The Effect of Religiosity on Stress and Quality of Life among College Students — Presentation Detail — Celebration of Scholars

Instructions

Student presentations must have a faculty sponsor.

Abstracts must include a title and a description of the research, scholarship, or creative work. The description should be 150-225 words in length and constructed in a format or style appropriate for the presenter’s discipline.

The following points should be addressed within the selected format or style for the abstract:

A clear statement of the problem or question you pursued, or the scholarly goal or creative theme achieved in your work.
A brief comment about the significance or uniqueness of the work.
A clear description of the methods used to achieve the purpose or goals for the work.
A statement of the conclusions, results, outcomes, or recommendations, or if the work is still in progress, the results you expect to report at the event.

Presenter photographs should be head and shoulder shots comparable to passport photos.

Additional Information

More information is available at carthage.edu/celebration-scholars/. The following are members of the Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Committee who are eager to listen to ideas and answer questions:

Jun Wang
Kim Instenes
John Kirk
Nora Nickels
Andrew Pustina
James Ripley

The Effect of Religiosity on Stress and Quality of Life among College Students

Name: Julie Gosselin
Major: Biology
Hometown: Pleasant Prairie
Faculty Sponsor:
Other Sponsors:
Type of research: Independent research

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.

Poster file