How serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints might affect individuals’ self-esteem?

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this research is to examine how serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints might affect individuals’ self-esteem. By analysing the results of a survey filled out by undergraduate students at a state university in Utah, this research has several findings: (1). About 71% of those who served a mission believed that the mission increased their self-esteem, and one major reason is that the mission helped them step outside their comfort zone and finishing a challenging task gave them a sense of achievement; (2). About 17% of those who served a mission believe that the mission decreased their self-esteem, and one major reason was that they felt that they could not meet the expectations. (3). The results of multivariate analysis indicated that those who served a mission had higher self-esteem than those who had never served a mission.

KEYWORDS:

• Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints
• mormons
• missionaries
• missionary program
• self-esteem

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has officially moved away from the name LDS Church. Since this name is still more recognizable for most readers, however, this paper will use these two names, LDS Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, interchangeably.