Many of us “older
wiser” folk J fear the younger generation, the Millennials, are leaving
Christianity and do not realize its values. Such data have come from a number
of respected survey houses. I thought Teleios should examine the question as
well, but in more detail regarding the perceived value of Christianity in daily
life.
We randomly surveyed 105 students at the University of Georgia in Athens
for influences on their wellbeing, their ability to recognize advice from an
individual source, its perceived benefit as contributing to wellbeing, and how
they would respond to this advice.
This survey showed) that college students believe that maintenance of
good health and close relations with friends, family and God, as well as
satisfaction with career goals, are important to wellbeing! Detractions from
wellbeing were noted most often as poor health, bad self-image and
stress/fatigue from course work. Please see tables below.
When students were
provided a list of advice statements from an undisclosed source, in the
majority of cases students agreed the provided statements were wise. They mostly common identified: be grateful,
be slow to speak and quick to listen, and work hard to provide for yourself and
others, to be sage advice. Most students correctly identified the advice
statements as coming from the Bible. When the students were told on the survey
the advice statements were indeed paraphrased from the Bible, and were asked
how they would change their relationship to the source of the guidance, 57%
indicated they would seek further advice from the Bible and most of the remaining group said
they would at least maintain their current knowledge base.
What motivated
their responses? I can think of several choices:
·
There is a predominant Christian culture in the Southeastern United
States that may have eased acceptance of the maxims coming from this religion.
·
Many students may have possessed already a Christian commitment and
recognized the importance of such advice in their lives apart from any cultural
influence.
·
Some student may have suffered enough emotional trials in their life to
attract them to the wisdom and its source.
Of interest was
the low number of respondents who indicated sexual relations, drugs/alcohol or
social media were a source of positive wellbeing. These factors have been
studied in the last generation and have been shown potentially to reduce
wellbeing when used in excess.1-3 The results of our survey,
however, are positive in that it appears the great majority of students limited
their dependence on these activities increasing their wellbeing.
So good news! College
students most commonly identify health, close relationships with family,
friends, and God, as well as satisfaction with career goals, as positive
sources of wellbeing. Further, about half are willing to pursue Biblical
knowledge to change their lives and most of the rest recognize the wisdom of
Biblical advice.
To consider, do you
think differences existed in wellbeing between students depending on their
desire to pursue Biblical wisdom, and why?
Table
1: What most commonly improves wellbeing?
(more
than one choice possible)
(N
= 105)
Responses
|
N
|
Percentage
|
Maintenance of good health
and/or sporting activities
|
76
|
72%
|
A close relationship with
family
|
76
|
72%
|
A close relationship with
friends
|
76
|
72%
|
A close relationship with God
|
60
|
57%
|
Satisfaction with my
professional career goals
|
56
|
53%
|
Table 2: What most commonly
detracts from general wellbeing?
(more
than one choice possible)
(N
= 105)
Responses
|
N
|
Percentage
|
Lack of vigor, energy, optimal health
|
67
|
64%
|
Poor self-image
|
67
|
64%
|
Stress/fatigue from university course work
|
67
|
64%
|
Lack of sense of purpose with my studies/career goals
|
52
|
50%
|
WC Stewart
1.
Dietze, P., Jenkinson, R., Aitken, C., Stoové, M., Jolley,
D., Hickman, M., & Kerr, T. (2013). The relationship between alcohol use
and injecting drug use: impacts on health, crime and wellbeing. Drug Alcohol
Depend, 128, 111-115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.08.013
2.
Becker, M.W., Alzahabi, R., & Hopwood, C.J. (2013).
Media multitasking is associated with symptoms of depression and social
anxiety. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw, 16, 132-135. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0291
3.
Fielder, R.L., Walsh, J.L., Carey, K.B., & Carey, M.P.
(2014). Sexual hookups and adverse health outcomes: a longitudinal study of
first-year college women. J Sex Res, 51, 131-144. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2013.848255
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