Spirituality
among a predominately African American college student population
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to determine the
degree of spirituality among 430 predominately African American undergraduate
students who completed the 48-item Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R).
T-tests revealed that these students had a higher spirituality score than their
predominately White counterparts who recently completed the LAP-R. Unlike the
White students, no significant gender differences were found among specific
spiritual indices. If these students use their moderately high degree of
spirituality to influence health-related behaviors, the high rates of morbidity
and mortality common among African American adults may lessen.
Spirituality is consistently defined as a (personal)
sense of purpose and meaning (Abels, 2000; Bensley, 1998; Martin & Martin,
2002; McBride, Borrks, & Pilkington, 1998). Many people, including health
educators, however, continue to equate spirituality with religion. Words such
as spirituality and religion are used synonymously. Spilka and McIntosh (1996)
reported that while people who value religion also claim to value spirituality,
the terms are different. These authors differentiated spirituality from
religion by explaining that spirituality involves fully living a meaningful,
purposeful life while religion entails engaging in traditional practices,
ceremonies, and dogma in religious institutions. About 46% of Americans attend
church (religion), but 58% of Americans say that they frequently think about
meaning and purpose of life (spirituality, Inglehart, 2004), which implies that
many Americans may be more spiritual than religious. According to Martin and
Martin, however, spirituality supersedes and overarches religiosity for most African
Americans. Indices of spirituality include having direction, goals, hope, and
eagerness for living (Reker, 1999), all of which are not necessary for
practicing religion.
Currently, research studies show that people with higher
levels of purpose and meaning tend to be healthier in general (Holt, Clark,
Kreuter, & Rubio, 2003; Konig, 2002). Specifically, researchers have shown
that spiritual well-being positively influences depression (Nelson, Rosenfeld,
Breitbart, & Galietta, 2002) as well as recovery from addiction (Doweiko,
2002), breast cancer (Feher & Maly, 1999), and cardiovascular disease
(Contrada, 2003). These findings may be specifically important information for
males, who typically score lower on spirituality assessments than females (Dennis,
Muller, Miller, & Banerjee, 2004; Knox, Langehough, Waiters, and Rowley,
1998; Reker, 1999). These findings also may provide important information for
African Americans, especially African American males who have
disproportionately high morbidity and mortality rates (Newlin, Knafl, &
Melkus, 2002).
Peter Benson (2003), President of Search Institute
Minneapolis, a national non-profit research organization dedicated to promoting
the well-being of children and adolescents, reported that spirituality is positively
related to school success and negatively related to alcohol and tobacco use as
well as violence and teen pregnancy. Holder, DuRant, Harris, Daniel,
Obeidallah, and Goodman (2000) added that spiritual well-being influences less
sexual activity among African American teens. Yet, in their article, "The
Role of Spirituality in Preventing Early Sexual Behavior," Doswell,
Kouyate, and Taylor (2003) reported that many African Americans yearn daily for
life meaning and need to integrate what spirituality they have into fostering
more self-control over life decisions, particularly regarding their typically
early sexual behavior.
A diminished sense of spirituality may be related to
other negative behaviors among adolescents. For example, Knox, et al. (1998) found
that college students who have a lower degree of spirituality also engage more
in stealing, getting into trouble with police, damaging property as well as
being less able to "survive on their own." In an unpublished report,
Dennis and Muller (2004) found fewer indices of spirituality among obese
college students who likely engaged in unhealthy behaviors of overeating and
exercising too little.
In addition to having a personal spirituality that
affects individual behaviors, having spiritual peers also may affect personal
behaviors. For example, Jagers (1997) found that African American youth who
rated their friends as spiritual tended themselves to be empathic and less
antagonistic toward others.
Jagers and Smith (1996) reported that overall African American
college students have higher levels of spirituality than white students.
Moreover, according to Chatters, Taylor, and Lincoln (1999) and Benson (2003),
African American students also engage in spiritual practices (e.g., praying,
meditating, reflecting on life, fully living life) more than whites. In a data
set of 127,000 6th -12th grade adolescents across 320 U.S. cities, Benson found
that although 70% of white students reported engaging in spiritual practices,
83% of African American students engaged in these behaviors. Belief in God is
not necessary to be spiritual (Spilka, Hood, Hunsberger, & Gorsuch, 2003);
however, in a study by Walker and Dixon (2002), it was found that 93% of white
students reported believing in God and 99% of African American students
reported belief in God.
The college years mark a time when young people explore
life's direction and establish life patterns for adulthood (Sparling &
Snow, 2002). Therefore, it seems imperative that African American students,
especially those who report using spirituality to cope with life problems,
should be encouraged to seek and expand their directing spiritual dimension
(Constantine, Wilton, Gainor, & Lewis, 2002; Russell, 1979) of health. The
purpose of this study was to quantify spirituality among African American
college students in order to identify spiritual indices that health educators
might use in working with students with low scores. Another purpose of this
study was to determine any gender differences in spiritual indices.
METHOD
PARTICIPANTS
This study was conducted during the fall semester 2003
and spring semester 2004. Study participants comprised a college sample of 430
undergraduate students attending a historically black university located in a
small rural town setting in the northeastern U.S. Students were enrolled in one
of 12 sections of an introductory, abnormal, or developmental psychology
course.
After obtaining approval from the university
Institutional Review Board and permission from each class instructor, students
were surveyed at a time suitable to the instructor. In addition to completing
the Life Attitude Profile-Revised (LAP-R; 1999), students provided their age,
gender, race, and year in college. Some of the LAP-R data were used in another
study involving the relationship of spirituality to first-generation college
classification among African American students.
SURVEY
The LAP-R (1999) originally was developed by Reker and
Peacock (1981). This 48-item questionnaire was designed for individuals of all
ages from adolescence to later adulthood. Because the word spirituality is
avoided in the title and content of survey response items, it appears not to
bias people to spiritually-desirable answers. A fifth-grade reading level is
required to complete the approximately 15-minute survey. A sample of 750
people, most of whom were 17-24 year old university students, provided
normative scores in 1981. Coefficients of internal consistency for young adults
(1727 years old) ranged from 0.77 to 0.91 for all subscale and composite
scores. Results of factor analysis lend strong support for the construct
validity of the LAP-R. Concurrent validity was established from a series of
eight previous studies. From these results, the LAP-R is viewed as a valid
measure of current and future meaning and purpose in life. Also, it is
predictive of outcome variables, including health and life satisfaction (Reker,
1999).
Each of the 48 questionnaire items is rated on a 7-point
Likert scale of agreement (1-7), ranging from strongly agree (7) to strongly
disagree (1). The LAP-R is scored and profiled in terms of six subscales:
Purpose (PO), Coherence (CO), Choice/ Responsibleness (CR), Death Acceptance
(DA), Existential Vacuum (EV), and Goal Seeking (GS). Two composite scales
Personal Meaning Index (PMI) and Existential Transcendence (ET) also were used.
A high score for each subscale and scale reflects a high degree of its
attribute.
The purpose (PU) subscale refers to having life goals,
having a mission in life, having a sense of direction from the past, in the
present, and toward the future. Implicit in PU is the notion of what is
centrally important in a person's life. The coherence (CO) dimension refers to
an intuitive understanding of self, others, and life in general. CO gives an
indication of a person's belief in his or her reason for existence. The
choice/responsibleness (CR) subscale refers to the perception of freedom to
make all of life choices. CR provides an index of the degree to which a person
perceives that she or he is directing his or her life. Death acceptance (DA)
refers to having an absence of fear as well as an acceptance of death as a
natural aspect of life. The existential vacuum (EV) subscale refers to having a
lack of meaning and direction in life. Goal seeking (GS) refers to one's
eagerness to get more out of life.
The personal meaning index (PMI) composite score (PU +
CO) was developed to provide a more focused measure of an individual's personal
meaning. PMI refers to having life goals, as well as a mission and sense of
direction in life. The other composite score, ET (existential transcendence) is
a global measure of attitudes toward life that takes into account both the
motivation to find meaning and purpose. ET is derived from the following
formula: PU + CO + CR + DA - (EV + GS).
STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
A t-test for equality of means was conducted on all data
using [SPSS.sup.[??]] to determine the difference between degrees of
spirituality as expressed by African American males and females. All
comparisons were made assuming an alpha level of .05 with two-tailed
comparisons. In addition, means and standard deviations were assessed for all
data.
RESULTS
OVERALL
Of the 430 students (156 males; 274 females),
approximately 90% were African American. The remainder of the sample included
whites, Hispanics, Asian Americans, and other races. Almost 90% of the 430
students were between ages 18-20, with the remainder of students age 21 and
over. The sample was comprised of approximately equal percentages (each
slightly above or below 30%) of freshmen, sophomores, and juniors. Seniors
comprised a little over 10% of the sample.
Table 1 shows the overall means and standard deviations
as they occurred for each of the 6 LAP-R dimensions. The CR dimension had the
highest mean (45.31) and comparatively low standard deviation (6.44), followed
closely by the GS dimension (44.29 [+ or -] 5.61). This finding suggests that
the group tested was homogeneous in having a high sense of freedom regarding
making all life choices, felt able to exercise personal decision-making, had a
high internal locus of control (CR), and reflected a desire to deviate from the
routine of life, seeking new and diverse experiences (GS). The PMI composite
score was 85.61 [+ or -] 12.91 and the ET composite score was 95.58 [+ or -]
25.14.
Male and female overall individual scores are shown in
Table 2. The items in the Purpose in Life (PU), Coherence (CO),
Choice/Responsibleness (CR) and Existential Vacuum (EV) dimensions did not
reveal a statistically significant difference between male and female mean
scores. This finding implies that the students tested were similar in their
opinions regarding having life goals, a clear sense of personal identity,
greater social consciousness and personal decision-making. Statistically
significant differences were noted for males and females for the
Death/Acceptance (DA) and Goal Seeking (GS) dimensions. In both dimensions,
males scored higher than females.
The PMI composite score is designed to depict a sharper
focus on personal meaning, in particular, life-goals, a sense of direction, a
logical, consistent understanding of the self, others, and life in general.
This score was not statistically significantly different for males and females.
Similarly, the Existential Transcendence composite scale reflected no
statistically significant difference in the responses by males and females.
This finding reveals that both males and females report similar experiences
with internalizing successes and failures of life, appreciations of the past, present
and future, and a view of life that is meaningful.
DEATH
ACCEPTANCE (DA)
Table 3 depicts question-wise differences between males
and females concerning their expression of spirituality. Specific for the DA
dimension, males agreed more strongly than females with the statements "I
am less concerned about death" (t = 2.35, 95% CI = 0.071-0.787) and
"I am not frightened of death like others" (t = 2.66, 95% CI =
0.123-0.812).
EXISTENTIAL
VACUUM (EV)
All mean values for the individual items in the EV dimension
were higher for males than females, except for the "I don't care"
attitude and "life is boring and uneventful" statements.
Statistically significant differences between the mean responses of males and
females were assessed only for the following statement, "New activities
soon lose their attractiveness" (t = 2.84, 95% CI = 0.148-0.811). The
Existential Vacuum dimension reflects attitudes of boredom, apathy, lack of
goals, and feelings of indifference.
GOAL-SEEKING
(GS)
Only one statement in the GS dimension elicited a
statistically significant difference in the mean responses of males (5.22) and
females (4.86). The higher score among males in the statement, "A new
challenge in my life would appeal to me now" (t = 2.38, 95% CI = 0.063- 0.651),
suggests that males reported a higher interest in "breaking loose from the
routine of life."
DISCUSSION
Results of this study indicate that this predominately
African American college student sample demonstrated a fairly high degree of
spirituality, evidenced by their overall mean PMI score of 85.61 out of the
highest possible score of 112. This mean PMI score is higher than the PMI mean
score (74.62) for the predominately white college student population in the
Dennis et al. (2004) study as well as the PMI mean score (78.43) in Reker's
1981 national norm sample comprised of predominately white students. Therefore,
results from this study provide agreement with Jager's and Smith's (1996)
finding that African American students are more spiritual than white students.
In addition, the moderately high PMI mean score in this sample as well as the
moderately high mean Goal Seeking mean score (44.29, compared to 42.49 for
students in the Dennis et al. study) lend agreement with Chatters et al.'s
(1999) finding that African American students practice their spirituality more
than their white counterparts.
While it is believed that males typically score lower on
spirituality assessments than females (Dennis et al., 2004; Knox et al., 1998;
Reker, 1999), males and females in this study scored similarly (85.61 and
85.62, respectively) on the overall spirituality score (PMI composite scale).
This finding may indicate that, unlike samples from other studies, spirituality
is equally important and developed for African American male and female
students.
Only four response items among three subscales (Death
Acceptance, Existential Vacuum, and Goal Seeking) revealed any significant
differences between males and females. Males scored higher than females (4.51
and 4.08, respectively) on "I am less concerned about death than
others" and "I am not frightened of death like others" (males=
4.38; females=3.91). These differences parallel those found by Dennis et al.
(2004), indicating that males in general may perceive themselves as more
unafraid to die than females. In both the Existential Vacuum statement,
"New activities soon lose their attractiveness" and the Goal Seeking
statement, "A new challenge in my life would appeal to me now," males
scored higher. These results are difficult to interpret because only one item
is represented in each subscale. Making broad conclusions based on one item may
be inappropriate.
The highest mean score for a subscale for the overall
group was Choice/Responsibleness. This score (45.31) was similar to the mean
score (44.50) for predominately white students in the Dennis et al. (2004)
study. This finding is not surprising because, irrespective of race, many
college students are likely experiencing freedom from their parents for the
first time.
Of particular interest in this study is the Existential
Transcendence composite mean score. Students in this sample scored similarly to
the 1981 national norm (92.58 and 92.47, respectively), which was comprised
predominately of white students. These results also were similar (88.83) to
those of students in the Dennis et al. (2004) study, which also consisted
predominately of white students. This finding indicates an opposing view to
Doswell et al.'s (2003) premise that African American students are yearning for
life meaning. In particular, these African American students were not yearning
for meaning in life in comparison to the White students who completed the same
survey. Possibly, these students are not yearning for what they perceive that
they already possess. While this study does not address what African American
students do with their moderately high degree of spirituality, future research
studies might address whether African American students are channeling their
spirituality for healthful living and more self-control over life decisions
instead of merely using it to cope with life problems as suggested by
Constantine et al. (2002).
Health educators such as Russell (1979), Holt et al.
(2003), and Dennis and Muller (2004) as well as physicians such as Konig (2002)
and McBride et al. (1998) are increasingly aware of the directing effect a
person's spirituality has on his or her health. By helping African American
students enhance their already moderately high degree of spirituality, health
educators may help them have more success in school and fewer incidences of
obesity (Dennis & Muller), as well as decreased alcohol and tobacco use,
violence, teen pregnancy (Benson, 2003), stealing, getting into trouble with
police and surviving better on their own (Knox, et al., 1998). Also, helping
African American students purposely focus their personal sense of spirituality
toward its connection to health may be particularly important to eventually
decreasing their unusually high morbidity and mortality rates (Newlin et al.
2002).
This study makes a positive contribution to health
educators' knowledge concerning spirituality among one predominately African
American sample; however, this study has limitations. First, it is difficult to
quantify spirituality because of its abstract nature; nevertheless, by doing
so, the term is better understood (Adams, Bezner, Drabbs, Zambarano, &
Steinhardt, 2000). Also, the sample size was not only small but represented
only a rural, small-town college student sample. A larger and exclusively
African American sample, comprised of both rural and urban students, could
increase generalizability of results to African American adolescents in
general. Any differences among spiritual indices between African American male
and female students also might be expressed.
CONCLUSION
Results from this study indicate that these African
American college students have a moderately high degree of spirituality. For
long-term health related benefits, these students may benefit from
opportunities to reflect upon their personal spirituality and its connection to
long-term health decisions. For example, health educators may ask students to
think about potential links between what they believe is their life purpose and
how that purpose affects their decisions regarding health behaviors such as
school performance, anger, alcohol and drug use, food choices, exercise,
violence, or sexual activity. Interestingly, this coupling of spirituality with
health behaviors reflects the roots of the black helping profession. In their
book, Spirituality and the Black Helping Tradition in Social Work, Martin and
Martin (2002) wrote that the essence of black spirituality was used in past
times to "transcend and transform soul-destroying, life-threatening
systems" (p. 11). Many health educators believe that spirituality is the
dimension of health that positively directs people to take action to enhance
their other personal health dimensions (physical, mental, emotional, and
social; Russell, 1979). If African American adolescents embrace a traditional
spiritual intention and this spirituality remains moderately high or increases,
morbidity and mortality rates among African Americans adults should decline.
Constantine, M. G., Wilton, L., Gainor, K. A., &
Lewis, E. L. (2002). Religious participation, spirituality, and coping among
African American college students. Journal of College Student Development,
43(5), 605-613.
Contrada, R. J. (2003). Spirituality, religion, and
cardiovascular disease. Paper presented at the International Conference for the
Integration of Health and Spirituality, Bethesda, MD.
Dennis, D. L., & Muller, S. M. (2004). Spirituality:
A link to obesity? Manuscript submitted for publication.
Dennis, D. L., Muller, S. M., Miller, K., & Banerjee,
P. (2004). Spirituality among a college student cohort: A quantitative
assessment. American Journal of Health Education, 35(4), 220-227.
Doswell, W. M., Kouyate, M., & Taylor, J. (2003). The
role of spirituality in preventing early sexual behavior. American Journal of
Health Studies,18(4), 195-199.
Doweiko, H. E. (2002). Concepts of chemical dependency
(5th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Feher, S., & Maly, R. C. (1999). Coping with breast
cancer in later life: The role of religious faith. Psychooncology, 8, 408-416.
Holder, D. W., DuRant, R. H., Harris, T. L., Daniel, J.
H., Obeidallah, D., & Goodman, E. (2000). The association between
adolescent spirituality and voluntary sexual activity. Journal of Adolescent
Health, 26, 295-302.
Holt, C. L., Clark, E. M., Kreuter, M. W., & Rubio,
D. M. (2003). Spiritual health locus of control and breast cancer beliefs among
urban African American women. Health Psychology, 22(3), 294-302.
Inglehart, R. F. (2004). Worm values surveys. Ann Arbor,
MI.
Jagers, R. (1997). Afrocultural integrity and the social
development of African American children: Some conceptual, empirical, and
practical considerations. Journal of Prevention and Intervention in the
Community, 16, 7-31.
Jagers, R. J., & Smith, P. (1996). Further
examination of the spirituality scale. Journal of Black Psychology, 22,
429-442.
Knox, D., Langehough, S. O., Walters, C., & Rowley,
M. (1998). Rdigiosiry and spirituality among college students, 32(3), 430-432.
Konig, H. G. (2002). An 83-year-old woman with chronic
illness and strong religious beliefs. The Journal of the American Medical
Association, 288, 487-493.
Martin, E. P., & Martin, J. M. (2002). Spirituality
and the black helping tradition in social work. Washington, DC: NASW Press.
McBride, J. L., Borrks, A. G., & Pilkington, L.
(1998). The relationship between a patient's spirituality and health
experiences. Family Medicine, 23, 1-3.
Nelson, C. J., Rosenfeld, B., Breitbart, W., &
Galietta, M. (2002). Spirituality, religion, and depression in the terminally
ill. Psychosomatics, 43, 213-220.
Newlin, K., Knafl, K., & Melkus, G. D. (2002).
African-American spirituality: A concept analysis. Advances in Nursing Science,
25(2), 57-70.
Reker, G. T. (1999). Life attitude profile-revised
manual. Peterborough, Ontario: Student Psychologists Press.
Reker, G. T., & Peacock, E. J. (1981). The life
attitude profile (LAP): A multidimensional instrument for assessing attitudes
toward life. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 13, 264-273.
Source: Summer-Fall 2005 issue of American
Journal of Health Studies