Results from In-class Questionnaires (Spring 2010)

 

Demographic Information

Religious Affiliation   n percent  
Agnostic   5 17%  
Atheist   3 10%  
Christian        
      Catholic   7 23%  
      Protestant   9 30%  
Muslim   1 3%  
None   5 17%  

 

Same as Parent   n   percent
Yes   16   53%
No   8   27%
No answer   6   20%

 

Belief in Transcendent   n   percent
Yes   18   60%
No   7   23%
Maybe   2   7%
No Answer   3   10%

 

Certainty of Belief

Although certainty ranged from 1 (not at all certain) to 10 (extremely certain) the most frequent response was 9 and 10, with 9 endorsements each. The average degree of certainty level for the class 5.7 (just under moderately certain). This is slightly less certain than in previous classes.

Religious Commitment

On a scale of 10 to 50, the class averaged 24.0 (sd = 10.3). This is comparable to data from students at other universities (whose scores ranged from 22.8 to 25.7) and very similar to previous classes.

Intrinsic-Extrinsic Orientation

The class averaged 24.3 (sd = 6.4) on the Intrinsic Scale and 13.1 (sd = 4.7) on the Extrinsic Scale. These scores were similar to norms for these scales, and comparable to recent classes.

Quest Orientation

The class averaged 5.7 (sd = 1.3). This somewhat matches previously reported norms but is higher than previous classes.

Relationship Among Variables

In comparisons of those whose beliefs match their parents and those whose beliefs do not (or didn't answer) those with beliefs matching parents report greater religious commitment and extrinsic religious orientation, but not different quest or intrinsic. There were no differences between men and women on these four variables. Furthermore, certainty of belief was negatively related to quest orientation (r = -.41) and religious commitment was positively related to intrinsic (r = .84) and extrinsic (r = .43) orientations.