriptions themes emerged that were common throughout the experience (Creswell, 2007).

Fourth, Creswell (2013) affirmed the importance of the researcher as the key instrument of a qualitative study, and as such, I personally gathered data for this dissertation through interviews and direct correspondence with participants. Creswell

(2007) stated, “The qualitative researchers collect data themselves through examining documents, observing behavior, and interviewing participants” (p. 45). Fifth, by employing interviews and an e-mail reflection, I adhered to another key qualitative characteristic of using multiple sources of data (Creswell, 2007). By incorporating

multiple sources, I was able to triangulate the data, allowing me to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon in question.

Sixth, by organizing units of information about the faith experiences of college student leaders after graduation, I sought to allow the essence of their experiences to emerge (Creswell, 2007). Ultimately, I desired to provide a holistic account of how

Christian college student leaders made meaning of their faith during the transition after college graduation, accounting for the breadth and depth of the experience (Creswell,

2013).

Research Questions

As previously stated in Chapter I, five questions directed this research and informed my questionnaire and interview questions. (1) As they transition to post- college life, in what ways do these former students view their college experience and the beliefs they held about faith during their college years? To explore this question within my interviews I asked participants to characterize or describe their faith when they were a college student. I also asked them to describe any noticeable changes to their faith since graduating.

(2) How do these former college student leaders currently define personal faith?

To provide answers to this question, I asked former student leaders to describe their current faith, encouraging them to use metaphors or images in their description. I also sought to learn in what ways they were confident or questioning their faith within their current transition. (3) In what ways do these individuals perceive their faith connecting to their current activities, relationships, and decisions? I asked interviewees to specifically explain what areas of their lives faith currently played a role. Conversely, I

also asked them to describe aspects of their life that they feel is disconnected to their faith.

(4) What forms of faith support and encouragement do these individuals seek out and/or have found during the transition period? To provide insight, I had participants describe who were the important people in their lives within their transition and asked how these people encouraged and challenged the participant. I also asked how these people affected how the former student leaders viewed life and faith. As a follow up question, I asked interviewees if they found a community following college where they could express their faith. (5) What are these graduates’ greatest faith challenges during this transition period? To gather answers for this question, I asked interviewees to describe their current struggles and life challenges, as they made the transition post- college. Finally, I asked how faith spoke into such challenges and life questions.

Setting

A pseudonym was chosen for the university selected for this research inquiry and all participants chose pseudonyms to protect their confidentiality. Per its Carnegie

Classification profile, “Great Lakes University” (GLU) is a medium-sized, four-year, private baccalaureate college with diverse fields of study. GLU's undergraduate instructional program is comprised of professions plus arts and sciences. This Christian university campus is highly residential, with more than 95% of students being traditional college age (18 to 24 years old). Students must complete a statement of faith upon admission and are required to attend chapel, participate in local ministry, and complete biblical coursework in addition to their field of study.

GLU offers more than 400 year-long student leadership positions, including opportunities in over 70 social and service organizations, elected and hired student government posts, a student activity planning board, residence life assistantships, and local ministry opportunities.

I chose this institution for three reasons important to this research. First, GLU’s commitment as a Christian university created an environment where students purposefully chose a college experience that would force them to examine and consider their faith. Likewise, this homogeneous Christian college community may have limited their experiences compared to college students from secular institutions. Therefore, when they graduate, the dynamic of how they examine and integrate their faith would be profound, as it was a focal point of their college experience. Second, GLU provided their students robust offerings of leadership positions. It was a reasonable expectation that those students who assumed leadership positions, within this Christian university, would be most invested in the campus culture and perceived as role models of what GLU values in their students. Therefore, their post-graduation experience would potentially be more poignant than an average student, because they were likely mentored as a student leader and more invested in the Christian college experience. Finally, I chose GLU as it is highly residential, creating opportunities for students to experience the intentional

Christian community holistically. Therefore, as they leave this community, the experiences of navigating life following college, may be magnified.

Participants and Access

After obtaining Institutional Research Board (IRB) approval from both the

University of Dayton and GLU to conduct my research, I worked with the GLU Alumni

office to identify a group of recently graduated student leaders. I created an email to send to recently graduated GLU student leaders (See Appendix A). The framework of the email was adapted from an introductory e-mail incorporated by Fox (2011). I sent the email to the Director of Alumni Relations for GLU who, serving as a gatekeeper

(Maxwell, 2012), sent the email out to the list of appropriate alumni on my behalf.

According to GLU’s policy on prospective research, the Alumni office facilitated the email on my behalf to protect their graduates’ contact information. Nineteen interested participants responded to me through the interest form, indicating their desire to participate; However, only 15 followed through.

I sought to create a purposeful sample; that is, I worked with GLU to select

“individuals and sites for study because they can purposefully inform an understanding of the research problem and central phenomenon in the study” (Patton, 1990, p. 125). GLU defined student leaders as individuals who served in campus-sponsored positions with groups, such as activities planning boards, student government, and residence life staff, for at least one academic year. Roughly 90 to 100 student leaders graduate each year from GLU. A purposeful sample was appropriate because I wanted to understand the essence of the phenomenon. “The logic and power of purposeful sampling,” wrote Patton

(1990), “lies in selecting information-rich cases for study in depth. Information-rich cases are those from which one can learn a great deal about issues of central importance to the purpose of the research” (p. 169).

Specifically, I tried to incorporate intensity sampling (Patton, 1990) by having participants list the leadership roles on campus they fulfilled and the amount of years they served as a student leader. Patton (1990) emphasized the result of employing this type of

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sampling when he wrote, “Using the logic of intensity sampling, one seeks excellent or rich examples of the phenomenon of interest, but not unusual cases” (p. 170). By being able to recruit 15 to 20 graduates, I was able to start connecting with those who demonstrated the greatest amount of leadership involvement. This number of participants ensured my research was thorough, as I sought to capture the essence of the phenomenon in question (Guest, Bunce, & Johnson, 2006).

Phenomenological studies vary in establishing a clear threshold for achieving saturation, and thus determining the “ideal” number of participants. Creswell (2007) suggested that saturation occurs at the point when new participants or additional interviews do not add substantial insight to the phenomenon being studied. In addition,

Morse (1994) recommended interviewing at least six participants, while Creswell (2007) recommended that a broad range of 5 to 25 participants be interviewed, depending on the study and group. Guest et al. (2006) stated that saturation within homogenous groups, or persons with common experiences or characteristics, occurred beginning at 12 participants. And, according to Crouch and McKenzie (2006), using fewer than 20 participants in a qualitative study helps the researcher establish a close relationship with participants, encouraging the free exchange of experiences and thought. Therefore, as I studied a homogeneous group of student leaders all graduating from the same college in the same year, I believed that a sample size range of 12 to 24, resulting in 15 participants, was appropriate to ensure that I captured the essence of the experience being studied with the appropriate breadth and depth.

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Establishing Rapport with Participants

Each person who interacted with my research, whether they were a participant or university official, represented a relationship that was critical to the success of my study.

Each of these relationships needed to be appropriately navigated and maintained to establish rapport. Rapport, as defined by Blohm (2007), was defined as open discussion or cooperation on the part of the interviewee toward the research project. Ultimately, I desired to establish relationships of trust throughout my research so that participants felt comfortable sharing experiences that were meaningful to them (Creswell, 2013). Patton

(1990) described this balance in the following manner:

Rapport is a stance vis-à-vis the person being interviewed. Neutrality is a stance

vis-à-vis the content of what that person says . . . Rapport means that I respect the

people being interviewed, so what they say is important because of who is saying

it . . . Neutrality means that the person being interviewed can tell me anything

without engendering either my favor or disfavor with regard to the content of her

or his response. (p. 365)

Accordingly, I sought to establish rapport from the outset of my study.

Devers and Frankel (2000) stated, “In the initial stages of research, particularly when time constraints permit, collecting data should be secondary to getting to know people and establishing rapport. There is no simple formula for establishing rapport” (p.

267). Patton (2002) stressed the importance of conveying empathy toward participants, seeking to understand their experiences, while avoiding making judgments about the information they share.

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Although there is no formula for establishing rapport, defined steps were taken to aid in creating rapport with participants, as suggest by Glesne (2011). One of my first actions was to reach out to willing participants through an introductory phone call (See

Appendix B). This conversation allowed me to explain the study, outline the expectations of participation, and create a relationship with my participants (Jones et al. 2006). I also revealed my intention for the research and briefly disclosed my positionality as a researcher. In addition, I mentioned my own experience with faith in the post-college transition. Revealing my own experience may have helped reduce the hierarchal nature of the interview process and create a comradery, encouraging participants to be more transparent, as was appropriate for a constructivist study (Torres & Baxter Magolda,

2002).

Correspondence

Interested participants were asked in the e-mail to complete an online interest form (See Appendix C) and sign the informed consent form. The interest form prompted potential participants to formally express their interest in being involved in my research, while also providing contact information and a brief description of their student leadership involvement. After those who had expressed interest completed the form, I started calling the individuals who demonstrated the longest period of time in positional leadership while a student, based on the number of years they have served in positions of student leadership as defined by GLU. I welcomed them to my research, answered any questions, and explained my timeline for interviews. These phone calls allowed me to begin establishing rapport and a relationship with participants before the interviews in

September.

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During the phone call, I informed participants that I would send an online questionnaire (See Appendix D) with open-ended questions for them to complete during the month of August and September, before the personal interview. The questionnaire prompted participants to reflect upon and describe their faith in college and during the post-college transition. Questions included, “Has your faith changed at all since graduation? If so, how?” and “In what area(s) of your life has your faith played a role?”.

As mentioned in Chapter I, as an administrator, I observed that many college student leaders displayed fear at graduation, uncertainty towards the future, and grief for the end of their current experience. Therefore, from these observations, I designed the questionnaire to arrive at the time when participants would be reflective about their life and their college experience during the months of August and September --likely the first time they would not return to campus and assume a known role. Merriam (2002) stated that documents and written responses provide valuable sources as they can give, “insights and clues into the phenomenon” (p. 13). In addition, Merriam (2002) indicated that written responses allow for deeper conversations within the interview because the participant has been given a previous prompt to reflect on the phenomenon and time to consider his or her answers.

Interviews

Similarly, I chose the month of September for web-based, video interviews because it was a time frame immediately after they experienced not going back to school for the first time, and were becoming immersed in their new life. Creswell (2013) stressed the importance of recognizing that qualitative interviews often require the participant to reflect on emotion-laden, personal, and defining information, and as such,

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the researcher should proceed with caution. I respect that an individual’s construct of faith may be emotion-laden and personal for each individual (Creswell, 2013).

Therefore, I sought to be careful to conduct interviews using open-ended questions (See

Appendix E) such as, “When you think about your faith right now, what comes to your mind? How would you define it? Would you say your definition has changed much since graduation?”

Creswell (2007) also emphasized the importance of open-ended questions as a necessary approach, “wanting to listen to the participants we are studying and shaping the questions after we explore, and we refrain from assuming the role of the ‘expert researcher’ with the ‘best’ questions” (Creswell, 2007, p. 43). I desired to grow in my understanding of participants’ descriptions of the phenomenon, so I sought to intently listen and ask appropriate follow-up questions. Therefore, I followed the general interview guide approach, allowing me to cover topics that would address my research questions but still maintain the flexibility to be responsive to the conversation (Patton,

1990).

My interview questions served as a checklist to ensure all topics were covered with each interviewee. However, I maintained the freedom to ask follow-up questions or reference other statements they have made to better understand their experience. My interview questions were intentionally open-ended to elicit understanding of interviewees’ experiences and to allow them to develop their individual perspectives on the phenomenon (Patton, 1990). This approach was appropriate for a phenomenological study because it allowed me, as the researcher, to explore the experience of the interviewees and interact with and respond to what they shared (Merriam, 2002).

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Additionally, I incorporated eight principles in preparing for my interviews, as espoused by McNamara (2009): (1) A good researcher should choose a setting with little distraction. I chose a distraction-free room, my personal office, to execute the video teleconferences. I also encouraged participants to find a place in which they were comfortable to receive the video call. Interviews were scheduled to occur during the month of September. I was flexible in what video platform was used and allowed the participant to choose the application in which they were most comfortable. I personally preferred Zoom as it can automatically record the interview. However, almost all of the interviews were conducted using FaceTime.

(2) The interview should begin by reviewing the purpose of the interview. I reminded my participants of my research purpose, what to expect from the interview, and how their participation will aid my research efforts. (3) Likewise, the researcher must detail steps taken for confidentiality. Specifically, I took a number of steps towards that end. The university was given a pseudonym as was each participant, upon expressing their interest in my study. As interviews were transcribed through a transcription service, participant identities were protected through the use of only the pseudonyms they choose.

(4) As mentioned, the researcher should explain the interview format and structure, allowing interviewees to understand their role in the interview and the freedom they have to create dialogue. Participants were made aware at the outset of the interviews that the video conferences were audio-recorded. I also explained to interviewees that the conversation was being recorded so that I could create an accurate transcript of the interview, to ensure accuracy.

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(5) McNamara (2009) suggested the researcher should indicate how long they anticipate the interview is expected to last. I followed this suggestion, indicating each session would last a little less than an hour. (6) Participants should know how to reach the researcher should they have questions or further thoughts following the interview. I provided my e-mail and phone contact information. (7) Any questions should be answered before beginning the interview. (8) The interview should be documented, with participants made aware of how the interview is being preserved. I recorded the audio of the interview to be sure I could accurately capture their answers in a verbatim written transcript. I reviewed these transcripts, along with the audio files and questionnaires, to identify common threads of experience and build a structure of understanding the phenomenon (Creswell, 2007).

Before I could begin the process of working through the circles and spirals of data analysis, I needed to first file, secure, and manage the data I had received (Creswell,

2013). I created a password-protected file on my computer for each participant in my study. I was the only person with access to these files. Within each file, I stored answers to my correspondence, the online question prompts, audio files, interview transcriptions, and any notes I gathered about individual participants. I had each interview transcribed.

However, I only provided pseudonyms to transcriptionists and also did not maintain any recording with the participants’ identities.

Data Analysis

Within qualitative research, data collection and data analysis often occur simultaneously (Merriam, 2002). After each interview was transcribed, I listened to the audio and read the transcript multiple times to allow findings to emerge (Patton, 1990). I

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used components of the constant-comparative analysis method incorporated in most grounded theory research by analyzing data to develop categories and themes from beginning to end of the data collection period (Glaser & Straus, 2006).

I also incorporated the following phenomenological data analysis steps, espoused by Moustakas (1994) and outlined by Creswell (2013): First, the researcher must determine the research problem is best approached from a phenomenological approach.

“The type of problem best suited for this form of research,” noted Creswell (2013), “is one in which it is important to understand several individuals’ common or shared experiences of a phenomenon” (p. 60). Second, the researcher must identify the phenomenon of study. As mentioned, I sought to understand faith meaning-making of student leaders at a Christian institution during the post-college transition. I believed understanding these individuals’ meaning-making, as studied through a phenomenological lens, gave me the necessary depth of understanding of their experience to appropriately grasp their essence.

Third, the broad philosophical assumptions of the phenomenological study needed to be recognized and explained. I labeled the assumptions of this study in Chapter I, and in this chapter (Chapter III) I also delineated my philosophical assumptions that motivated my desire to use a constructivist, phenomenological lens, and recognized the value, validity, and reality of each individual’s experience within the post-college transition. Fourth, data were collected from participants who had experienced the phenomenon. In this case, I interviewed former student leaders of a Christian institution who were experiencing the phenomenon of making meaning of their faith during the post-college transition. Fifth, the interviews were directed by two broad questions:

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“What have you experienced in terms of the phenomenon? What contexts or situations have typically influenced or affected your experiences of the phenomenon?” (Creswell,

2013, p. 61). My research questions and interview questions were structured to gather answers to these two broad questions.

Sixth, using a password protected, NVivo file, I explored the data to highlight significant statements, consistent phrases, expressions, sentences, or quotes (Moustakas,

1994) that provided understanding of how participants understood their faith during the post-college transition. Moustakas (1994) called this process, which is part of phenomenological reduction, horizontalization (p. 95). From this reduction of significant expressions, I created clusters of meaning (Moustakas, 1994, p. 103), to develop themes that emerged from participant experiences, and removed overlapping or repetitive statements (Creswell, 2013). Moustakas (1994) said these components of data must join into “delimited horizons or meanings – horizons that stand out as invariant qualities of the experience” (p. 180).

Seventh, once themes emerged from the clusters of meaning, I attempted to write a textual description, “an integration, descriptively, of the invariant textural constituents and themes” (Moustakas, 1994, p. 180). I described the setting and context that influenced participants’ experience, which Moustakas called structural description or imaginative variation (p. 103).

Finally, as the structural and textural descriptions were written and refined, I created a composite of the descriptions to capture the essence of my participants’ experiences. Moustakas (1994) labeled this essence the essential or invariant structure.

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By incorporating this process thoroughly, I sought to fully capture the essentials of the phenomenon.

My data analysis process also followed the analytical method for descriptive phenomenological research, espoused by Colaizzi (1978). The following seven steps delineate this process:

1. Every interview transcript should be thoroughly read multiple times.

2. A general understanding or a feeling for the content should be acquired from

each interview, with significant statements related to the phenomenon under

study extracted.

3. From these significant statements in each interview, meaning should be

formulated.

4. Suggested meaning should be arranged into categories, clusters of themes, and

themes.

5. A thorough description of the phenomenon should be written by integrating

combined meanings found from the clusters and emerging themes.

6. The fundamental structure of the phenomenon should be described in as clear

as written statement as possible.

7. Finally, participants should be invited to read the statement and compare the

researcher's descriptive results with their experiences to validate the findings.

Incorporating the complimentary methods of Moustakas (1994) and Colaizzi (1978) served to ensure my research was a, “rigorous, critical, systematic investigation of phenomena” (Speziale & Carpenter, 2007, p. 81).

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Strategies for Trustworthiness

I attempted to conduct this research in a manner that was trustworthy, demonstrating that it “was conducted in a rigorous, systematic, and ethical manner, such that the results can be trusted” (Merriam, 2002, p. 24). As such, I addressed concerns of credibility, dependability, and transferability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985) in this section to ensure the findings of this research could be appropriately trusted.

Ensuring Credibility

Ensuring credibility is an essential component of establishing trustworthiness within a qualitative study (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). The central question of credibility is,

“how congruent are the findings with reality?” (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016, p. 242).

Credibility in research requires that the data collected accurately represent the phenomenon in question (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). As mentioned, I gave an account for my own experience or bias with the phenomenon (Moustakas, 1994). Attempting to bracket my experience required me to consciously set aside my preconceived notions of the phenomenon and to respectfully listen to and describe the experience of participants.

Additionally, the written account of my interaction with the phenomenon allows readers to determine if my biases influenced any descriptions I provide. It is also important to note that I divulged my own faith experiences in the post-college transition in this chapter, but I did not fully share my experience with participants as I did not want to influence or distort their unique account.

To further ensure credibility, I employed the following strategies: First, I triangulated data by collecting valuable information for my research through multiple sources, primarily through interviews and written responses (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011;

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Merriam, 2002). Second, I used member checking (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam &

Tisdell, 2016). Each interviewee was given the opportunity to read and respond at least twice to themes I compiled from their responses to ensure I accurately reflected the essence of their experience. Third, I sought prolonged engagement in the field (Merriam

& Tisdell, 2016). Creswell (2007) stated, “persistent observation in the field includes building trust with participants, learning the culture, and checking for misinformation that stems from distortions introduced by the researcher or the informant” (p. 207).

Furthermore, incorporating the general interview guide approach (Patton, 1990) allowed me to conduct consistent interviews, but I also had the freedom to spend time delving into the interviewees’ responses. Substantial interviews provided rich data for my research.

Also, I attempted to build trust and learn the participants’ culture by establishing a relationship with my participants over the course of months during their post-college transition.

Fourth, a graduate school colleague served as a peer reviewer for my research, examining my methods and findings and questioning my coding as well as my phenomenological descriptions (Lincoln & Guba, 1985; Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). I asked her to serve as my reviewer because her faith background was different from my own. I believe this difference of thought and experience served to further mitigate bias throughout my research. She provided more objective feedback and helped ensure that I was accurately conveying the experience of my participants from the data. For example, she confronted me on how quickly I accepted and projected my understanding of how participants practiced, “spiritual disciplines,” such as Bible study, prayer, and meditation.

Not only did it help me “. . . make the familiar strange and interesting again” (Erikson,

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1986, p.121) by making me think freshly about behavior and thoughts with which I easily relate, it also held me accountable to properly introduce and explain “Christian” terminology throughout this study.

Fifth, as mentioned previously, I stated my biases, assumptions, and positionality in this chapter and in Chapter I, and I outlined my experience with the transition period and my construction of faith, and thus I aimed to ensure that my biases were not dominating results. This intentional reflexivity was employed throughout my research

(Merriam, 2016).

Addressing Transferability and Dependability

Merriam and Tisdell (2016) stated that transferability examines the degree to which the findings of one study can be found to be applicable in other situations. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences of GLU graduate student leaders as they made meaning of faith during the transition following college. Therefore, my primary concern was not focused on conditions beyond the context of my study.

However, if readers desire to draw comparisons between the setting of GLU and other contexts, I have provided a detailed account of the experience of my participants and the phenomena they encountered. Throughout my work I used the strategy of providing thick, rich description of the participants, their environment, and the nature of their experience, allowing anyone interested in transferability to have a framework for comparison (Merriam, 2002).

Reliability of the study, or the ability of another researcher to replicate the research, was also addressed (Merriam, 2002). First, I explained the details of the study’s focus, my role as the researcher, the informants’ position, the basis of participant

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selection, and the context from which the data was gathered (Creswell, 2009). Moreover,

I established an audit trail for my research, by keeping a research journal, delineating how my data were collected and coded and how I made decisions affecting my research

(Merriam, 2002). I also kept an informal research journal to document my notes, feelings along the journey, and decisions that I made at steps during the research process. Keeping a journal allowed me to make notes about my understanding of their experiences. I was also able to write down my personal reflections in relation to their interviews and responses, and account for biases. For instance, I wrote out my initial impressions of each interviewee immediately following their interview session. I marked that I connected with some participants more than others and felt that some participant experiences seemed more robust to me than others. Noting these feelings helped me see my potential bias and also helped me work towards understanding the phenomenon as I reviewed each interview repeatedly. As I retraced each interview, I was able to see common threads between participants and rich themes from each participant’s experience that I had not noticed in my initial impressions. Multiple methods of data collection were also incorporated, strengthening both reliability and credibility (Creswell, 2009). Finally, my advisor and committee provided objective feedback to serve as a form of external auditor for my data analysis (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).

Considering Ethical Concerns

The effort to establish trustworthiness throughout my research forced me to consider any possible ethical concerns that could have affected this dissertation. Ethical concerns must be considered when conducting any research, but especially when the

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study places the researcher so closely to the participants and draws out their personal stories, experiences, and feelings (Glesne, 2011).

Haverkamp (2005) outlined four ethical dilemmas that must be accounted for in qualitative studies. First, the competence of the researcher must be established and communicated. She wrote, “Failures of competence in research practice can produce significant risks when we venture into areas, or communities, that are unfamiliar to us”

(Haverkamp, 2005, p. 153). I attempted to demonstrate competence by constructing an extensive literature review to ensure I built a foundation of knowledge on the topic of experiencing faith in the post-college transition.

I also sought to carefully incorporate methods within my study that were both appropriate for my methodologies and were best practices within qualitative research. I conveyed my professional competence by clearly communicating with my participants throughout the research. For example, I called each of them at the outset to begin establishing rapport by explaining my interest in the inquiry, describing expectations from being part of the study, outlining the timeline and structure of the study, and answering any questions they might have before continuing to the interview. Answering questions and explaining the study were important steps in minimizing harm to participants (Magolda & Weems, 2002).

Second, establishing boundaries (Haverkamp, 2005) with participants is a necessary but difficult ethical consideration. Within qualitative research, “the difficulties of this dilemma can be moderated to some extent if participants become true collaborators, . . . identifying personal benefits that are likely to accrue from their involvement” (Haverkamp, 2005, p. 153). To help accomplish this, I used my

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introductory phone call, interview opportunities, and member checking to dialogue with participants about what benefits they could foresee from participation.

Third, the researcher must ensure confidentiality at every possible level to minimize risk to participants and third parties. Importantly, “Qualitative data, in which participants recount portions of their life stories, are characterized by a level of detail and specificity that can make it extraordinarily difficult to offer the protection of confidentiality” (Haverkamp, 2005, p. 154). Nevertheless, as an ethical concern, I made every attempt to provide confidentiality for those associated with or potentially affected by my study. After I received IRB approval at both the University of Dayton and GLU, as stated, I worked with the GLU Alumni office to recruit participants. Each participant chose their own pseudonym, and their institution was also given a pseudonym.

Correspondence from participants, interview audio files, and transcripts were kept on my computer with password protection on both the computer and the files themselves. I also backed the files up to an external hard drive with encryption.

Finally, informed consent is a necessary and typically required research step to minimize harm. When completing the online interest form (See Appendix A), individuals were prompted to read and sign an informed consent form after indicating their interest in participating. I also followed up with a phone call to ensure participants understood the risks, discomforts, or effects that could have influenced their willingness to participate.

Accounting for Study Limitations

As stated in Chapter I, I anticipated at least three limitations to my study. The process of participating in my research could have caused participants to reflect on their

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faith experience, possibly providing a coping mechanism during the post-college transition. Some may have found this experience to be beneficial while others may have found it to be empty. Regardless, the process of reflection through participation in this study may have amplified or altered their transition experience. For this reason, I adopted the general interview guide approach (Patton, 2002), affording me the ability to be both consistent and flexible in my interviews. The approach allowed me to better understand their experience beyond what they may have justified or formulated through participation.

Another limitation related to my own experience with faith during the post- college transition and my professional experience of helping former student leaders navigate the same journey. Earlier in this chapter, I explained my positionality as the researcher and outlined my experience and potential biases. I attempted a form of bracketing of my experience as I listened afresh (Moustakas, 1994) to participants describing their feelings, experiences, and meaning during their transition. Research journaling allowed me to reflect upon and respond to my biases throughout the study. I also used peer review and external audit to ensure I was not allowing my biases to adversely affect my research.

Finally, I recognized that my position of power as an administrator at another university could have intimidated participants and keep them from transparency (Jones et al., 2006). To help mitigate this, I actively sought to minimize any focus on my professional position and communicated my interest as a graduate student and former student leader to establish and maintain rapport.

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Summary

In this chapter, I outlined the plans for my research, which used phenomenological and constructivist methodology and qualitative interview methods.

Likewise, I explained my justification for this research strategy as the best means to answer my research questions and attain my research purpose of understanding how college student leaders of a Christian institution made meaning of their faith during the post-college transition. As was appropriate with a phenomenological study, I explained my role as a researcher and articulated my personal experience with the phenomenon.

Important details were presented about the setting and participant selection for my study.

I described the steps I used to collect data and presented my process for data management and analysis. Finally, I delineated the steps I took to ensure trustworthiness in my study, which involved addressing credibility, reliability, transferability, and ethical concerns.

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CHAPTER IV

FINDINGS

The purpose of my phenomenological research was to understand how Christian college student leaders make meaning of their faith in the post-college transition. In seeking this answer, I posed the following questions to frame my research:

1. As they transition to post-college life, in what ways do these former students view

their college experience and the beliefs they held about faith during their college

years?

2. How do these former college student leaders currently define faith?

3. In what ways do these individuals perceive that faith connects to their current

activities, relationships, and decisions?

4. What forms of faith support and encouragement do these individuals seek out

and/or have found during the transition period?

5. What are these graduates’ greatest faith challenges during this transition period?

This chapter features my research findings based on written questionnaire responses and video interview interactions with fifteen, May 2018, graduate student leaders of

Great Lakes University (GLU). For clarity and to ensure I have addressed each research question, I divided this chapter into four sections. In the first section, I introduce the research participants by summarizing their relevant demographic details. In the second section, to describe the situated meaning of the phenomenon (Merriam, 2002), I provide an understanding of the participants’ faith in college, by giving attention to the nature of their holistic college experience as a frame, the descriptions of their faith, the faith

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support structures they built, and the challenges they faced while at GLU. In the third section, using the same structure as section two, I provide an understanding of the participants’ faith in the post college transition, by giving attention to the nature of their holistic transition experience as a frame, the descriptions of their faith, the faith support structures they built, and the challenges they faced within the transition. In the last section, I show how participants compared their faith from college to their post-college experience and reveal the themes that emerged from their faith reflection. These themes, that illuminate the essence of the experience, are that transition fosters reflection, affects constructs of faith but not core beliefs, exposes the need for new support structures, and its challenges elicit comparisons to college.

Description of Participants

To introduce the participants of this study, I will provide a short summary of their relevant demographic characteristics. As part of this research, I interviewed five male and ten female student leaders, who each self-selected a pseudonym. The participant gender disparity is discussed in the next chapter. I received responses to the research questionnaire from every participant before their scheduled interview, except one person who submitted the questionnaire following the interview because they had inadvertently forgot to send it. Each participant was between the ages of 21 and 24.

These student leaders represented eight different types of majors, with four in business related majors, two in social work, two in allied health, two in social studies, and one each in science, education, biblical studies, music and art majors. The graduates were living in seven different states and one respondent was living outside the United States.

While many had established themselves within 100 miles of GLU, some did move

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farther away, including Florida, California, and a non-U.S. country. All participants still identified as Christian. The group represented five different protestant denominations of faith communities, with nearly half, eight, claiming Baptist allegiance. Four student leaders were connected with non-denominational communities. One participant was in the Christian and one in the Grace Brethren denominations. One respondent chose not to answer regarding their denomination. Thirteen students indicated they were “white” and two students stated they were “mixed race.”

Each participant pursued life goals following their time at GLU. Seven graduates took jobs after commencement, five enrolled in graduate schools, and an additional two took year-long internships with churches. One was still in the process of finding employment due to traveling abroad immediately following graduation. Of the

15 participants, five indicated that they lived near or with family while the other participants moved away from their home area following graduation. One graduate remained in the GLU area, finishing a class and working part-time. Two male participants indicated they were married to women they met at GLU. Four additional participants stated they were in romantic dating relationships. The remaining nine individuals stated they were single or did not indicate any relationship status.

Understanding Faith in College

To understand how students were making sense of their faith in the post-college transition, it was important to first understand how they made meaning of their faith prior to the transition in which they were currently immersed. Exploring how these graduates made meaning of their faith in college gave me insight into my first research question by explaining how these former students viewed their college experience and

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the beliefs they held about faith during the college years. An understanding of participants’ faith in college is explored by examining how they framed the nature of their college experience, described and defined their faith, built support structures for their faith, and faced challenges to their faith as students.

Framing the College Experience

As I sought to understand their faith in context, I needed to discern how participants made sense of their overall college experience. Every participant in this study characterized their college career as “full” or “busy” or “involved.” Participants also described their college experience as a period of positive growth. Several student leaders detailed challenges and problems they faced while in school, but all stated college was a good endeavor. Involvement was key to this growth experience. Addison stated:

I would say “busy” would definitely be the word I would use to describe my

college experience. I think, definitely, very involved, but nothing that I necessarily

regret. There are times at which I think I would look back and say, was I able to

actually give 100% to all those things I was involved in? I'm not sure, but they

each truly grew me in ways that I wouldn’t replace them.

Participants outlined areas of involvement or leadership positions that captured their attention, formed their campus identity, gave them a social network, and increased their personal satisfaction while in school. These involvements included activities such as student government, discipleship groups, study abroad, mission trips, technical services, residence life, campus event planning and orientation. Campus involvement proved to be an important personal identity marker for these college students. Anni stated, “I

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think the only thing maybe I would change is [that] I would be a little bit less involved, but I’m saying that now and... It was a really good experience, everything I did, so I really wouldn't change anything.” Christi also described her college experience as

“full.” Anthony added, “I guess, ‘involved,’ would probably be the best word, if I had to describe in one word what my four years looked like. I was involved in theater productions, and leadership groups, and music ensembles, as an honor's program mentor, student government.” He added that his involvement was able to build from the beginning of his college experience to graduation.

Every participant also commented on how the involvement challenged them internally and expanded their external network of friends. Richard captured this shared sentiment:

Well I definitely opened up my ability to connect with people. When you’re in

a leadership role, you’re just going to be interacting with more people. And that

was the biggest thing. When I came to GLU, I didn’t know anybody, and I felt

pretty lonely for the first few months. But the thing of it was is that it really

opened up an avenue to get to know really good people who were like-minded

and who were pursuing the same things that I was pursuing. So, when I think

about what the purpose was of being an R.A. or being on these leadership teams,

they did give us the freedom to show our leadership. But again, it was more ... I

got to work under really good leaders and learn from them. That was the most

valuable part of that, was the people that I got to meet and work with. The

leadership experience itself wasn't anything extraordinary. It was just like it

would be anywhere else. But it was the people that made the difference.

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Anni believed leadership opportunities in college distinguished her experience from that of others. She said, “I made so many friends, and that's the main thing that stood out besides getting a great education. I’ve definitely noticed that my university was so good that I'm leaps and bounds ahead of the people that are starting [work] with me.”

Several students reflected on the challenges of such a full college experience.

Seven of the participants were concerned whether or not their involvement caused them to be spread too thin, but each of the seven commented that their schedule created the experiences that caused them to maximize their time in college. Four of the participants spoke of how leadership forced them to learn to balance academic requirements with social opportunities. As participants gave an initial reflection of their college experience, they described their time at GLU as full, relational, and faith growing, but not without some challenges that helped shape them.

Describing Faith in College

Participants’ description of faith in college displayed how their faith was deeply personal and important to their whole being. To provide clearer understanding, participants described their college faith experience and the campus faith climate through images or words they found relevant. Two themes emerged from their descriptions. First, each participant characterized their faith in college as a source of personalized growth. Second, every student leader connected their faith growth to the immense support the campus culture provided them during their college experience.

A Time of Growth

“Growing” was the most common descriptor of their faith as college students.

Maggie, Nicole, Sarah, Sydney Addison, Anthony, John and Lorraine all described their

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college experience as a key element of their spiritual growth. Though I did not specifically ask participants to provide an image or metaphor describing their faith while students, several used them.

Anthony used an image of cleaning a room to explain his faith growth:

I thought I was super spiritually mature, but it just turned that I had just ... I was

more sheltered than anything, I guess, because I hadn't been placed in situations

where my faith was really tested. Over the course of my college experience,

then my faith was kind of ... To borrow a well-used analogy, it was like a messy

room …you think the room is clean, and then you turn on the lights, and you're

like, “Whoa! It's actually really messy in here.”

Lorraine, in comparing it to the growth of a plant, said:

I think that there were seasons and times that it wasn't as steady as it could've

been, or as consistent. But I don't think that there was a season that I didn’t

learn something new about who I was and how I needed to rely on [God] more.

Each participant noted the faith development they experienced throughout college.

Strengthened by an Intentional Environment

Each GLU student leader stated that the campus culture was an important factor to their faith development in college. The intentional environment focused them on their faith throughout their undergraduate experience. They again used images to reveal how the campus culture affected their faith. Addison stated:

I would say, GLU is pretty much a spiritual greenhouse in a lot of ways. People

call it a bubble, which can be seen as a negative connotation, but for me, it was

extremely positive. It was a greenhouse. It was what I needed. It’s integrating

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faith into every aspect of what you do, it’s in the athletics, it’s in the student

organizations, it’s in the conversations with different people that you’re praying

with, discipleship groups, social work, preparing you for your vocation through

your internships, everything.

Anni also posited that faith-minded environment and campus culture contributed to her own growth. She stated, “It was very, very easy to be very involved and have a very strong faith and always having that mindset because you're constantly, constantly reminded of it, and all your peers are also involved in the same things as you.” Sarah stated, “You can't escape it, even if you want to. I was pleasantly surprised by the students and the staff. I just felt like the majority of the people there genuinely wanted to grow in their faith and for that experience to be something that propelled them forward.” Likewise, Richard described the environment as “supplemented”:

You're living in a Christian environment. You're surrounded by people who

believe the same thing. I got to go to church down the street at Grace, and my

professors were there. So, you’re just, you’re in a bubble. That’s what it is.

But that was incredibly good for me because it was always encouraging. You’d

take advantage of that to build on those building blocks of faith.

Christi differentiated herself by describing the campus experience as “stabilizing” to her faith, due to family challenges she faced during her college years. Thea described it as

“freeing,” due to her experiences in high school and how college allowed her to personalize her faith. In summary, the participants’ images of faith while in college were positive and reinforced the details of their faith nurturing campus experience.

Every participant detailed college as a time of faith growth supported by a campus

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environment that encouraged students to personalize their faith and put it into action.

Building a Support Structure for Faith in College

As participants described their faith, they also delineated three sets of factors that supported and structured their faith. Participants found outlets to use their faith, established meditations to enrich and ground their faith, and established relationships that encouraged their faith. Subsequently, participants viewed these support structures as essential for overcoming challenges faced in college.

Finding Outlets to Use Faith

Participants found that the roles they assumed on campus gave them opportunities to express their faith and allowed them to feel that their faith was useful to them and others in the community. In essence, their campus roles gave their faith a place to be explored or understood in context. This sense of place was most clearly found in leadership positions. Richard said, “When you’re in a leadership position and you’re working with people who are wanting to be Christian leaders in their church and in that environment, they’re going to challenge their peers. And I really appreciated that I found friends who were willing to challenge me.” Lorraine described how her role as a Resident Assistant encouraged and challenged her faith.

I had a group of six girls that I came alongside and mentored as a small group

and I’ve gotten to be very involved in their lives the last two and a half years.

And I get to watch the way that the Lord works. I was also a CLC in that same

dorm, which is like an assistant RA. And one of the girls, her freshman year,

was just a wreck, and I was trying so hard to get her to go into counseling to talk

through some stuff that had happened in her past. And she just broke away from

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some really toxic friendships. And then she just grew insanely over the last

year, and I got to watch that and see that, and know that the Lord works so much

good in the lives of those who love Him. So I think those experiences definitely

challenged me, but also encouraged me.

Sydney also served in Residence Life. She drew attention to some difficult situations she faced with a student struggling with mental health.

That was just very new to me; I hadn’t experienced self-harm. I hadn’t

experienced suicide or depression like that before. Not personally, but for

friends that I had been with. So, seeing that, and seeing how the school was

going to handle that, because it wasn't her choice in the end to leave, was

challenging. That’s something that, if I look back at college, bookmarked a very

challenging point…. Being able to look back and seeing the bookmarks of the

Lord's faithfulness through my whole college experience, that's it. Encouraging.

Each student referenced various roles they played on campus and how that role put them in an environment of growth and opportunities to speak their faith to others. Five of the students also mentioned that roles they played in leading Bible studies or

“discipleship groups” informed their faith. Each described this leadership opportunity as instructional in how their faith could inform relationships within the context of a small group. Also contributing to their faith growth, Richard, Nicole, Hope, John, Chad and Bryce all mentioned the importance of church commitments during their college experience. Hope stated:

[At college] I don’t have my parents, I don’t have my local church, I had to find

a church on my own. It was just a really important time where it was like,

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“Okay, this isn’t just what my parents believe. It’s what I believe too.” Just

figuring all that out. Obviously, chapel every day really helped with that. I

found a really good local church my first year that I went to all four years there.

The faith roles of these participants gave them important outlets in which to practice their faith, grow in their application of faith, and lead and encourage others with their faith.

Establishing Meditations to Ponder Faith

As outlets provided a place for participants to use their faith, meditation rituals gave participants opportunities to ponder their faith, providing them space to reflect and gain perspective. Eleven of the participants specifically referenced the importance of chapel as a key contributor to their faith development in college. Anni stated, “I love chapel. That’s my favorite part of GLU and I’m beyond happy that it’s five days a week, every week. In fact, that’s probably what I miss most about Great Lakes, the chapel experience.” Sydney added, “Even in times in college when I wasn't necessarily in the Word every day, or when I was extremely discouraged, no matter what I was feeling personally, I was always having the Gospel told to me [in chapel].” As a first- year student, Chad was challenged by chapel speakers that he believed helped shape who he became while in college. He stated, “In that first year of just like listening to chapel speakers or observing people who had really solid, spiritually-driven relationships, and those kinds of things really influenced my internal thinking.”

Anthony was more affected by the daily singing that occurred in chapel than by the daily speaker.

Yeah. Honestly... my school has had some incredible worship… They've been

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able to just have times of worship, and just to re-focus on God, so just was

absolutely incredible, and very life-giving ... And, there even was like a shift in

worship culture, like I believe the four years I was there it felt like people

became more eager to enter into that time ... I got progressively more excited

about my worship during my time at GLU, and I think a lot of other people did,

too.

Chapel was mentioned as important because it caused participants to focus on their faith, be challenged by speakers, join friends in worship and connect to the entire community each day. Participants also referenced other rituals, categorized as

“spiritual disciplines,” that included Bible reading or “devotions” and prayer and meditation. Rituals and routines that were created through campus involvement, chapel attendance and class participation created opportunities for participants to reflect on their faith and relationship with God.

Some found occasions for meditation within the context of their leadership involvement. As previously mentioned, several of them led ministry outreaches, Bible studies, or campus-wide worship events. Several students said this involvement created a rhythm for their weekly calendar that forced them to engage and focus on their relationship to God. The academic experience also forced some participants to experience the same engagement. Five participants (Nicole, Anni, Maggie, Richard and

Bryce) discussed how classes, particularly required theology courses, contributed to them being refocused on faith or challenged them to better understand their personal faith. Richard said, “Even in our classes, our professors were being intentional about taking the time to do that [to challenge our faith]. Maggie said that her social

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experiences and what she learned in class caused her to further enrich her faith. She said, “God just softened my heart and has given me such an appreciation for the knowledge that I have and a love for God that comes through all that I know Him to be.” Her routine at a Christian institution gave her many opportunities to reflect on her faith.

Developing Relationships That Encourage Faith

Participants not only found outlets to use their faith, meditation opportunities to ponder their faith, but reported being significantly affected by developing relationships that encouraged and challenged their faith. The network of people that participants found while in college proved to be the most referenced influence on each person’s faith. Almost all of the participants emphasized the importance their relationships in college had on their faith development. Anni said:

Whereas what encouraged me was definitely the people. The people are the

number one thing that encouraged me. I could reach out and talk to any GLU staff,

any professor, any of my friends, and they would all be supportive, they would

pray with me. That’s about the first thing they would do. They would say, “Okay,

let's pray.” And then we would talk about it, which was very eye opening.

Because the first thing naturally I would do is, I just want to talk about it, and I

wouldn’t seem to just go straight to the word or straight to God in prayer first.

That was also challenging, but really opened my eyes and it was really good.

Anthony echoed the sentiment. “Just also being surrounded by people who were of a similar faith than me, and who were ... just would speak truth into my life and being willing to take time, just the kind of people around me helped ... me grow in my faith.”

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Addison added, “So I think throughout my time at Great Lakes, mostly impacted by people who I was just amazed at sometimes the love and patience that people here would show me when I felt like I didn't deserve it.”

Several participants found peers of like-minded faith, who became close personal friends. At the same time, these GLU student leaders also maintained friendships with other students who were questioning or uncommitted to their faith.

Maggie stated:

But I think for me, Christianity, it can be based in fact but it’s a lot about

relationships …The people around me would definitely be, I would say, is what

either challenged or pushed me to the Lord, … I had lots, and lots, and lots of

solid Christian friends there that kept pulling me towards the Lord and people

from my Bible studies and other things I was involved in. But I also have some

friends at GLU that I would not say are pursuing the Lord, and so that has

definitely challenged my faith. Having conversations with them and trying to

help them work through questioning things.

Sarah found these friendships directly through her leadership position. Thea found that joining a club her first year helped her build the important friendships she maintained throughout college. Sydney also found important friendships while in school, but she recognized the difficulty of initially making those connections as an important faith- building experience.

Socially, I was blessed with a number of amazing friends. I went through a lot

of loneliness freshman year. Through that, I think the Lord really taught me his

faithfulness, because the times in my life where I felt the loneliest were the

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times I also felt the Lord most closely, because I had no one else. I think that I

was so upset my freshman year, because I had grown up seeing so many college

students with so many great relationships with their group of friends, I thought

that would be me. Then through freshman year I had no one. I was like, “Lord,

what are you doing?” I had seen it for so long, I had so much expectation, and

then I felt so let down. The Lord totally took that. Sophomore year, I met so

many friends, in Residence Life, obviously, where a number of my friendships

came from and relationships, and the Lord tested me freshman year and gave me

blessings. I can see those paired together.

Other participants discussed the importance of faculty and other mentors.

Nicole was able to develop a relationship with mentors during her school experience and become a mentor to other students as she finished college. She stated:

Specifically, I think having the mentor, it was like the first time that I had had

someone specifically important to me who was older. And like listen to what I

was saying and speak to my issues and not just in a broad sense in class, or in

church or whatever. And that really helped me because it made me feel like

okay I’m not crazy. Like my mindset, it might not be speaking truth to myself

like I should be, but at least they’re acknowledging yes, you feel this way or this

was really hard, but let’s move on from this. So not something that I think I had

ever experienced before but I definitely appreciate it a lot. And it’s something

that I miss today too.

Richard, Sarah, Chad and Bryce also mentioned the importance of faculty/staff mentors on campus that personally encouraged them during their college experience. Chad said:

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There were just really solid people there who encouraged me. And then I’d say

the biggest thing for me at GLU was the people who mentored me, just

throughout the years, I learned stuff you can't really learn other than looking up

to someone who’s been through it and who has wisdom. Yeah, so mentors were

big for me.

During her first year, Thea and her best friend were in a small group with all upper- class females. It was intimidating for her, but she found it challenging. Particularly, she was captivated by these students and their maturity of faith. She identified them as mentors who shaped her college experience and encouraged her faith. When she was an upper class student, she intentionally led small groups with first year peers.

Throughout most of my interviews, participants identified parents or grandparents as important figures in helping navigate college and the graduation transition. Christi’s mother was an important emotional support helping her to maintain her faith in school. She said, “It was necessary for me. I called my mom a lot of late nights crying, ‘cause I’m like, ‘This is too hard. I can’t do this.’ She would just regularly point me back to the gospel, pray with me, and help me get a bigger perspective. Without that, I definitely would've dropped out.” Christi also stated that her parents encouraged her to establish friendships on campus that would help her grow spiritually.

Hope and Chad specifically mentioned being committed to a church in the local community as important to their faith network. Each noted that they discovered the church in their first year of college and stayed throughout their four years, with Chad being baptized into membership. He said, “There were just really solid people there

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who encouraged me.” Faith networks built with friends, mentors, and communities such as churches were of seminal importance to the faith of participants.

Facing Challenges to Faith in College

As participants reflected on their faith during college, they also explained how challenges they faced affected their faith. These challenges emerged into two categories or themes. Participants detailed faith challenges as external threats to their college experience. Conversely, other participants relayed challenges that were common to the college experience, but still profound for the individual.

External Threats to the College Experience

Several student leaders discussed challenges to their faith created by the circumstances of others outside the GLU community. Anni’s parents lived overseas while she was in college. While she was at GLU, her dad got sick and began having unexplained seizures. Anni’s feeling of helplessness in being “stuck” at college was an opportunity for incorporating her faith into her life. She said:

You can’t do anything, and you have to be where you’re at. And the only thing

you can do is pray, and that feels really hard. It feels like you’re not doing

anything even though you are. That was very challenging, and that definitely

challenged my faith.

She went on to describe that the experience strengthened her faith because she saw

“God at work.” Christi also had family concerns that weighed on her faith in college.

Her sister got engaged during her first year at school, but the relationship ended a few months later. Christi commented, “That set off like this whole chain of events that was pretty hard.” She was thankful she was away at college during that period because it

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allowed her to process what was happening, apart from the strife. In processing, Christi evaluated her faith:

My faith was strengthened by the times where I was like, “Wow. Do I really

believe this?” … just having to question like, “I say I believe that God is

sovereign; do I actually believe it? Do I act like that? Do I shape my life in that

way?” So those times where I was forced to think with it were the ones after

times I was like, “Yeah, my faith is strengthened.” I'm walking away from this

more confident in what I believe.

Chad lost a childhood friend when he was away at college. His friend died of a brain tumor during Christmas break his first year. He said the experience was difficult to understand but foundational to his faith:

That was kind of the moment that I consider a turning point in a way because

after that, I had nothing left, other than the Lord. I remember praying, “God,

please use this to teach me, use it for your glory in some way.” I've seen that in

so many ways. It’s really cool. It's still hard. I still don't fully understand, you

know, why my friend passed away. I think a lot of things in life we might never

fully understand, but we can always be confident that we can trust the Lord.

Upon returning to campus after the death of his friend, Chad was further challenged to work through his own guilt about past “mistakes” during the remainder of his college experience. Chad said to himself in those moments of guilt, “How could I make a decision like that, like after everything I've learned and everything God has done for me?” The guilt caused him to experience times of doubt and wrestling with the sincerity of his faith.

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Difficulties Common Within the College Experience

Other students faced challenges common to the student experience, but still significant for each individual. Hope said:

Just as far as even little things like studying for college exams for the first time

and just trusting God with that and trusting Him with big things too, like any

family situations that I couldn’t be a part of because I was away. I think I grew

a lot over those four years for sure.

Nicole experienced a “lot of health problems” that caused her to examine components of her faith:

It kind of just went back to like, “Is the Lord good even though I’ve had four

knee surgeries in the past three years?” Like that kind of thing. So just, like,

circumstantial things for sure with that. They were difficult, but I think the Lord

was faithful to use what I was learning in class and what my friends were

encouraging me with versus that relationship where I kind of went the opposite

way. He kind of pulled me closer to him during that time. But it was really

challenging.

As mentioned earlier, Lorraine faced challenges as an RA. During one year, she had over 15 emergency room runs with her residents. She had one student who struggled with cutting and another who reported that she was sexually assaulted as a high school student. These difficulties made her review her own faith. “And I think in a lot of ways that challenged my thinking and my faith, because I hadn’t had to think through that personally.”

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Sydney was an RA and had to help a student who had a significant a mental health concern. She recounted that experience as one that challenged her to think through her faith. Along with that experience, Sydney also faced academic difficulty that made her question her major. Both experiences were significant struggles, but each led her to see “the Lord’s faithfulness” in a greater way, as she described it.

Sarah had two failed romantic relationships that brought her faith to the forefront. While preparing for his wedding, Bryce struggled with not having a career or housing plan for after graduation. Anthony found that the busyness of being a student leader caused him to put up of a façade to others about his spiritual well-being.

Through the process, he examined himself and asked, “Is my faith built on faith, or is my faith built on appearing like I have faith?” Subsequently, he developed more transparent friendships to overcome this concern. Thea mentioned “baggage” from high school that was weighing on her during her first year of college.

So, freshman year I told my roommate and I was like “hey, there’s so much

baggage I’m carrying, I’m not happy, I don’t understand why people are so

happy all the time, or everyone thinks life is going great and it’s not.” It didn’t

take until sophomore year, I would say, until all that baggage was let go of and

changes were happening through being in discipleship groups and really trying

to figure out what God’s actually like.

Uniquely, Sarah had completed a gap year before college and had also attended another Christian college as a first-year student before transferring to GLU. She found that she had experienced spiritual growth through the transitions because it caused her to trust God for the future and refine what she needed in a college community.

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However, she still detailed how her faith continued to deepen at GLU. The majority of the student leaders directly discussed, in varying levels, how their faith was personalized as a result of the challenges they faced at GLU. In all, each student processed faith through these challenges. Each participant referenced how establishing support structures for their faith helped them navigate these challenges.

Understanding Faith in Transition

Understanding how participants made meaning of their faith in college served as introduction to how they were now making meaning of their faith in the transition following graduation. Similar to the previous section, an understanding of participants’ faith in transition will be explored by examining how they framed the nature of their transition experience, described and defined their faith, built support structures for their faith, and faced challenges to their faith as recent graduates.

Framing the Nature of the Transition Experience

As a means to understand how these graduates were making meaning of their faith, I needed to gain an understanding of how they were processing the entirety of the post-college transition. Two themes emerged from participant reflections on their transition. First, in comparison to college, every participant discussed how the feeling of being new or inexperienced affected them in this transition time. Second, they detailed how they viewed time differently now.

As it related to participants’ perception of feeling new and inexperienced, Anni identified examples. She stated, “Yeah. Just because everything is new, new, new. I’m in a new city, I have a new job, I have new friends. Everything that I can think of right now is new.” Maggie also described a specific effect of her “newness.” “It’s been very

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different. A lot of new things, especially since I lived in the dorms all four years. So, moving out to an actual apartment, having to cook for myself every day, is very different.” Each participant echoed Anni and Maggie’s sentiments. The struggle with feeling inexperienced and “new” at “everything” was common.

Every participant also observed time or pace to be different since graduation.

Many felt that time was moving slower since leaving college. Addison, a new admissions counselor back at GLU, stated:

I think the longer that I’m in this period, the more that I loved college, but

would not want to go back just because this pace of life. I could not have done

that for very much longer, I think. And so, it’s very nice to be able to have more

of a consistent schedule, to be able to maintain consistency and relationships a

little bit more, I think, without having a busy schedule from 8:00 am to 11:00

pm or whatever.

Likewise, Richard, who is working with a ministry and farm in another country added,

“It is different. But it is nice to be able to leave things at the job and then come home and then you don’t have to think about that anymore for a few hours.” For the same reason, Anthony, an aspiring artist/potter, perceived the pace to have increased since leaving GLU. He believed the pace of work made his day seem to go faster. He added,

“My day has become a lot less [about] people, a lot less [about] changes of things and a lot more [about] routine. Because of that, it goes more quickly.” Each participant commented on how their view of time changed following graduation.

Describing Faith in Transition

As part of this research I wanted to ascertain how these former college student

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leaders currently defined and described their faith. Participants painted images of excitement, vulnerability, effort, and viability when using metaphors to reveal their current faith. Answers were diverse but revealed characteristics of faith that these participants were feeling at that time and desires for their faith to grow through the transition process. As common themes emerged among their metaphors, I created categories to capture their descriptions, with the most salient being faith described organic or vulnerable.

Organic and Vulnerable

The most common theme that was prevalent in their faith metaphors was a description of vulnerability, incorporated by 10 participants. Though each description revealed how participants felt their faith was exposed or inexperienced, they also each conveyed a level of confidence their faith would remain. For example, Anni described her faith as a clay vessel. She said:

I believe that you really shouldn’t ever be off the potter’s wheel, even when

you’re old and gray. God can still use you and mold you in different ways you

would never expect. Because you can always be growing in your faith, and you

can always be getting closer to God. I don’t know. I feel like this is a continual

process, even though right now at this stage in my life, it’s definitely been

ramped up. He’s spinning a little faster right now.

Anthony made a similar insight in describing his faith as a candle in the wind:

I just am picturing a candle just sitting outside at nighttime and it’s windy, and the

winds are blowing at it and it is kind of flickering or whatever, but it stays lit. I

think that’s my faith right now, because I know my faith is here to stay. I don’t

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think it’s going away any time soon, but I’m still just being challenged and asking

questions about it and it's challenging me.

Hope thought of her faith as skydiving. “It’s like exhilarating and it’s fun, but it’s also like slightly terrifying. For skydiving, usually you have a professional that you’re attached to. So in my life, my professional that I would be attached to would be Jesus.”

In his description of faith as a “bicycle,” Bryce added:

I think it’s pretty accurate of how I feel, like I don’t feel under-prepared, I think

it’s just natural like the feelings I’m feeling of no one’s going to get the training

wheels taken off and immediately be Lance Armstrong, you know what I mean?

Like they start out wobbly.... But as you keep driving the bike, you get better

and better, and then build up to Lance Armstrong. So right now, I think I’m

wobbly, but I’m going to make it.

In describing her vulnerability, Thea simply chose to frame her faith as an “internal struggle” for what is right or good.

Metaphors that described participant faith as type of tool that was helpful for living revealed how graduates were trying to incorporate their faith during the post college transition. Two student leaders described their faith as a “lens” through which they make sense of their changing world. Addison said, “…all the ways that I'm acting, thinking, what I believe … is all seen through the lens of what I believe to be true, even deciphering in this phase of life, the will of God is a very big concept of what is the

Lord’s will for me, where should I be.” Sarah also used a lens to describe her faith. She stated, “It definitely is still, even after leaving college, the most important thing to me, the most important thing in my life, and kind of the lens through which I see everything

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else through. So, whether that’s at work, or the new people I'm meeting.”

Other participants chose metaphors that described the organic nature of their faith, with capacity for growth and change. Christi and Richard described their faith as a tree by a stream. Christi stated, “I'm like a little baby tree by a stream. I’m growing, but I’m in the right place, and I’m being nourished and fed.” With more complexity, Nicole described her faith as a leaf in the river:

This is going to sound strange, but it’s almost like a small little leaf in the river

and like it kind of can bounce a little bit and then there's kind of like some

stillness and it’s okay and then you go into something else and it’s kind of getting

bounced around a little bit and then there's kind of a still spot and might get stuck

behind a rock for a little bit, but kind of goes around. It just seems very like a lot

of things being thrown at me at once and so when I say it’s kind of been okay then

it hasn't, it’s been okay, then it hasn’t, that’s kind of like what it seems like. The

different like rough patches, I mean it makes the river the river, but it’s bad thing,

but it’s definitely there and it affects the way that the leaf goes. And I think that’s

kind of what I’ve seen and that’s something that I don't want to be the case,

because I want to be able to go through difficult times and have that steady faith,

but that’s not necessarily where I’m at right now.

Sydney conveyed similar sentiments in her description of faith as a sunflower. She stated:

When the sun’s gone, they wilt, and their heads are literally facing the ground.

But when the sun is super bright, that’s when they lift their heads up and are just

facing that and absorbing all that light. I feel like it’s so easy to just put your head

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down and not absorb what is possibly there, just lifting your head up. That’s

where I am right now. I think is recognizing all of the goodness that he has. The

Lord is literally there shining so brightly. Just lifting my head up and absorbing

all of that goodness in response. That reveals so much beauty, too. They’re just

gorgeous.

These metaphors displayed each participant’s felt need to cultivate their faith, with the belief and expectation that their faith would grow.

Finally, several participants used images that described the relational nature of their faith revealing both its vulnerably and capacity for change or growth. Lorraine, in describing her faith as swimming next to a boat, said:

I'm in the middle of the ocean trying to swim and someone is sitting there

saying, "I have a boat. You can come on the boat." And I'm like, “No, I'll keep

swimming. It'll be fine.” I think that's kind of where I'm at. The Lord's saying,

“Hey, you are wrestling, and you are frustrated, and you are working so hard at

something you don't have to work hard at right now.”

On the other hand, Maggie chose the relational image of getting “coffee with a friend” to explain her confidence mixed with loneliness. She revealed that the Lord was with her despite the lack of other friendships in the new transition. John chose the relationship image of a family, as he reflected on faith in scripture. These metaphors demonstrated the focus of the participants’ faith in the midst of the transition in which they were engrossed.

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Building a Support Structure for Faith in Transition

As these student leaders faced the post-college transition, they all emphasized the importance of building a support structure for their faith, specifically seeking outlets to use their faith, meditation opportunities to ponder their faith, and relationships to encourage and challenge their faith. In essence, they sought to build a scaffold or lattice for their faith that would support future growth. These faith underpinnings provided insight into multiple research questions. I learned in what ways these individuals perceived their faith connected to their activities, relationships, and life decisions. I also discovered what forms of faith encouragements these individuals sought out and found during the transition. In describing their faith structure or support, they often compared components of their faith in college to their current circumstances.

The comparison revealed their concerns and excitements as they embarked on a new chapter with their faith. Like in college, participants viewed these structures as important for maintaining their faith and facing current or future challenges.

Finding Outlets to Use Faith

Student leaders expressed interest in finding outlets to use their faith within their new life chapter, such as joining local ministries or community service opportunities and discerning how to incorporate their faith throughout each of their responsibilities.

Each participant was pursuing involvement in local church groups, with some also working and volunteering to serve those less fortunate within their communities.

Apart from serving, they were also concerned about how faith would affect their day-to-day responsibilities. As Maggie pursued her dream of finishing graduate school to become a speech and language pathologist, she stated that her faith gave her

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perspective that work was not the only thing in life that mattered to her. She was concerned about learning the balance between faith and career.

Other participants were also wrestling with how to use their faith in their new roles. Though an aspiring ceramic artist, Anthony works an hourly job to pay bills. He sorted through how he might use his role at work to represent his faith accurately.

It plays an active role in how I interact with customers at work. How I interact

with my coworkers, my worth ethic. It's really important for me to just follow

rules that are laid out for me…. Because of my faith, honesty and integrity are a

lot more important to me.

Sarah also reviewed her morals and work ethics in light of her faith as she embarked on a career in social work. When comparing herself to her colleagues, she said:

And I would say that my faith makes me certain of those things, whether a

situation appears like black and white or I believe in gray, not morally gray, but

that there are just some situations where there might not be a clear answer. I

feel confident that my faith gives me the perspective to make those decisions in

a way that I feel good about.

Christi was concerned about how to share her faith with others within the new confines of a work environment.

…knowing how to talk to my coworkers about my faith without distracting from

the job we're supposed to be doing, or coming across as freaky, or condemning

their lifestyle, because I don't want to convey that image, so I'd say like it's

constantly on my mind, but I haven't yet learned how to integrate [it] very well.

She desired to tell her colleagues about her faith, which she wanted them to know was

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essential to her. However, she felt inadequate in how to tactfully share something that is profound to her, yet potentially off-putting to another person. Driven with similar motivation of being seen as a faithful person, Anni was sorting through her convictions about her use of alcohol and going out to bars with new coworkers. She posited:

One thing is I do go out to different bars or whatever with my friends, with my

colleagues…I would say, it’s a ministry field and avenue where I can place

myself strategically and have those deep talks because you can’t reach people if

you’re not with them, or if you’re not on their level, or if you don’t have

relationship with them, and they’re not your friend, and they don’t really care to

hear what you want to say. Just being in places to be able to build those

relationships with people or have those conversations, it will open up different

avenues you can explore that wouldn’t have been there otherwise.

Sydney’s new role as a nurse opened her eyes to the sufferings of those less privileged within her urban community. She said:

I feel like I’ve just been very uncomfortable and unsettled, knowing that there’s

so much work to do locally here, to meet even the most basic, physical needs. I

don’t question the Lord’s goodness to me personally, but if I’m not careful, I do

start to question his faithfulness to other people. It’s weird and I’ve never had to

experience that before. But…stepping into a new city and a new culture and a

new population, homelessness and poverty and lack of education and all of

those different types of things—even a lack of ability to care for basic medical

necessities—I do begin to question what the church is doing, and what the

Lord's plans are for those types of people. I don’t know how to answer people’s

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questions about those things, yet. I feel like I have a very big knowledge gap.

Hope was also wrestling with how, as an independent adult, her faith informed her perspective on societal concerns. She stated:

I think a lot stuff that has been happening in America and just in the news as a

whole is just kind of unsettling a little bit and I don't necessarily know how to

react sometimes to certain things that I see in the news, like, “Okay how does a

Christian view this?” That's been kind of what I’ve been trying to do with,

“Okay in a secular world, how do I address issues with people that don't have

the same beliefs as me?”

In conjunction with their current setting, participants reviewed their role as a means to create outlets for faith expression. Christi found her faith experience from college encouraging, as it informed her confidence for the present.

Similarly to the way it sustained me at school, it’s sustaining me here. I’m

trusting that this is where the Lord has called me, and that He’s given me

opportunities to be faithful to him in my witness to my sister and to my church

and to my coworkers. It's an integral part as my motivation for living that I do.

Participants were each concerned to find ways to integrate and use their faith.

Establishing Meditations to Contemplate Faith

As participants pursued outlets to use their faith, they recognized the need to establish routines that allowed them to meditate on their faith and focus on the deeper questions of life. Personal “spiritual disciplines” such as private prayer and Bible reading and participation at places of worship proved to be the important faith- informing rituals for many of these students. Ten participants specifically referenced

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the importance of prayer or time reading the Bible as a means for grounding their faith.

Chad said, “I'd say that I've seen a greater need, almost desperation to be spending time in the Word and in prayer. After graduation it's like, ‘This is something I need every day because there are a lot of distractions throughout each day.’”

Thea was working to fit this important faith activity into her changing schedule.

“I think the change that I’ve seen the biggest is trying to find that time to be in God’s word, and to continue building that relationship with God. Just because my morning starts at 5:30 in the morning or starts earlier than that at 4:30, and it goes to 8:00 p.m. at night.” Sarah was also sorting through a similar struggle. “I think that it's always been a major struggle of mine to find, or not find time, but to decide to use time in my personal devotional life, like reading the Bible and prayer.”

Richard was struck with the lack of support he had around him as he established faith rituals. He recognized that his faith required more effort from him than it did when he was at GLU. He said, “Faith is belief and belief needs to be supported by a constant grounding in the truth. I have spiritual disciplines in my life but [for] the first time I feel like I am building a foundation for myself.” He further stated that his current struggle with quality time in prayer and reading demonstrated this “unsupported” new chapter of life.

So, you do feel a little bit more lonely in your faith that way because it’s really

up to me. It’s every day if it’s going to happen every day, it’s up to me. … And

the frustrating thing is sometimes you get up and you do your devotions and you

have your prayer time and you don’t feel like that was worth my time.

Likewise, Christi found that the additional effort required to navigate her new

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daily routine was frustrating and took time away from her focus on God. “It takes most of my mental energy just to kind of figure out what I need, what bus I’m going to take, all that jazz, and it’s frustrating that so much of my energy's consumed on such petty things, but that’s the way things are right now.” Anni also found the new schedule to be distracting her from her faith. She said,

Probably the biggest is everything new. Sometimes it’s so hard from being at

work eight hours a day every day, which doesn’t sound like it should be this

hard, but it is because college, you might have a class, and a class, but you have

a break in between where you can take a nap or hang out with your friends.

Now it’s eight hours straight day that you need to be working.

However, Anni did find that her faith gave her optimism in the middle of a changing and exhausting routine. “If I didn’t have my hope for a future in God and knowing what the whole point of life is and why I’m here, that would be very hard.”

The process of finding a faith community or place of worship was also an important struggle for participants. Maggie felt that finding a church was essential to the health of her faith. “That’s a huge deal to me. I need to be at church every weekend.

I’ve realized that more and more. Church is like a lifeline of Christians that I get to be around. So that’s a huge thing. And I see people around me that say they’re believers that aren’t doing that.”

Addison was still working in the same town as GLU and finding her place in a new church was a challenge.

I think as a recent graduate, who is single, who is still living in the same college

town that I lived in, I think my biggest struggle in faith right now would be in

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relation to church ministry, church involvement because I felt, kind of, that I had

a place in that as a college student. It was college ministries, adopt a family,

things like that, and now, I am entering into a new stage of life…

Anni was also adjusting to finding a faith community alone. She was happy to find a church she enjoyed, but recognized it required more effort to be involved than in college.

You’re waking up and you’re driving yourself to church alone. Very different.

[At GLU] you’re going straight from class, again with your friends, straight to

chapel. Again, you're all with people, you're migrating in the same direction,

you will stand out like crazy if you’re walking this way and everyone else is

walking this way. Whereas if you want to get involved in the local church, or

do something on weekends, you’re going to have to talk to leadership and get

involved, and reach out to people, and just make that effort. So that’s very

different.

Though it required more effort, Anni was excited about finding new ways to connect to her church. She said, “[in college] I would just sing in worship or drive a van. But now

I have all these other things I possibly could get involved in. It’s just exciting.” Each participant recognized the need to create opportunities for routine meditation on their faith, through religious ceremonies, personal devotions, and times of prayer.

Developing Relationships That Encourage Faith

As they navigated the life transition, participants were particularly concerned with finding other people of faith and establishing friendships that encouraged their faith. Learning about how participants viewed people and sought out these faith

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communities gave me understanding about how they perceived their faith connecting to relationships and how they found support and encouragement for their faith in the new life setting. As Christi said, “Leaving college is an isolating experience, so...I think I’ve recognized more how important it is to be in community intentionally, and how hard it is to find that, but how valuable and precious it is, too.” Each student leader interviewed conveyed similar sentiments. They found the importance of finding a network of like-minded friends to be paramount to the health of their faith. Several also commented on the importance of their established relationships, such as college friends and family, that encouraged their faith and decisions. Nicole was struggling with the process of building new friendships. She said:

I think something that discourages me is my lack of friends, and it doesn’t have

anything to do with me caring if I have a lot of friends. Like I’m definitely one,

like I’ll be okay with two good friends and then it’s fine. But I think more so

just the friendships that I miss from school and just the ones that we just hang

out and we have fun. I feel like I don’t have that, there was definitely spiritual

encouragement there, but I feel like right now I have really just one good solid

friend who’s a believer and who encourages me in my faith and we have fun

together but that’s kind of it.

Nicole was thankful for her close friend from college because they were in similar circumstances. They both were looking for jobs and uncertain of the future.

When interviewed, Sydney stated she still spoke with her best friend from college every day. She said her best friend was very important in providing accountability and encouragement for her faith. In comparison, she reflected on

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emerging friendships and not feeling “known” in her new setting:

The people that I’m now in close proximity with don’t know me in the way that

my friends in college did. I think I’m growing those relationships. There’s that

potential for it in your future, and there are just some steps that I think are close

to being taken to get in a place where we are as close ... I don’t know. I feel like

you just need to get to know people to be able to encourage them in the way that

they need to in their spiritual walk, I guess, because you start to know their story

a little bit. It’s hard, because I don't really feel closely known by the people that

I’m around.

She went on describe her new relationships as “baby friendships” but she remained committed to their growth. She was seeking to find ways to be more transparent in her faith expression with her new friendships.

Two of the participants, Bryce and John, both married female classmates following graduation. Both felt that developing their relationship with their wives was essential to their faith. Bryce said, “Okay, the number one [relationship in my life] right now is my wife and I hope that’s always the case.” John explained how his new wife encourages his spirit. “Just reminding me of truth. Honestly, the way that she perceives life, she will verbally process what she’s thinking. That’s a great encouragement to me, because it’s affirming, and it also challenges me a number of times.” Beyond their partners, both were still in daily communications with close friends from college.

Participants identified finding new church communities as the most important place to build a network that encouraged their faith. Some found this process to be easy and gave them the feeling they was navigating the transition well. Others were still

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struggling to make the connection. Nicole returned home to the church in which she grew up. She found that to be comforting, but it was difficult to find her place. She said:

So, I kind of came back, and I grew up at this church, I kind of came back to it. So,

in a sense, it wasn’t like I looked around for a church or something like that. But I

will say it’s been hard because it's almost like a whole different group of people,

my age at least…A lot of the people I grew up with don't go to that church

anymore and just for various reasons, moving away, things like that. And so it’s

like the same environment but with different people. So in a way, it feels familiar

but at the same time, it is different, it has a different feel to it. And that’s been a

little bit difficult, just kind of navigating “Where’s my place in this now?”

Sydney and Anni separately moved to a large city and found a particular church that had multiple connections to the GLU community. They found connecting within the new church easy because it reminded them of their college community. Sydney said:

I have zero intention of trying another church, because I know this is where I'm

going to be. I'm thankful for that. I don't take it granted, at all, because that's the

Lord. I think that He knew that I needed to be involved in a church right by

[home]...Not that absence of a church family would mean me falling away from

my faith. But I did need encouragement at that moment. That's where I was

met, I think. I met some great people that have helped me through that, a lot.

Anni said it was easy for her to establish relationships and things in common with people from her church. She stated, “It really reminded me of GLU chapel, so I love it.

If I say I'm a GLU alum, we automatically connect. Everybody knows about Great

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Lakes, so that’s very nice. It’s very refreshing. It’s my little home away from home in this new, foreign place.” It was the first church she tried after moving after college and she doesn’t plan on visiting any other locations.

A few participants found it difficult to connect to church communities because the churches they began attending did not have effective ways to connect young professionals. This was particularly frustrating for participants who were single.

Addison stated:

They don’t know whether you should still be with the college students, or if you

feel awkward being in the young marrieds’ group, or just exactly where. As

someone in that stage in life, I'm not wanting pity or anything. I want to be

invested in by people, and to invest in people no matter if they’re in college, or

older, or married, or single, but I think there is a bit of an “I don't know exactly

where to put these people.” They fall in the cracks.

Bryce and his wife were also struggling with the lack of opportunities for young adults in their church. He posited:

[The new church] doesn’t have a young adult program, but I don’t even think

I’m qualified to lead that, you know what I mean? I want someone whose been

through it and can pour into us. So I’m still finding that community. I don’t

have it, but it takes time. At GLU, you find that community, it grows real quick

cause you’ve got four years and the environments conducive to it. Outside

college, like I found a local church. I found that it’s taken longer to get involved

and so it’s a smaller church, so I haven’t found a community yet.

Hope also struggled because her church did not have a young adult group. Though still

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committed to her church, she decided she would look around at other churches’ programs. She found a church that had a monthly program for young adults, so she attended. She said, “I went last month, and it was really good to get plugged in and see like, ‘Okay, I'm not the only one who's feeling like there's no one my age at my church.’

That was cool.”

Several student leaders revealed the important role parents and GLU friends played in encouraging their faith. Chad moved to California, several time zones away from his parents and friends. Despite the distance, he still valued their influence on his faith. Of his friends he said, “[They are the] kind of friends that like, you don't have to constantly be in contact with them, but every time you are it's like, ‘you're my dude.’”

Hope’s parents and friends continued to encourage her as she navigated the difficult process of searching for a job. She said:

With my parents, they probably know me better than anyone else. My mom and

dad have been able to encourage me when I've been a little bit frustrated or

discouraged about my job search and kind of like being hard on myself and

saying, “Oh well, I must be doing something wrong.” My parents are like, “No,

you’re applying for things. You’ve had interviews. God has something for

you.” They’ve been able to encourage me when I’m a little too hard on myself.

Same with my friends, too, but it’s a little bit harder since they’re not around.

They all live further away so that’s been a bit of an adjustment, too.

On the other hand, Lorraine moved home for a month following college before leaving again for seminary education. Her parents and family did not share her faith and did not understand why she was prioritizing faith in her life decisions. “I got to live with

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them again for about a month, and he [God] just increased my awareness of the fact that

I do really love them, and I really do believe that the Bible is true. And if those two things are true, I have to want them to know the Lord, so deeply.” She was convicted to pray for her relationship with her family and that they might grow to understand her faith. She said:

And He’s definitely answered that prayer in many, many ways. So it’s been

funny to get to be someone that my family looks to for advice and for support,

where they probably wouldn't have a few years ago, just because I distanced

myself so much. But now I get to be that person, they’re like, “Something’s

different about her. And we don't know what it is.”

She stated that the change in her relationship with family had helped her faith grow and deepen.

Each participant identified family relationships, GLU friendship, the promise of new friendships at church and work, and the need for a faith community to help support their spirit. Further, these people, along with the previously mentioned place and practices of faith, were essential for student leaders to navigate the challenges of life post-college.

Facing Challenges to Faith in Transition

Through my research, I also sought to answer the question of what were these graduates’ greatest faith challenges during the transition period. I found that participants were facing diverse challenges in the midst of their transition beyond GLU.

However, themes of their challenges emerged into two categories—challenges from participants seeking to establish new routines, and challenges from learning to face the

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uncertainty of the future.

Establishing New Routines

Several student leaders recognized “daily living,” or routine, as the most difficult aspect of their new life. As mentioned earlier, Christi explained that it was difficult managing all the new logistics of her life, and things as simple as finding what to wear to work. Her like-minded friends helped her keep perspective on the changes.

Richard stated:

My greatest challenge in my life right now is that daily battle, the daily grind.

To still have the point where I know that at the end of the day, my affection for

Christ can be greater than any other affection, but sometimes that's really hard to

believe. That’s the number one challenge. Being a consistent person in that

area will flow into my ability to take on the challenge of helping build that

community. Those are the two challenges that I see in my life, because

everything else is just part of life, it’s just life.

Sydney struggled with difficulties in her new job as a nurse. It discouraged her and made her feel naïve. She said, “I thought that I would be super powerful and empowering to my patients, and they would leave with their lives changed and eyes opened, and they would be super excited to change their lifestyle and get healthy.” Her discouragement prompted her to connect to a GLU faculty mentor and some select college friends to find encouragement. She said, “They just really encouraged me, in nursing, specifically, just to continue what I was doing, and that I was making a difference.”

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Considering the Future

Participants also faced the challenges related to the uncertainty of their future career and relationships. As Hope applied for jobs after college, she struggled with comparing herself to her friends. She explained:

That kind of like freaks me out because I want to know what’s coming and

God’s just been really teaching me like, "It’s okay. You can trust me even

though you don’t know what's next.” I've been struggling a lot with comparing

myself to others as well, like seeing my friends that have full time jobs, you

know, and just struggling because I'm so far behind. But, knowing that God has

a plan for me and that everyone’s paths are different, and I can’t just look at

somebody else’s life and want that for my life. It’s definitely a daily struggle as

of right now, but yeah, something that God’s really been teaching me.

John was working through anxiety as he completed his internship at a church. He said:

Especially thinking about after this internship, it’s just a matter of trusting, like I

said before, just continuing to trust that God knows what’s best. That’s an area

of uncertainty…That’s a struggle, a hard struggle, I guess. But, …at the end of

the day, I know God is who He is. But it’s just a matter of not knowing.

Other participants were also struggling with career concerns. Thea and Lorraine found jobs after college that were meeting financial needs but not providing them support or challenge. In light of their lack of fulfilment at work, they both commented on the increased importance of their faith for perspective on life, and their friends and family for support. Each of these challenges created uncertainty for participants that prompted them to use the faith support structures they found through place, practices

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and people.

Emergent Themes from Comparing Faith in Transition to Faith in College

As participants were making sense of their faith in the post-college transition, they used an understanding of their college faith to make sense of their faith following graduation. Their comparisons between college and life after graduation, were evident in how they described their faith, built a support structure for their faith and faced challenges to their faith in the post-college transition. As I studied the comparisons they made of their faith in college and faith in transition, four key themes emerged. First, transition fostered faith reflection for graduates. Second, the transition affected participants’ construct or application of their faith, but not the essence of their core beliefs. Third, the transition exposed participants’ perceived need for support structures to their faith. Finally, as participants navigated the post-college transition, the challenges they faced produced within them comparisons to their faith during college.

Transition Fosters Reflection

As participants responded to questionnaire and interview questions, each commented that the transition process had given them pause and prompted them to reflect on their completed college experience and their current state. For each participant, this assessment included and focused on each individual’s understanding of their faith. As Addison stated,

I do find that [reviewing] my GLU experience did cause me to recalculate, all

the ways that I’m acting, thinking, what I believe, and it is all seen through the

lens of what I believe to be true, even deciphering in this phase of life, the will

of God is a very big concept of what is the Lord’s will for me.

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Hope stated that reflecting on God’s faithfulness to her in college gave her encouragement for the future. She stated, “The word ‘trust’ has really been on my mind a lot because with me not knowing the future or anything, but knowing that God has a plan and that He’s sovereign and He knows what’s going to happen in my future…”

Sarah echoed the same sentiment. She reflected on her student leadership experience at

GLU as a source of encouragement for her time in graduate school.

Graduates’ understanding of faith also served as the means through which they reflected on the entirety of life transition. Anni stated:

I would not be able to make it through without my faith because sometimes

when you're doing all these new things, it can seem very pointless. If there

wasn’t a higher purpose, or hope, what's the point of going through struggles

day in and day out, just going through life working, and working, and working?

Everything is a job and a task. It can be so tiring and tiresome. You’re like,

“What's the point?” What’s the end of this, me getting better at what I'm doing?

That doesn’t seem very great or very satisfying. If I didn't have my hope for a

future in God and knowing what the whole point of life is and why I’m here,

that would be very hard. I could see how somebody would either become

depressed, or lonely, or feel very upset with all the new.

Participants believed it was important to focus on their faith in the transition to avoid complacency or exposure to threats. As such, many of the GLU student leaders described their faith in metaphors that revealed vulnerability and capacity for growth.

However, at the same time, their reflection on their college and current faith also provided these individuals perspective and peace in the midst of change.

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Transition Affects Faith Construct, Not Core Beliefs

As participants considered their descriptions of their faith in transition, each also distinguished between their current faith struggles, insecurities, or efforts to build a structure in a new environment and questioning the core beliefs they held about God.

While defined by their core beliefs participants were still actively seeking to define their personal construction and application of their beliefs. Every student leader interviewed clearly communicated confidence in God, in spite of change. Lorraine said, “My construct, … It’s hard because there is a difference between [my struggles and] ... my faith in the Lord. Knowing that the Lord is who he says He is, that is adequate. But my own faith in that, hasn’t been.” Maggie also echoed similar sentiments. “I mean, there’s been a lot of change since May in my life. But the Lord doesn’t change in that, and so I would say, in some ways, my faith is the one thing that hasn’t changed when everything else does….” Bryce made a similar statement. “I haven’t had major moments of doubt of ... doubting in the existence of God or doubting in my salvation, but I found it easy to question like, ‘Okay now what?’ Or ‘How could I want this so bad and not get it?’”

Nicole stated that scripture has given her an anchor point in the midst of change.

“(…) whatever I’m feeling, whatever the situation is, when it comes down to it, when I get over what I'm feeling, like that is what’s true and that is what I can have confidence in.” Scripture was also important to Richard. He found that he had confidence in the message of the Bible, but that he was beginning to refine his aspects of biblical teaching that he did not find as “core” to the message.

Well my faith is planted in the truth of the Gospel that Jesus is the son of God

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and He came, and He died for our sins and that truth will never change. There’s

always, the Bible is a big book and there’s lots of things in there that I don’t

know about or what conclusions to draw to but my faith is ... and I think before

my faith was probably ... I'd probably die on the hill of “what is your

eschatology (theology of end times)” before. So that's changing. I think that the

inner core circle [of things I hold absolutely essential to my faith] is getting

smaller but it is very strong.

Participants each described their faith as deepening, securing, sustaining or strong.

These statements were made in contrast to their life circumstances or life changes.

Transition Exposes Need for New Support Structures

As detailed earlier in this chapter, graduates prioritized creating a support structure for their faith by finding outlets to use their faith, establishing meditations to ponder their faith, and developing relationships that encouraged their faith. As participants considered their faith in the post-college transition, they were preoccupied with the development of these structures. Conversely, the supports they had not yet developed were viewed as a deficiency and needing their attention. As it related to finding an outlet to use her faith, Sydney stated:

I don’t know if that makes sense or not, but I don’t have any outlets for ministry

right now, besides, obviously, my interaction with people day to day. But I

don’t have any intentional ministry right now. At work, I don’t feel like I’m

making a huge difference with my patients. I think that’s all going to come, it’s

all just very new. I haven’t been able to commit to anything yet because I’m

starting night shift on Tuesday, so I haven’t been able to get a schedule yet as to

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what life is going to look like. I can’t commit to any small groups. I can’t

commit to different things like that.

She went on to state that finding an outlet for faith involvement and ministry was important to the health of her faith. Each participant echoed similar sentiments about finding place for faith. Thea, Richard and Sydney were struggling with understanding if or how to integrate their faith at their new employment. Others were concerned about finding ministries and functions within faith communities or civic partners that gave expression and rhythm to their faith.

Graduates were also concerned about quickly establishing routines that prompted them to meditate on their faith and reflect on God. For Maggie and most of the participants, this concern centered on finding a church. She said: “Stuff like going to church. That’s a huge deal to me. I need to be at church every weekend. I’ve realized that more and more. Church is like a lifeline of Christians that I get to be around. So that's a huge thing [I’m working on finding].” Anni also discussed how much harder it was to find and connect to a church after college, than compared to her time at GLU. However, she was excited to connect to a church in new and different ways than she did as a student. Anthony mentioned that he was discouraged that he was not yet connected to a faith community. Other graduates were working through their new routine to establish time for prayer, meditation and Bible reading. They viewed this time as an important opportunity to express themselves in their faith, while gaining perspective on the rest of their life.

Participants reported the most important and pressing support they were seeking to build for their faith in the post-college transition was a new network of people, who

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would encourage and challenge them. Nicole was struggling to find like-minded relationships after college. She stated:

I think something that discourages me is my lack of friends, and it doesn’t have

anything to do with me caring if I have a lot of friends. Like I’m definitely one

who will be okay with two good friends and then it’s fine. But I think more so

just the friendships that I miss from school and just the ones that we just hang out

and we have fun. I feel like I don’t have that, there was definitely spiritual

encouragement there but I feel like right now I have really just one good solid

friend who’s a believer and who encourages me in my faith and we have fun

together but that's kind of it.

Addison also found this to be a priority. She said, “I want to be invested in by people [of faith], and to invest in people no matter if they're in college, or older.” Each participant was concerned about making friends who shared their faith and finding mentors who could help them grow in their faith as they navigated life change following college. Each participant was preoccupied with establishing faith supports.

Transition Challenges Produce Comparisons to Faith in College

As these GLU student leaders reflected on their faith in transition and sought to establish faith supports, they constantly used their faith experience at GLU as a blueprint and guidepost for their progress. This was especially true as they considered challenges within their new phase of life. Richard clearly drew this comparison as he reflected on their effort, he now had to make to establish his faith in the midst of his new “daily grind.” He said:

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Well, I would definitely say I don’t have the support that I had when I was there.

So, I don’t think that like, my faith hasn’t wavered or hasn’t changed in what I

personally believe or whether or not I would ever stop believing that. But I think

that the surrounding of, you know, what is supplementing my faith has changed.

So, for me to build, I have to be very, very intentional about trying to build that

kind of support system again. It’s not going to just come… I think that would be

the biggest difference. GLU is thrusting those kinds of things on you and when

we leave, you realize what you’re missing and you’re like, “I have to build that

support system myself.”

Feeling the lack of support in their faith during the post-college transition was a common theme made even clearer as participants considered their desire to establish faith place, explore faith practices, and find people of faith to encourage them. In her desire to find a place to act on her faith, Hope posited, “It's definitely been hard. At GLU, they had a ton of ministries to get involved with and a lot of churches that are connected with them. It was really easy…It’s just been hard to get plugged in back at home.” Sarah was facing the challenge of finding a new church in which she could practice her faith:

[I had a church at GLU] that I was used to, and I really liked it. Now, you know,

trying to find that again or ... I’m not even looking for that in particular, but just

somewhere that I feel comfortable and kind of free for the spirit to lead and do

His work and not be so structured and rigid, or so big that I feel like I get lost in it.

That's what I'm dealing with right now.

Maggie struggled with the uncertainty of not having meaningful faith relationships. She stated:

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I think not having deep friendships yet has been a challenge. That's probably the

biggest thing I miss about GLU, I would say. I think ... This is going to sound

arrogant, but not being good at everything I'm doing, that's kind of hard. I didn't

expect that, but looking back, I realize by the time I graduated GLU I knew what

was going on. I knew everything. And here I don't. It's been humbling.

As mentioned in the previous section, Nicole also struggled with finding friends who could connect to her on a spiritual level. Participants were seeking to find more friends that could offer encouragement and help them develop a richer faith community.

Challenges such as finding a job, exploring romantic relationships, and making their way in a new city made each participant reflect on what they had at GLU and seek to build comparable supports for their faith. Likewise, the process of building these supports was also viewed as a significant challenge for these graduates.

Summary

In this chapter I detailed the findings from questionnaire responses and interviews with 15 recently graduated student leaders from Great Lakes University.

The details of my findings were organized into four sections. First, I briefly described the demographics of the respondents. Second, as a pathway to understanding participants’ faith in college, I explained how GLU student leaders described their faith, built structure and supports for their faith, and faced challenges to their faith, while in college. In general, they believed their faith grew and was personalized in college, supported by the intentional environment established by the campus culture.

Third, as a means to understand these graduates’ faith in the post-college transition, I explored their descriptions of faith, desire to establish a new faith support

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structure, and their approach to facing challenges of faith following graduation.

Participant descriptions of their faith through metaphor gave insight into my research question of how they currently defined personal faith. They painted a picture of their faith as vulnerable and organic. Also providing insight to my research questions, they viewed the building of supports as an important process, still in formation, that would help them connect their faith to their current activities, relationships, and decisions.

These supports were also seen as an important means to provide them support and encouragement during the transition period. These faith support structures were additionally viewed as an important ingredient to face their faith challenges during the transition period, which were perceived as establishing a rhythm to their new life, and discerning their future.

Fourth, as insights were developed, several overarching themes emerged from participants’ comparison of their faith in college and their faith in transition. First, the post college transition fostered an opportunity for participants to reflect on their faith, past and present. Second, as they reflected, these GLU graduates made the point that the transition was causing them to change their view of or construct of faith, but not the essence of their core beliefs. Third, as graduates navigated life following graduation, they prioritized building faith supports through finding outlets to use their faith, meditations to reflect on their faith, and relationships to encourage their faith. Finally, they used their understanding of faith in college and the supports they built there, as a comparison for judging their faith progress in the post-college transition.

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CHAPTER V

DISCUSSION

In this study I sought to better understand how recently graduated student leaders of Christian institutions make meaning of their faith in the post college transition. Fifteen recently graduated student leaders of a Christian liberal arts university served as participants. They each completed an online questionnaire that prompted them to explore their understanding of their college experience, their faith in college, how they are navigating life after college, and how they are making sense of their faith in the midst of change. After submitting the questionnaire, each participant completed a one-hour video interview further exploring the questionnaire prompts. The previous chapter described their responses and presented relevant themes that emerged from the data by seeking insights from their faith experience in college, their faith experience in transition, and how they found juxtaposition between the two periods of time.

In this chapter, I will discuss the overarching themes that emerged from my study and specifically explore them in the light of relevant existing research and literature. These themes are that, first, life transition fostered reflection by participants on their faith descriptions, supports, and challenges. Second, participants believed the transition affected the construct of their faith, but not their core beliefs. Third, transition exposed the need for new support structures for their faith. Graduates pursued building a support structure by finding outlets to use their faith, establishing meditations to ponder their faith, and building relationships that encourage their faith. Finally,

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transition challenges elicited comparisons, by participants, to their faith in college.

After comparisons are made between the themes of this study and the literature,

I will detail areas in which this research served to fill a gap within our understanding of faith in post-college transition. In this chapter, as a reflexive practitioner, I will also reference ways these findings may be useful for higher educational professionals and ministers. In addition, I will account for any limitations of this study. Lastly, I will offer a final reflection and draw conclusions to this study.

Discussion of Transition Fostering Reflection

The post-college transition represented a significant and lasting life change that caused participants to personally reflect. It forced each person in my study to assess their college life and to make an initial analysis of their current state following school.

Participants gave special thought to their faith and made comparisons between their faith in college and their current faith. This reflection was not initially an exercise as part of participation in this study; each commented that they had naturally been pondering these faith concerns already. The way that the participants examined their faith during a period of transition, while still using their faith as a means to process the life change, paralleled much of Schlossberg’s et al. (1995) and Goodman, Schlossberg and Anderson’s (2006) research on factors that were important for individuals facing transition. As previously stated, Schlossberg et al. (1995) defined a transition as, “any event, or non-event that results in changed relationships, routines, assumptions, and roles” (p. 15). Schlossberg, et al. (1995) stated that the nature of the transition, its perceived permanence, and whether or not the individual was expecting such a change, can greatly affect their ability to navigate the journey. Through graduating, each of the

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students in this study faced a life transition that was anticipated and viewed as permanent, thus changing their roles, relationships, and routines (Schlossberg, et al.

1995).

Participants not only reflected on the nature of their faith, but also on how they felt about their ability to navigate the life transition, and how they perceived their faith aiding in this transition process. Related to such faith reflection, Goodman,

Schlossberg and Anderson (2006) also found that four sets of “S” factors influenced a person’s ability to navigate change; these included self, situation, support, and strategies. Situation, in part, involved assessment, or a determination of who was responsible for the change and how the individuals perceived they will be affected by the change. As participants of this study journeyed through life change, they assessed the situation, their responsibility in it, and its effect on their faith. Additionally, concurrent stress (Goodman, et al., 2006) was also a characteristic affecting situation.

Participants in this study expressed that every part of their lives felt “new,” routines were time consuming, and they were discerning their place in their new responsibilities.

As faith is often a source of support in the midst of stress, it also makes sense why these participants would be reflecting on their faith and its use in the midst of change.

Another component of situation was a change in role. Student leaders in this study were now graduates; they were required to assume formal jobs and graduate school positions while also establishing new friends and social networks. The change in roles was viewed by participants with mixed emotions. Participants were excited about the future and how their faith would grow, but sad that they lost a faith support structure they enjoyed. These mixed emotions could also have caused further reflection on their

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faith and whether they viewed it, and the changes, to be healthy.

According to Goodman et al. (2006), previous experience with similar transition affected how individuals perceived their situation. Participants in this study drew from their college experience to develop and personalize their faith as a blueprint for their current faith transition. Lorraine believed she had learned many tools for her faith while at GLU that she had to reuse in the post-college transition. She added, “I worked myself to a place where I didn’t need to use them while there [GLU], but I know that

I’m more equipped to handle them now.” Each participant compared how their faith grew in college to how they are making sense of their faith in the current life change.

The process of drawing experiences from their college faith caused further reflection and evaluation of their current faith.

The factor of self (Goodman, et al., 2006) also determined how individuals navigated transition. The authors stated resources such as ego development, outlook, commitment, and values affected how those in transition processed the change. The faith commitments and values of each participant of this study were evident through my interview and questionnaire responses. Participants did not question the content of their faith, but rather they questioned the construct of their faith in transition. As such, their faith content gave participants hope for navigating transition positively. However, these graduates did identify themselves as the key ingredient for positively transitioning their faith. They believed they needed to take greater ownership of their faith. At

GLU, they each had a strong and fully established faith structure across the campus culture that required them to maintain a level of faith conscientiousness. Participants in transition expressed their need to be, as Richard and Anni stated, “more intentional”

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with their faith. Many said that developing and maintaining their faith was now up to them. Several participants even stated that because everything else in their life had been reset, it made their faith, and their subsequent need to be intentional about their faith, more important for their transition. Participants needed to reflect on faith in order to gain greater ownership and intentionality of it.

Though intimate relationships, networks of friends, and communities appeared slower to establish for participants during transition, participants found previously forged social structures and relationships to assist them in navigating the post-college transition. This factor of social support (Goodman, et al., 2006) and its effect on an individual’s life transition was an important consideration for these GLU student leaders. Also clearly shown in their responses, these graduates wanted to establish new social supports and were attempting to make inroads by making new friends at their places of employment. They were also trying new churches and small groups while still relying on family and friend groups. All participants expressed that pre-established support structures were valuable in helping them process change and feel continuity in their faith as they made life changes. Their processing of the change was an additional evidence of faith reflection, made possible by using their faith support structures.

Finally, participants’ responses demonstrated the transition factor of strategies

(Goodman, et al., 2006) for navigating this faith change. Specifically, the authors stated that some individuals implement the strategy of seeking to control the meaning of the problem or transition. Here, the faith of participants aided them in understanding the greater purpose of the transition and what might be accomplished through it. However, this also required participants to intentionally reflect on their faith and hope in contrast

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to the uncertainty of change. As stated in Chapter IV, each participant viewed the change as difficult, but positive. Additionally, they found their faith was the source by which they could control the meaning of the life transition. Addison referred to her faith as her lens from which she could make sense of the transition and the many important decisions she faced.

Goodman, Schlossberg and Anderson (2006) found self, situation, support and strategies to be the important factors in determining how well a person navigates a life change. However, my study revealed the ways individuals processed the need for these factors and sought to establish them in the midst of transition. My participants were conscious of the need for these factors, but were still working to create them as necessary ingredients for positive change.

As stated by participants, the GLU experience represented a period of intense spiritual growth and caused them to personalize their beliefs and engage them with others. Fowler (1981) and Fowler and Dell (2006) gave relevant insight into how participants might have reflected on their faith in transition and how such reflection leads to development. These participants may have demonstrated in college the movement from synthetic-conventional faith to individuative-reflexive faith (Fowler,

1981), by personalizing their beliefs and faith support structures apart from those of their parents or home churches. However, as the participants stated, the GLU community was a culture that immersed them in faith and supported them throughout their college experience. It was described as deep but narrow. Now that the experience had concluded, these graduates were forced to grapple with new coworkers, roommates, and friends that represented diverse perspectives of faith. As this research only

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provided a snapshot, time will tell if these graduates further personalize their faith and make the transition to the next faith stage. Fowler (1981) posited that these periods of life change and upheaval can create growth that leads to the conjunctive faith period, characterized by exploration of faith paradoxes and faith communities. However, as this study is a single time within the transition, it was inconclusive if participants reached this point in the transition. Specifically, the participants of this study did not all discuss ways they were confronting paradoxes, which is a characteristic of conjunctive faith (Fowler, 1981).

Chad, Anthony and Sarah stood out in the ways they discussed exploring broader theological perspectives and had views that were more diverse than what they experienced at GLU. This exploration demonstrated further reflection on faith.

Parks (2000, 2011), as she expanded the work of Fowler (1981), also presented the transition experience as a means of faith reflection; this was experienced by this study’s participants. Particularly, Parks (2011) made a developmental distinction within the college experience. Most college students were in what she called a young adult stage, where students experience some testing of their faith but spend most of their efforts probing commitments, searching inner-dependence and finding mentors.

Participants in this study revealed that much of their college experience had a similar focus, using descriptors such as “busy,” “involved” or “full.” However, they found the environment of GLU to be a place that challenged and supported the growth of their faith, particularly requiring them to move beyond a faith that was prescribed to them by their families or church. Ironically, though GLU had prescriptive and specific faith requirements of its students, such as chapel attendance, ministry involvement, or

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church participation, the participants of this study expressed that their faith became personalized while in college. These college student leaders found important relationships with mentors and friends that pushed them to explore their faith in a more individual and deeper fashion. Parks (2011) also stated that institutions of higher education can create a mentoring environment where students can search for meaning, purpose and faith during their formative years.

As this support structure found within GLU was taken away post-graduation, participants of my study were left to grapple with a new environment; only a few had mentors present to provide encouragement and feedback. However, the graduates were reflecting on their faith and seeking to make it even more personal and integrated into their lives. This could represent an initial movement to the tested adult phase, as proposed by Parks (2011). At this level, individuals grasp commitments more fully and are more confident in their inner-dependence. Here, individuals begin to focus their personal faith more on internal guidance than on external guidelines and influences.

However, since this study examined students’ meaning making in only one moment of the transition, more data would be required to make meaningful comparison.

Fox’s (2011) study with recent college graduates is also relevant to understand participants’ faith reflection while navigating transition. Fox built a grounded theory that posited that the transitionary period could be viewed as a stage that she called transitioning adult. Prior to this stage, participants were viewed as a young adult, and after this stage participants were seeking to establish themselves in life after college as an achieved adult. However, in this period, graduates are caught in the middle. Fox said:

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The participants [of my study] talked about this [period as a time of reflection]

in terms of the post-college transition as a period where one thinks about what

one wants, but achieved adulthood is a period where one acts upon the purpose.

In addition to professional and personal purpose, this was also seen through the

participants’ strong desire to contribute to something meaningful. (p. 206)

She found that recent graduates were still deliberating on how to take necessary actions for a meaningful faith integration, but not yet to the stage of executing those plans.

Similarly, the participants of my study sought to do something meaningful through the integration of their faith. Concurrently, they found themselves in a period of life that caused them to reflect on their faith up to this point as a means to prepare for faith correction, growth, and action. However, my research found that participants were taking steps toward acting upon purpose with their faith.

It was surprising to me that the interplay of identity development did not permeate the essence of participants’ experiences with faith in transition. Though participants reflected on their faith and how they were constructing it, it did not appear that they were in a period of questioning their identity (Baxter Magolda, 2009;

Josselson, 1987; Kegan, 1994; Marcia 1989, Perry, 1970). As most identity development theories were built from examining participants over the course of their college experiences, or even their lifetime, it would also be difficult to determine if they were experiencing changes to their inner self within the snapshot of this research.

However, as they reflected on their faith, these recent graduates were more concerned with the external factors that would help them navigate the transition and the external support structures that would help them integrate their faith within their new life

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experiences.

In summary, participant faith reflections demonstrated the incorporation of tools or factors that may aid them through the transition process (Schlossberg et al, 1995;

Goodman, et al., 2006). Additionally, participant reflection could be viewed as steps toward faith development, namely, a greater personalization of their faith and acceptance of new experiences and perspectives (Fowler, 1981; Parks, 2011).

Discussion of Transition Affecting Faith Constructs, Not Core Beliefs

Participants in this study dealt with challenges during their post-college transition that caused them to reflect and question themselves or their constructs of faith. However, they each reported that they did not waiver in their core beliefs. The words of Lorraine highlighted this distinction. She said, “Knowing that the Lord is who he says he is, that is adequate. But my own faith in that [belief], hasn’t been

[adequate].” This difference between individuals wrestling with changes in their faith construct while holding their core beliefs intact is worthwhile to consider in light of developmental theory literature. Fowler (1974) made a clear distinction between the content and construct of faith.

The content — the actual images, values, beliefs, symbols and rituals — of a

person's or community’s faith is of central importance in informing their

behavior and shaping personality. We are interested in this content of faith in its

richness, individuality, and concreteness…. Stage theory, however, focuses on

that which is less variable and more constant and capable of comparison

between persons and communities, namely, the inner structure or form of faith-

knowing.

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Fowler suggested that an individual could maintain the same values, symbols and rituals, but develop a transformed understanding and meaning of such engagement as they progressed through higher levels of faith development. The participants of this study did not wrestle with the values and beliefs they held but did struggle with how the transition affected their structure, or the construct, of their faith knowing. They questioned themselves but did not question God.

Within this context of evaluating faith constructs, it is noteworthy that Fowler and Dell (2006) stated that life transitions could be confusing and painful, and affect an individual’s certainty and perception of their faith. However, these periods of disruption and disequilibrium could also prove to foster spiritual growth (Fowler,

1981). To grow spiritually, a person must face tensions between individuality and group membership, subjectivity and critical reflection, and the struggle with the relative and the possibility of absolutes (2006). Participants of this study did not critically question the “absolute” in their lives and religious tradition; therefore, it could be argued that they might miss out on growth through this transition period. Perhaps, according to Fowler (1981), they may settle into a synthetic-conventional faith. This is a period of adopting beliefs in conformity to those with whom one has a significant relationship, or individuative-reflective faith, characterized by an understanding that truth of all kinds can be approached from multiple perspectives into one’s own definition of truth. However, participants did question their perspective of their faith, life choices that reinforced or challenged their faith, and connections to others that engaged their faith. This was true of participants as they reviewed their growth in college and sought to examine their initial experiences following school. I believe

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Fowler’s (1974) distinction between faith content and faith constructs also alleviated the concern that these individuals may be categorically missing out on growth opportunity because they have not questioned their faith in God.

What the participants did question was their faith consistency and integration.

Following college, many of the participants used metaphors to describe their faith as vulnerable and dependent but growing. As they sought to build new faith roles, relationship and rituals, participants recognized that they had to review how they had held their faith and made sense of it. Several stated it had to grow and alter during this period of transition for it to be relevant to their new problems. However, again, graduates did not believe this transition would change the core of their religious beliefs or faith. For example, Sydney advanced that during the period of change she was questioning herself and her view in relation to her faith more, but still found what she believed to be solid and trustworthy.

Again, supporting this point in applying Fowler’s (1981) theory to a study of

Christian college students, Holcomb and Nonneman (2004) noted:

Fowler’s more mature levels of faith development require a fundamental shift

in cognitive processing. A transition from one faith stage to another does not

necessarily mean a change in the content of one’s faith. It does mean, however,

changes in how one understands and takes responsibility for living one’s faith.

(p. 95)

The participants of this study were not changing the content of their faith, but were wrestling with the living out of their faith in a new context. However, as this research explored one moment in time, it could not be determined if or how students may face

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future crises of faith, or paradoxes in their core beliefs.

In contrast, Parks (2011) found that young adults were vulnerable to tethering themselves into a faith community that gave them structure, but one that did not require them to address difficult faith questions or paradoxes. Therefore, she suggested that some young adults would be vulnerable to communities of fundamentalism, which may restrict further faith development. The participants of my study expressed that their college experience was supportive and positive for their faith and was structured for that purpose. Also, they unanimously stated that they did not question the truth of

Scripture or the tenets of their Christian faith in college or following. However, they believed that the environment did challenge them to grow in their faith and they found other people within the community who pushed them to explore their spirituality and faith. Now, in the midst of transition, they were facing difficult faith questions while still remaining steadfast in their core beliefs. Therefore, it would be problematic to characterize the participants of this study as being given to fundamentalism. However, how these GLU graduates navigate this transition through engaging areas of dissonance within their faith and establishing themselves within healthy faith communities will affect their personalization of and progression in their faith. This engagement will cause them to realize that, “there are no easy answers to the ‘complexities of life’”

(Holcomb & Nonneman, 2004, p. 96). This engagement will also determine the trajectory of their future faith development according to Fowler (1981) and Parks

(2011).

In understanding the changing construct of faith, participants used imagery that revealed that they believed their current faith to be vulnerable and organic. The use of

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metaphor to describe faith constructs has been incorporated by multiple researchers.

Parks (2011) utilized multiple analogies to describe aspects of her participants’ faith.

For instance, she used the idea of a shipwreck to describe a period of crisis and isolation in the faith of a young adult. She used the concept of a woven canopy to describe how faith is often passed down in family tradition, similar to canopies used in Jewish weddings. She used other metaphors of the commons, the table, and the hearth to describe aspects of faith relationships, which I explain later in this chapter. Buber

(1958) utilized the metaphors of the forum and boudoir to explain the external or relational and the internal or private nature of one’s being. Jesus Christ’s teachings are also filled with similes, metaphors and parables to describe faith. The participants of this study revealed the nature of their faith through beautiful and diverse imagery. The participants’ responses also demonstrated the concerns of their faith in transition and the foundation from which they were building faith in a new environment. Most notably, they sought to be vulnerable, organic, relational, and useful with their faith as they navigated change. However, they each noted confidence in their faith and a resoluteness to their core beliefs.

Discussion of Transition Exposing the Need for New Support Structures

The participants of this study articulated an appreciation for structures or frameworks that gave shape to their faith while in college and felt the need to build similar support structures of faith as they navigated the post-college transition. These graduates built supports for their faith within the areas of finding outlets to use their faith, establishing meditations to ponder and enrich their faith, and developing relationships that encouraged and challenged their faith. These areas were found to be

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similar to Schlossberg’s (1995) definition of transition. This included changes of an individual’s roles, relationship, or routines as they related to participants’ faith expression. The post-college transition was characterized by changing faith roles, relationships, and rituals.

Fox (2011) found that the process of moving from the college experience to established adulthood, “incorporates an evolvement, not development, of roles, relationships, routines, and assumptions” (p. 239). Fox meant that college graduates were looking to alter their roles and relationships from their previous ideations, but with their college experience of such constructs informing how to develop these support structures into adulthood. Within this study, participants sought to evolve or grow their faith roles, relationships, and rituals as a support structure.

Finding Outlets to Use Faith

As GLU graduates sought to establish their life following the undergraduate experience, they desired to find outlets to use their faith, found through service and ministry, and integration of their faith in their new work or graduate school settings.

Some were pursuing vocational ministry, while others were seeking to integrate their

“witness,” or demonstration of faith, into their work context. Within their faith communities, they were seeking to make commitments to church and faith-based non- profits. Their interest in establishing roles or outlets represented a desire to incorporate their faith throughout their newly formed life stage.

This faith integration has a connection to research throughout faith development literature. Fowler (1981) characterized faith as “an orientation of the total person, giving purpose and goals to one's hopes and strivings, thoughts, and actions” (p. 14).

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Fowler and Dell (2006), further stated that faith development theory combines an understanding of what faith is, with what faith does. In essence, as an individual grapples with human needs and meaning making, they will seek out responsibilities and actions that reflect their faith understanding. “Faith orients one to life and its purposes, and to creation, with its origins, its ordering, its enormity, its hospitality to life in its myriad forms and expressions, and its mystery” (p. 412). The participants of this study were concerned that their faith “does” (p. 412), or motivates them to action, by sharing it with coworkers, engaging in responsibilities and ministries that provide holistic care to them and others, and establishing means to connect to God and others through faith roles.

Parks (2011) and Tillich (2001) both indicated that faith motivates behavior and action. In framing “faith as purpose and act,” Parks stated, “Faith is intimately related to doing. We human beings act in accordance with what we really trust and what truly moves us” (p. 36). These statements rang true for participants in this study. They wanted to integrate faith in tangible ways that gave it meaning and function. For example, Anthony described how faith affected his outlook on his job and his interaction with coworkers. “It plays an active role in how I interact with customers at work. How I interact with my coworkers, my worth ethic when I'm there…I think my faith plays a big role in that.” Specifically related to faith roles within the vocational context, Palmer (1999), when discussing vocation as calling, noted the importance of grasping an internal and deeper identity through spiritual searching as a means of connecting purpose to work. This example may represent a new employee’s initial attempt to connect their faith with their role and vocation. According to Dalton (2001),

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spirituality is important in an individual’s understanding of career decisions, life plans and commitments, and personal goals. These include, “service to others, family life, and community involvement” (p. 20). Through the searching out of these outlets, participants were also seeking a greater purpose in and understanding of where they were in their lives.

Participants also sought out roles within new churches, not just as a means for finding relational community, but as an action or expression of their personal faith. By being a member of and serving within a community, these graduates were finding their faith “place” in a new world. Parks (2011) also delineated that intentional or mentoring communities or environments help individuals find “place and purpose” that leads to

“practice” (p.197). She used the image of a table to describe place within a mentoring faith community where individuals find their place and seat within the community conversation. As mentioned, GLU student leaders were seeking to find faith roles that would help them understand where they fit in the now larger faith community.

These participants’ engagement in actively finding ways to incorporate their faith in living can be juxtaposed with the many young professionals, their same age, who were leaving their faith (Kinnaman, 2011). Kinnaman described how many young people left churches and their faith for various reasons. Some felt disenchanted in a local church or confused with how they fit in. Some were wrestling with doubts within their Christian framework. Other young people found the faith community to be shallow and not prepared to meet their needs or ready for their involvement. Still, others left because they lacked something to do for, or within, the community. They could not find their “place.” At least at this point in time, participants of this

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dissertation study were committed to and engaged in learning how to fit their faith into community and how to fit into a faith community. In challenging churches to better engage such young people, Kinnaman said:

Many of the deepest truths of Christianity become clear when we put our faith

into action; in the doing, believing makes sense…. We need to help young

adults do something with their faith in order to contextualize their doubts within

the church’s mission (p. 197).

How participants of this study are challenged and encouraged to “do” through assuming faith roles may help determine their faith stability and growth. In summary, faith outlets or roles were an important focus for participants to find identity within their communities.

Establishing Meditations to Ponder Faith

Not only did participants of this study seek to establish outlets for their faith, but they also sought out weekly events and routines that would encourage them meditate and reflect on their faith understanding. Fowler (1992) defined these practices as rituals or, “a repeated pattern of action, shared by two or more persona, in which their actions represent actual or potential relations of the participants to personally significant centers of transcendent value and/or power” (p. 324). Participants of this study engaged in public rituals such as attending church or participating in a Bible study or local ministry, and individual rituals such as personal meditation, prayer and Bible reading, that they believed connect them to God and other believers.

Fowler’s (1992) definition complemented the characteristics of ritual, as espoused by Magolda and Gross (2009). Within the study of a Christian college student

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organization, they focused on the rituals of students. The authors characterized rituals as performative acts, that are intended for others to observe. They also stated that rituals involved transmitting information through the use of symbols that contain value.

Finally, according to Magolda and Gross, rituals have recognizable and expected forms.

Though several of the rituals performed by participants of this study were private or individual, they did involve symbols of meaning, maintained recognizable forms, such as prayer and church worship, and were intended by participants to be observed at least by God, if not by others.

Establishing meditations were viewed by participants not only as a means to connect to God, but also to assess themselves in light of the divine. Astin et al. (2011) described this endeavor as spiritual quest. Within their study to establish measures for religiousness and spirituality, the concept of spiritual quest was assessed by determining a student's interest in searching for meaning and purpose in life. This was viewed as a personal undertaking for the individual. Participants of this study mentioned exercises like devotions, prayer and meditation, as deeply personal, but important, habits, which give them peace and perspective.

However, according to Astin, et al. (2011), these habits fit within the definition of religious disciplines. They established five measures of religiousness. Religious commitment reveals the student’s level of desire to follow religious teachings in daily life. Next, religious engagement reflects behaviors such as frequency of attending worship services, praying, and engaging in Scripture reading. As mentioned, participants in this study were desirous to follow the teachings of the Bible and were committed to practicing the daily rituals of prayer and Scripture reading. As they

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engaged in these rituals, they likely did not differentiate between them as religious or spiritual. However, they did hold the activities as important expressions of their faith.

The overlap of these practices between the spiritual and religious may best be defined as “sacred” endeavors. Hill, Pargament, Hood, McCullough, Swyers, Larson and

Zinnbaur (2000) researched the fundamental characteristics of religion and spirituality, drawing distinctions between the two. However, as part of their research, they advanced the concept of the sacred as “a person, object, or a concept that transcends the self” (p.

68). According to the authors, individuals are in a search to understand and identify what is personally sacred. This search often leads to a process that includes both religious and spiritual journeys. “In the context of religion, this sacred content is often defined through institutional mechanisms such as ecclesiastical authority, sacred writings, and traditions.

Such institutionalized sources of knowledge work together in religions to provide religious adherents with a picture of what reality is like” (p. 64). Within this same context, Chickering, et al. (2006) stated, “the occurrence of the sacred is highly personal and may be invested in a wide range of life events, experiences and entities” (p. 47).

Individual examples included music, liturgies or religious texts, or experiencing nature.

The participants of this dissertation study prioritized sacred activities that were both personal and corporate. Ultimately, they found these habits to be essential to their faith and a means and space that helped them reflect.

Parks (2011) described this sacred space through use of another metaphor. As part of a mentoring faith community, Parks incorporated the image of the hearth to explain how an activity in an environment can cause an individual to stop and reflect on greater meaning. “Hearth places invite pause, reflection and conversation” (p. 198).

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According to the author, these places are often sought during or after periods of shipwreck when young people are searching to make meaning with their experience and find answers to larger, fundamental questions. Whether the participants of my study experienced “shipwreck,” as defined by Parks (2011), remains to be seen as they navigate the post-college transition. However, the transition has been significant and is naturally prompting these GLU student leaders to seek out hearth for reflection and peace. The personal and community rituals engaged in by participants gave them meaning and space for reflection on God and their new life.

Developing Relationships That Encourage Faith

As participants sought outlets to use faith within their new life, and they established mediations for faith reflection, they wanted to build relationships that engaged their faith. As means of becoming closer to God, they recognized the need for relationships with believers, non-believers, and mentors. They also were committed to building relationships within a larger faith community that included others from GLU, new local churches, and other groups through their work or living situations. Parks

(2011) stated, “Faith is a patterning, connective, relational activity embodied and shaped not within the individual alone but in the comfort and challenges of the company we keep” (p. 89). The GLU student leaders were eager to find company that could provide comfort, and perhaps challenge, to their faith. Love and Talbott (1999) stated, “spiritual development involves developing a greater connectedness to self and others through relationships and union with community” (p. 364). The participants of

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this study were seeking this connectedness as a means to support them in their faith during a time of transition.

As part of their need for other people of faith, some participants talked about needing accountability in relationship during their transition. As a form of such accountability, several were searching for more mature guides to help them make sense of the change. This accountability would represent the challenge Parks (2011) espoused. She stressed the importance of these mentors helping students navigate their faith growth. She defined a mentor relationship as an “intentional, mutually demanding, and meaningful relationship between two individuals, a young adult and an older, wiser figure who assists the younger person in learning the ways of life” (p. 127).

Participants were seeking these mentors through relationships at church, work, or back at GLU.

As these participants found more people who supported their faith, they were also seeking to slowly build a larger faith network and community, similar to what they experienced at GLU. Parks (2011) also stressed the importance of a relational network within the faith journey. She said:

The sense of having a viable network of belonging is key. If a person becomes

critically aware and begins to take responsibility for his understanding of faith,

then recomposing truth includes recomposing his own sense of trust and power.

In such moments, the recognition, presence, care, and faith of others can make

all the difference (p. 93).

Participants believed that finding relationship and belonging within their new communities would affect their responsibilities, understanding of faith, and

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relationships with others. In a larger sense, Parks (2011) believed in the powerful potential of mentoring communities, offering examples that included universities and churches. Mentoring communities functioned to intentionally foster aspects of faith development. Parks again used a metaphor to describe webs of faith-informing relationships in practice. She described these as the commons (p. 200). Further, she stated, “The commons afford practices and interrelatedness, belonging, and learning how to stand—and stand with—each other over time” (p. 201). The participants of this study were hopeful to find interrelatedness and belonging that would help them stand in their faith as they grew further into adulthood.

Participants were chiefly concerned with building meaningful relationships with others with whom they shared a common faith. When they were able to find connections to people following graduation they were encouraged. Conversely, as they struggled to build new friendships with other believers, they were discouraged and felt lonely. This struggle correlated with those within the sixth stage of Erikson’s (1980) theory of psychosocial development, intimacy vs. isolation. According to Erickson

(1968), success within this stage involves individuals developing positive relationships, including romantic relationships, that encourage commitment, care and protection.

Failure to find intimacy can lead to isolation, loneliness, and even depression (Erikson,

1980). The participants of this study understood the importance of pursuing intimacy with others, as they viewed it as important to their current and future success. They sought to find shared experiences above their individual journey. As Erikson’s theory, like most psychosocial development theories, was developed over a number of years, it is difficult to determine within a snapshot study, such as this dissertation, if participants

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are progressing through this stage. However, participants in my study recognized the need for faith intimacy with others as a paramount concern.

Also according to Erikson (1968), the successful struggle for identity must predicate the possibility of intimacy. “It is only when identity development is well on its way that true intimacy, which is really a counterpointing as well as fusing of identities, is possible” (Erikson, 1968, p. 135). The participants of this study were coping with the loss of their leadership position and their identity within the GLU community. Likewise, they were aware of the loss of community exacted by the ending of the college experience. If Erikson’s (1968), assertions are accurate, participants may need to resolve and establish their identity post-college to further pursue intimate relationships.

The desire for participants to establish faith-informing relationships with other people can also be viewed as a method for coping with transition, as advanced by

Goodman, Schlossberg and Anderson (2006). The authors identified four factors that influence an individual’s ability to transition; situation, self, support and strategy.

Support included intimate relationships, family units, networks of friends, and communities and institutions. The participants in my study were seeking key relationships to help them make sense of faith in the transition and cope with the changes they were experiencing.

Discussion of Transition Challenges Eliciting Comparisons to College

Participants reflected that the post-college transition was an opportunity to evaluate their faith. Within their reflection, they remained committed to the core beliefs of their faith but questioned their personal construct of faith and they sought to build

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new support structures by finding outlets, establishing meditations, and developing relationships that would develop their faith. Finally, as they sought to build these supports as a means to confront the post-college faith challenges, they made comparisons of their faith in college to a guidepost and blueprint for developing faith in the new chapter of life.

As a means to face faith challenges in the post-college transition and throughout all of their reflection, participants drew comparisons from and understandings of their current situation from their college experience. The work of Schlossberg (2004),

Goodman, et al. (2006) and Fox (2011) provide insights into why these graduates are using their previous stage of life as a “blueprint” for establishing their next life chapter.

Through her presentation of transition theory, Schlossberg (2004) describes the transition process in the stages of moving out, moving through, and moving in. As someone leaves a life stage, they move out from roles and activities that previously held their attention and focus. Next, they move through, as they are in the midst of the transition and actively search. She said, “This vacuum is a period of neither-here-nor- there, during which you relinquish one set of roles, relationships, routines, and assumptions, and struggling to figure out ‘what’s next’” (p. 19). Finally, they move in when they establish themselves in stable roles in a new place, position, or stage of life.

This dissertation revealed participants experiences that placed them in the process of moving through. According to Schlossberg (2004) and Goodman, et al. (2006), individuals try to rely on their understanding of life from previous experiences in order to cope with change and begin to establish themselves on the other side of transition. In presenting the factors that influence an individual’s ability to change self, situation,

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support, and strategies, Schlossberg and her colleagues (Goodman, et al., 2006) stated that situation included characteristics of the transition, triggering events, locus of control of the individual, change of roles, duration or permanence of the change, relevant previous experiences, concurrent stress, and assessment.

The participants of this study referenced many of these characteristics and previous experiences were of particular interest. However, the GLU student leaders noted that their establishment of faith supports in college informed how they sought to develop a similar construct through the transition. College served as a blueprint for establishing themselves as faithful adults. In college they had to find friends, create a routine, and position themselves within the campus culture. During school, they also experienced faith growth and had to learn how to integrate their faith as they experienced greater independence from their families and structure of pre-college life.

Participants also referenced how challenges to their faith in college prepared them to face the changes after graduation, uncertainty, and the new challenges they faced through transition. Using college as a roadmap may be a strategy that aided student leaders to handle post-college change and cope with their new environment and period of life.

Building from an understanding of Schlossberg et al. (1995), Fox’s (2011) foundational theory study examined how college students of a public university processed the post-college transition. However, she did not examine faith as a component of this change. Fox supports her finding that these students built a post- college support system. She reports:

The participants in this study (Fox, 2011) talked about the benefits of

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meaningful prior experiences, particularly work and internships, in easing the

transition from college to post-college life. As the participants progressed

through the transition, many talked about the ability to build upon prior

experiences, either from college or earlier in the post-college transition, to gain

experience. (p. 174)

Though my study focused particularly on faith, it still supports Fox’s findings that graduates view meaningful prior faith experiences as a benefit, specifically when evaluating each type of experience for relevancy in the new stage of life.

Fox (2011) also found that graduates sought out shared experiences to establish stability in the midst of change and uncertainty. For several of her participants, they found these shared experiences within their previous college experience, and within their social network from college. Participation with participants in my study demonstrated similar results. They used experiences and relationships from college that were meaningful to their faith to guide and establish their new life direction. It remains to be seen whether or not such networks and “blueprint experiences” (Goodman et al.,

2006) will be necessary to maintain once these individuals are more permanently established in post-college life. This coping strategy may no longer be necessary as participants become more comfortable post-graduation. Fox (2011) also noted that for many of her participants, “This was the first time it was necessary to develop such coping strategies because purposeful support networks were automatically provided while in college” (p. 199).

The participants of my study made similar observations. Because it was their first attempt at constructing such a network, it makes sense that they referenced the

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support structures that were automatically put in place for them in previous life experiences, such as college. Since the participants of this study were student leaders who reported that their college experience as transformative and positive, it also follows they would want to use such an experience to inform their new life ventures. However, unlike the Fox (2011) study, the participants of my study believed that the faith experiences they had in college provided a rubric and pattern that they could actually build upon. Although they had not experienced much of the independence and vulnerability that comes from graduating, they had established faith supports that informed their life in the post-college period.

Position of Research

I have detailed how the findings of this study connects to prior research.

However, I also want to make clear where my research can fill a gap in the current, relevant literature. The faith transition experiences of GLU college student leaders, as garnered from questionnaire and interview responses, provided several phenomenological themes. As they navigated life changes, participants reflected on the descriptions, supports, and challenges of their faith; this reflection may have been a factor that will help them navigate transition (Schlossberg, 1995; Goodman, 2006), and may reveal necessary activities for further faith development (Fowler, 1981; Parks,

2011). However, as they reflected on their faith, these participants made the distinction that their core beliefs were still resolved and served as a source of encouragement to them during change. Fowler (1981, 1992) clarified this same distinction of faith content versus constructs as natural for some individuals as they journey.

In their reflection and desire to evolve their faith constructs, participants sought

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to build supports, to provide outlets to integrate faith (Parks, 2011); to find relationships to provide support for their faith (Schlossberg, 1995; Fox, 2011), mentorship, and guidance (Parks, 2011); and to develop faith practices or meditations to aid in reflection and spiritual connection (Fowler, 1992; Magolda & Gross, 2009). Finally, as participants sought to build a new life in adulthood, they relied on an understanding of their faith during the college experience as a guide in their transition. This activity represented a necessary support structure (Fox, 2011) for participants, and a means to navigate change (Schlossberg, 1995).

Though many of the findings of this study reflect related research, these findings also open an area of study that had not been fully explored: faith in the adjustment period following college. Though Schlossberg (1995) explored the necessary ingredients for navigating change, she and her colleagues did not seek to understand how individuals value such factors or establish them in the post-collegiate context. Fox

(2011) discovered the experience of transitioning, and recent graduates, but she did not gain understanding of the descriptions, supports, and challenges of their faith. Parks

(2011) and Fowler (1981) pioneered an understanding of how individuals develop faith over their lifetime, and how they integrate or wrestle with faith in life crises, but they did not provide specific insights of the faith descriptions, supports, and challenges found by student leaders in the post-college transition. My research sought to fill those gaps and to create momentum for further studies.

Implications for Practice

Through this study, I sought to understand how fifteen college student leaders made meaning of their faith during the post college transition from GLU. Since my

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desire was to understand their experiences, the findings and conclusions of this study are primarily limited to that of these participants. However, the appropriateness of transferability, or the degree to which the findings of one study can be found to be applicable in other situations (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016), must be determined by readers’ understanding of the GLU context and their own. Implications for Christian college graduates, university leaders, and leaders of faith communities can be evaluated to determine if they are relevant to others. As such, policies and programs of this institution and other universities could be shaped in a way to better support graduates, similar to the ones in this study, as they navigate their faith following the college experience.

Student Leaders

Student leaders who are about to graduate or who have recently graduated may identify with the experiences of the participants within this study. The literature and research from which this study was built upon, explained in Chapter II, revealed that the life change after college is profound. Though I am grateful for the work of Fox (2011), there is still a gap in research in how these individuals navigate an important period of life. No prior study focused on how student leaders make meaning of faith during this period. I hope this study fills a portion of this gap.

Participants revealed their faith was essential in having life perspective for their post-college transition. They also revealed that their faith was an important anchor point for them during change. Therefore, students may find this study helpful as they prepare to graduate. It may encourage them to seek out faith communities as they consider new places to live and work. If a graduate were as strategic with faith

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considerations during this transition as they are with finding housing, a graduate school, or employment, it may serve to bolster their spirit and stabilize their faith during the midst of great change. Additionally, as students graduate, they may want to assess their faith structures from college to determine what they seek to keep intact and what needs to evolve or be abandoned. Through reflection, they may be able to make some initial determinations of their desired faith roles, rituals, and relationships in adulthood.

Graduates will need to determine what faith outlets they want to pursue, whether that is in a new faith community or in some other group. Graduates will need to understand what, if any, faith rituals from college were important to their faith and spirituality, and how they might find opportunities to recreate them or adapt them for a new life chapter. They will need to understand who the people were who encouraged their faith in college and use that model to build similar relationships following graduation. As an example, I encourage recent graduates to read through and answer my interview questions found in Appendix E. Reflecting on their faith and what and who influenced it may allow them to the take the necessary steps to continue building it following college. By examining their faith, such student leaders may also better prepare themselves for life changes. As stated by several of the participants of this study, it may also be important for recent graduates to allow themselves, and their faith, time and flexibility to grow. Through reading this study, graduates may realize faithful life change is difficult and exhausting, but it is important for future growth.

Higher Education Professionals

University administrators, professors, and student development professionals can benefit from this study. It can assist them in understanding the significance of the

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faith transition for their students, recognizing the importance of faith roles, rituals, and relationships in the college setting and beyond, and be a source of stability and encouragement to graduates as they seek to make sense of faith in the post-college transition. Some universities have focused on the senior year experience (Gardner et al., 1999), but primarily only for the career and vocational concerns of students and parents. Universities have also recognized the importance of faith and spirituality in the life of a college student (Astin et al., 2011). However, much of their research focused on the first or third year of the college experience, not at or after graduation. Likewise, at religious institutions, most faith integration programs are geared towards first- and second-year students. State universities and other non-religiously affiliated universities have many students who are interested in developing their faith and spirituality (Astin et al., 2011), but often must find spiritual communities outside of the institution.

Though faith-based institutions are engineered around the religious and faith exploration of their students, few universities of any kind are focusing on how to help graduating students make sense of faith as they embark on life following school.

University leaders, such as those who work with alumni or student development professionals, must see the need to provide ways for students to connect to their faith as they prepare for and engage in the post-college transition; this allows universities to recognize and act on the importance of connecting holistically to students. Universities can help students engage in faith reflection.

As an important part of this reflection, university leaders can also properly communicate the value of finding faith supports through outlets, meditations, and relationships. The college experience is full of rituals, or practices, with graduation

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being the most developed ritual of the entire academic year (Magolda. 2003). However, faith rituals within the university context are either often underestimated or difficult to replicate following college (Magolda & Gross, 2009). University officials should seek to better understand how these faith rituals speak into the hearts of students and how officials can help students find ways to sustain current rituals and build new ones following school. Likewise, faith roles proved important to participants of this study.

Universities that provide space and opportunities for students to express their faith through ministry create profound opportunities for student identity development (Stokes

& Regnerus, 2009). Faith-based universities need to ensure their leadership opportunities offer spiritual emphasis to create faith roles for their students.

Faith-based schools should also encourage and help their student leaders to prepare for graduation. Senior year experience (Gardner, 1999) activities that prepare students for graduation should also include such topics as “life after campus involvement” and “finding your faith after college.” As participants discussed the disjointed nature of the post-college transition and the poor reception of graduates into some faith communities and churches, university leaders should seek to build partnerships with local faith leaders. Leaders of secular institutions may also benefit from exploring ways to help students explore spirituality, as it is a concern for many graduates.

Participants communicated that relationships were of chief importance to their faith. Alumni associations may be particularly important as graduates seek to navigate their faith after college. Finding like-minded alumni could help provide a network, access to faith communities, and even mentorships with older alumni. These

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relationships can pair student leaders with people who can understand what they are going through, relate to their college experience, and often provide a personal perspective on life and faith after school. University alumni associations may consider working with local churches and other community partners to provide social networking opportunities with a spiritual emphasis. For colleges and universities that retain many of their graduates in the surrounding areas, a “church fair” or “faith communities fair,” as part of an event where graduating seniors get their robes, might be a worthwhile undertaking. Such an event would create opportunities for students to interact with community faith leaders and local alumni as they consider the prospect of their spiritual life following college.

Faith Communities

Recent research has shown that young people are walking away from faith

(Bryant & Astin, 2010; Kinnaman, 2011). This trend is alarming to many faith community leaders. Therefore, church leaders should be eager to find ways to connect with young believers since they are an at-risk population, but there is often a lack of understanding of the post-collegiate’s faith needs. Participants from this study revealed varying experiences with trying to connect to faith communities following college.

Some participants found that churches were not geared for young adults or did not know how to engage them. Participants found that whether or not the church had a strategic focus on young adults made a significant difference in their assimilation into their new faith community. Therefore, church leaders may benefit from this study’s findings.

Clergy and other faith leaders may need to assess their own congregation or

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parish’s efforts to engage recent graduates. One way to accomplishment this assessment is to talk to recent graduates who are part of their congregations to understand their experiences. Parks (2011) posited that religious faith development was best cultivated by faith communities that, “… give access to viable stories and myths symbols, and songs; inspire meaningful purpose and vocation; recognize the promise and contributions of emerging adult lives; and hold mentors and emerging adults alike in viable hope” (p. 270). Based on this study, an effective engagement should likely include opportunities for graduates to explore new outlets, meditations, and relationships that would allow them to engage their faith. These three components are important for faith leaders to consider, as participants noted how finding faith supports affected their connection to a new faith community. Participants who could not find like-minded friends in the area were reliant only on college friends and family back home. Churches should track what colleges their members attended to help recent graduates connect to other alumni within their community.

Participants who could not find meaningful worship or ministry opportunities felt they could not express their faith in a way that brought peace. Those participants who could not find roles to engage their faith did not yet know how or where to fit into their new churches or faith communities. Churches should at least have an event that welcomes recent graduates to learn about their faith community, including its ministries, worship philosophies, and social opportunities. However, I would warn churches against only highlighting their “young professional” or “young adults” programs, as participants noted that some graduates viewed those groups to be isolated or disconnected from the rest of the church. Finally, church leaders should seek to give

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recent graduates support and structures to assess their college experience in light of their new life change.

Limitations That Suggest Future Research

This study provided a snapshot into the faith meaning making of 15, recently graduated, Christian college student leaders. However, constraints and circumstances have limited this study and create opportunities for which future studies can be developed. My study took one snapshot of the participants’ faith experience in transition. One interview was completed per participant, roughly six months after they graduated. Therefore, it was not possible to understand how these graduates may have made further meaning of their faith or changed their faith meaning making as they continued to progress through their first transitionary year past college. A longitudinal study of participant faith would be beneficial. As Fox (2011) fashioned such a grounded theory study examining the post college transition in general, an additional longitudinal study to examine graduate faith in transition would be beneficial for the research community. Likewise, a longitudinal study would also provide insights into how faith transitions align with overall development.

Likewise, my study does not provide an understanding of how graduates of

Christian institutions make meaning of their faith over a lifetime. These graduates chose a particular college or university that would engage them deeply with religion, faith, and spirituality. What effect does such an experience have for participants over a lifetime? Are there perceived advantages or disadvantages? What are the perceived challenges or dynamics of change in faith that are experienced? These questions would create a rich study over a long period of engagement.

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I am grateful to Great Lakes University for allowing me to engage their student leader alumni through this research. Participants of my study were engaged and transparent through this process for which I am indebted to them. It is important to note, however, that they represent a small sample of one unique Christian university.

As participants commented, GLU had many faith structures and religious activities as part of their campus culture. I encourage future researchers to examine additional

Christian institutions—perhaps institutions that represent various Christian-faith cultures. In addition, it would be beneficial to examine the experiences of students from other faith traditions or religions. Of course, understanding the faith transition experience of students who attend state or secular institutions, would be a helpful study as well.

As noted in previous chapters, my participants included 10 females and five males. Thirteen identified as white, with two stating they were “mixed race.” The relative homogeneity of this study may have limited my ability to understand how gender or race could influence faith meaning making during the post-college transition.

GLU had a higher rate of female student leader graduates than male at the time of this study, which affected my participant population. To provide more insight into how faith transition is navigated across genders, more research is needed. Likewise, only having two students who identified with a minoritized race or culture limits this research. When compared to its competitor or other regional state universities, GLU has a comparatively small number of racially diverse students. Additionally, I was not aware of what efforts GLU made to ensure that students of color were encouraged or enabled to take leadership positions. If not given viable access to leadership

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opportunities, the demographics of student leaders would be homogeneous, similar to the participants of this study. Future studies could also include examining the specific faith experiences of international students as they make the post-college transition.

Finally, through this study, I focused on the faith of my participants. As they responded to the questionnaire and interview questions, these student leaders were asked to make sense of their faith and how it related to their life transition. This focus may have caused heightened awareness to faith, how it has helped or hurt them in the period of life after college, and how they make sense of their faith. My interest in the topic and their personal reflections through participation may have influenced their overall experience. Future studies could examine the experience of student leaders at multiple points in the post-college transition, also allowing the researcher to better assess the effect of the research on the participants. Even so, I believe I have represented my participants’ feelings and reflections as accurately and as transparently as possible. I also sought to provide a voice for their experiences as they told them to me and not solely as a means to advance my own conclusions.

Research Reflections

I was originally motivated to complete this study as I reflected on my own transition from college and then sought to help my student leaders make the same transition years later. I remember the highs and lows as I started life after college, and I was later struck by my students’ anxiety and fear as they prepared to graduate. They hoped they would be “successful” and that God would be faithful to them in a new season of life. However, they felt vulnerable and uncertain.

Conducting this research has further opened my eyes to the nature of this

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transition, particularly the dynamic of faith in the midst of life change. Furthermore, I am humbled to have received the rich faith stories of my participants and to be the steward of communicating their experience. I hope I have expressed an accurate portrayal of their faith in transition. Sharing their experience has been a special responsibility and privilege. I believe this research also created space for participants to process their faith more intentionally in the midst of changing circumstances. Two participants thanked me at the conclusion of their interview for creating a venue where they engage in such self-reflection and evaluation. They said it encouraged them. One stated it allowed them to see they were doing better than they had originally thought. I hope this was the case for each participant as they navigated their faith during the first year past college.

My goal in this research was to draw attention to an important period of time in the life of a college student—the period where a college graduate first experiences what they had worked years to achieve. It is a time of new beginnings, awkward experiences, and transitions. There are so many aspects of this time period left unstudied. The graduate’s experience with faith is even more neglected in our collective understanding of this life change. I believe this research has shed light on this phenomenon. I hope that future research can improve and build upon this study so that the higher education and faith communities can better understand faith in transition, best prepare students for it, and support graduates in it.

Conclusions

In this study I sought to better understand how Christian college student leaders made meaning of their faith in the post-college transition. In this chapter I discussed how

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their faith meaning-making was constructed via emergent themes. For participants, transition fostered faith reflection, but through reflection and engaging in the new changes, they made the distinction that their faith construct was subject to change and growth as they developed into adult living. Participants stated that their core beliefs or faith content was resolved. In building a faith construct, participants were busy developing a structure of finding place, practices, and people that would lift their spirit and help their faith grow. As these participants were still navigating transition, they were drawing on their previous faith experiences from college and reviewing their faith role, relationship, and ritual structures. This phenomenon has implications for students approaching or navigating graduation, higher education professionals seeking to serve transitioning students, and faith community leaders as they receive graduates into their organizations, congregations or parishes. It was a privilege to share their experiences and to draw understanding from this snapshot of their faith journey.

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APPENDIX A:

Introductory E-mail

Hello! My name is Bob Lutz and I am a doctoral student at the University of Dayton. I am conducting a research study entitled, “Faith in transition”. I want to understand the faith experience of recently graduated college student leaders as they transition from college to post-college life. You are receiving this e-mail because GLU Alumni Relations identified you as student leader who recently graduated. First, let me say, congratulations! Let me also personally invite you to consider participating in my research.

I am seeking recent graduates, who served in student leadership, who are currently pursuing various post-college experiences (e.g., live at home, work in a new city, enrolled in graduate studies, job searching). The study will consist primarily of a web-based questionnaire and a single, one hour-long video interview, taking place this summer. I want to make this experience convenient for participants, so I am happy to schedule interviews at your convenience in the month of July. I am also willing to facilitate our interview using your preferred means of video conferencing, such as Skype, FaceTime or Zoom.

During the interviews, we will discuss your transition experience and how you make meaning of faith in your post-college life. In addition, I hope to find out what experiences have been the most challenging and meaningful for your faith during this transition.

Your participation is entirely voluntary, and you may choose to no longer participate at any point. I will maintain your confidentiality, by allowing you to choose a pseudonym that I will use for you throughout the study; additionally, interview recordings and questionnaire responses will only be stored on an encrypted password protected data storage drive and on a password-protected computer.

If you are willing to consider participation, please follow the following link to complete the interest form:

LINKLINK

I will select participants based on the submitted forms and then be in touch with selected participants about completing a questionnaire and scheduling an interview.

Feel free to contact me directly at EMAIL should you have any additional questions. You are also welcome to contact my advisor, Dr. Michele Welkener at [email protected] with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely, 228

Bob Lutz Doctoral Candidate, University of Dayton

Format adapted from Fox, K. F. (2011). “Figuring it out”: A grounded theory of college

to post-college transition. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from

http://drum.lib.umd.edu/

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APPENDIX B:

Participant Phone Call Structure

Outline of Participant Phone Call:

I. Welcome the participant to the study. a. Thank them for expressing interest. i. 1. General question: What led you to respond to my recruitment email? b. Introduce myself and share some background information as appropriate. c. Explain the goals of the phone call. i. 1. Delineate my role as the researcher to explore and understand the experience of the participant. ii. 2. Briefly get to know the participant beyond contact information. iii. 3. Explain the research process and the participants’ role. iv. 4. Schedule the interview. v. 5. Answer any questions.

II. Frame the participants’ role in the study. a. Review consent form signed at completion of the online participant interest form. b. Answer any questions arising from the consent form. c. Overview the purpose of the study. NOTE: The purpose of this research is to understand the faith experience of recently graduated student leaders from a Christian institution. (Reword as needed for clarity) d. Contextualize my interest in the topic and disclose some of my own experience. 1. Share my college and transition story. 2. Explain what sparked my interest in the research topic. e. Explain the research process. 1. Complete Questionnaire within the next week (how?) & do they return it/how? 2. Schedule a time for a video interview. • The venue will be private. • The length will be roughly one-hour. • Questions will be open-ended to allow the participant freedom to respond. • Answers provided in the questionnaire may be referenced to provide update or clarity for understanding.

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3. Follow up after I have transcribed the interview to ensure accuracy. 4. Final follow up will take place after results of the study have been written. 5. Overview the dissertation process if a participant is unfamiliar.

III. Answer additional questions.

IV. Conclude the conversation. a. Verify contact information and review the schedule. b. Thank them again for their participation.

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APPENDIX C:

Online Interest Response Form

Lutz Dissertation: Participant Interest Form:

Faith in Transition: A Phenomenological Study of College Student Leaders Making- Meaning of Their Faith

First Name ______

Last Name ______

E-mail______

Address

Phone Number______

Date of College Graduation (e.g. Month, Year) ______

College Major(s) ______

Gender ______

Ethnicity ______

Religious/Denominational Affiliation

______

In what faith communities are you currently active?

______

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In what ways or capacity are you involved in a faith community? ______

College Involvement/Leadership Activities (please list all, including how many years you served in each position)

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APPENDIX D

Online Participant Questionnaire

Chosen Pseudonym:

Describe your college experience:

Describe your student leadership experience:

What was the process like of graduating and leaving college?

How would you describe your faith when you were in college?

Has your faith changed at all since graduation? If so, how?

When you think about your faith right now, what comes to mind? How would you define it?

In what area(s) of your life has your faith played a role? Please be specific and explain how/why.

Where have you found an outlet or community to express your faith? Has that been encouraging? Has the process of finding an outlet been easy or hard? How?

What are the greatest struggles or challenges you are facing in this life transition? How has faith spoken into those challenges and questions?

Is there anything else you would like me to know about you or your participation in this study?

Do you have any specific questions you would like to me address during the course of our interview?

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APPENDIX E

Interview Structure and Questions

Overview Interview Process: 1. Welcome participant. 2. Overview the study purpose. 3. Review the Invitation to Participate Document. 5. Clarify and review if they have any questions. 6. Begin interview recording. 7. Let participants read their questionnaire responses and respond or amend. 7. At end of interview, stop recorder. 8. Thank participant and confirm next steps (review of transcripts).

Framing Questions: • Questionnaire Response (QR): What was the process like of graduating and leaving college? Explain QR answer. • How did you choose where you are currently living and working? What other factors or people influenced your career/school decision? • What is the role and influence of your family on your current situation? Friends? • QR: Please briefly describe your college experience? Explain QR answer. Follow up: Is there anything you would change? If so, what?

For Research Question 1: • QR: How would you characterize your faith when you were in college? Explain QR answer. Follow up: What factors in college (events, involvements, relationships) challenged your faith in college? What factors encouraged your faith? • QR: Have you seen any change in your faith since this transition began? Explain QR answer. Why is that? Follow up: How has the transition affected your perspective on your faith?

For Research Question 2: • QR: When you think about your faith right now, what comes to your mind? How would you define it? Explain QR answer. Follow up: Would you say your definition has changed much since graduation? Follow up: If you had to use an image or metaphor to describe your faith right now, what would it be? Why? • When you think about your faith, what about it feels confident and settled right now? What aspects of your faith are currently questioning or altering your definition?

For Research Question 3: • QR: In what area(s) of your life has your faith played a role? Please be specific and explain how/why. 235

• Do some aspects of your life seem disconnected from your faith? If so, how? Follow up: Do you have any habits or activities that surprise you or discourage your perception of your faith right now?

For Research Question 4: • Who are the important people in your life right now? How do you connect to them? Follow up: Why are they important to you? How do they help you feel more like yourself or encourage you? Follow up: How do these important individuals affect how you view life? • QR: Where have you found an outlet or community to express your faith? • Has the process of finding an outlet been easy or hard?

For Research Question 5 • QR: What are the greatest struggles or challenges you are facing this life transition? Follow up: Has your faith informed those challenges and questions? If so, How? Explain QR answer. Follow up: Have you lost faith in any way during this transition, or has your faith failed you? If so, how? • In what ways has your faith been inadequate or unable to influence your fears or anxiety or problems?

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