Shifting Identifications among Religious and Non-Religious Emerging Adults at a Northeastern U.S. Mainstream Denominational College

Abstract

Little is known about the effect of various social contexts on the development of belief for emerging adults. Specifically, college has been shown to both diminish and strengthen beliefs. I show that identifying as religious or non-religious is largely decoupled from beliefs and practices among emerging adults at a mainstream denominational college. This particular social context is one where beliefs, of many stripes, are seen to be admirable. I find that the mainstream denominational college can be a supportive social context that encourages experimentation, exploration, and potential strengthening of both spiritual and denominational beliefs.

Keywords:

• Youth
• emerging adulthood
• spirituality
• non-religion
• identity
• faith
• education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 According to a study conducted by the Center for the Study and Practice of Religion (2019) including survey responses from 753 students at the college nearly 20% of students reported that “the importance of religious faith or spirituality for how they live their life and make decisions has increased since coming to college” (Rivera 2019, 7).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kenneth R. Culton

Kenneth R. Culton is associated with Niagara University, Lewiston, New York, USA. Email: [email protected]