Abstract

Research has shown a consistent association between religiosity and improved quality of life among older adults. The purpose of this study was to determine if the same protective factor was true for college students. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 196 students aged 18-27 (84% white, non-Hispanic, 5.6% Hispanic, 2.6% African American; 51.5% female). Students were sampled from required general education courses at a private, Lutheran college. Based on survey response, students were classified as non-religious (57.7%), moderately religious (30.6%), or highly religious (11.7%). There was a low correlation between religiosity and current quality of life (r = 0.134) and no correlation between religiosity and anticipated quality of life in five years (r = 0.043). Students were also asked to reflect on thirteen distinct stressors and identify which had caused them a “significant amount” of stress in the 30 days prior to the survey. Only sleep disturbance/loss was found to be statistically significant when examined with level of religiosity (x2 = 0.024, p < 0.001). Students who were classified as not religious were five times more likely to report experiencing sleep disturbance/loss (33.2%) when compared to highly religious students (6.6%). There was no association between religiosity and stress with the exception of sleep disturbance/loss. Based on our findings, we can conclude that a low percentage of college students are highly religious and religiosity is not correlated with present or anticipated future quality of life. Further research should be performed to identify factors that can lead to improved quality of life among college students.