Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

College

College of Education and International Services

Program

Educational Psychology, Ph.D.

First Advisor

Elvin S. Gabriel

Second Advisor

Jimmy Kijai

Third Advisor

Nadia Nosworthy

Abstract

Problem

During the transition from adolescence to adulthood, also known as emerging adulthood, many college students experience psychological distress, such as anxiety, depression, stress, and loneliness (Arnett & Tanner, 2009; DeRosier et al., 2013). For some students, their psychological distress will impact how they perform academically and whether they will persist in their academic goals (Hartley, 2012; Robbins et al., 2018). Many students lack the resilience needed to survive and thrive amid the challenges of college life (Lane, 2020; McLafferty et al., 2022; Watkins et al., 2012). -- Resilience is considered an essential psychological characteristic to assist students in navigating the demands of academia, which includes making academic progress while coping with the stressors of study, work, and life (Caruana et al., 2014). Various studies have been conducted on factors that predict resilience in college students (Gupta & Kumar, 2015a; Hartley, 2013; Lane, 2020). However, gaps in the literature prompted this examination of how religious participation, subjective happiness, and purpose in life, individually and cumulatively, promote resilience in college students at a faith-based institution.

Methodology

A non-experimental quantitative research design was used for this quantitative retrospective cohort study. A theoretical model based on resilience theory and previous studies was developed to determine the relationship between religious participation, subjective happiness, purpose in life, and resilience. A correlation design for the data analysis was adopted to demonstrate if any relationship(s) exists between the variables, variance, and correlative variances. The research hypothesis specified that these three variables significantly predicted resilience in college students. These variables were measurable, and data was collected in 2023 in the administration of the Health Risk and Protective Factors Survey, conducted every 5 years since 1995 by the Institute for the Prevention of Addiction in this small faith-based midwestern university. Data was voluntarily collected during class time via Survey Monkey. -- A secondary analysis was conducted on the collected data using IBM SPSS-29. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using IBM AMOS 29 was the primary statistical technique used to answer inferential questions in this study. From an initial pool of 565 surveys, 200 participants met the inclusion criteria: (a) undergraduate student status, (b) traditional age (18-24 years), and (c) at least one self-reported trauma event.

Findings

SEM was employed to examine the relationship between religious participation, subjective happiness, purpose in life, and resilience. The fit indices for the initial hypothesized model did not support the data; paths were deleted and added along with covariances to arrive at the final model. Model fit indices for the final respecified model 3 suggested adequate fit: χ²(146) = 239.884, p < .001, χ²/df = 1.643, RMSEA = .057, 90% CI [.044, .070], SRMR = .055, CFI = .935, NFI = .852, GFI = .895. The model showed strong factor loadings for religious participation (ranging from .549 to .819), purpose in life (.780 to .838), happiness (.791 to .864), and resilience (.560 to .841). Two error covariances were specified within the resilience construct: between adaptation and dealing with stress items (r = .26), and between bouncing back and being a strong person item (r = .38) All standardized path coefficients were significant at p < .01. -- The structural model revealed significant associations between all constructs or latent variables. The model affirmed that religious participation influenced resilience indirectly through purpose in life alone, and through purpose in life and subjective happiness.

Conclusion

This study revealed that students with regular religious participation, greater subjective happiness, and a defined sense of purpose are more resilient. Essentially, they were better equipped to cope with adversity and persist through the challenges of emerging adulthood while pursuing their academic goals. The results of this study showed that the combined effect of these variables substantiated the multidimensional nature of resilience development in college students, wherein spiritual, social-emotional, and purposeful goal setting substantiated adaptive outcomes amid adversity. These findings supported the notion that ordinary processes, such as religious engagement and positive affect can produce extraordinary psychological benefits.

Subject Area

Religious life; Resilience (Personality trait)—Religious aspects; Happiness; College students--Religious life

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