Ecumenical Worldview Development by Gender, Race, and Worldview: A Multiple-Group Analysis of Model Invariance

Abstract

Based upon a national longitudinal dataset of 14,527 college students generated by the UCLA Spirituality in Higher Education Project, this study used structural equation modeling to test the applicability of a model of ecumenical worldview development for students of diverse genders, races, and worldviews. The model suggests that challenging co-curricular experiences and the salience of religion and spirituality in academic encounters tend to provoke religious/spiritual struggles, which in turn enhance ecumenical worldview. However, tests for model invariance revealed group differences in the applicability of the model. Differences by gender and race/ethnicity are minimal in comparison to differences by worldview.Keywords College student development Á Ecumenical worldview Á Pluralism Á Spirituality Developing in college students the capacity to live in and contribute effectively to a pluralistic society is one of the essential educational aims of higher education institutions. To be sure, theoretical conceptions of college student development in the last several decades have consistently included openness to diverse others as a dimension of central importance Whitt et al. 2001). The urgency to foster pluralistic competence in college students stems in large part from the increasingly pluralistic realities that young adults discover in the world around them. High school and college students of this generation encounter worldview differences that challenge their own cultural and religious preconceptions to a far greater degree than the generations that preceded them (Wuthnow 2007). Consequently, the manner in which young adults respond

Complicating Universal Definitions: How Students of Diverse Worldviews Make Meaning of Spirituality

“…Aligned with recent evidence that students' religion/worldview shapes how they perceive and experience their campus and change while in college (Bowman, Felix, & Ortis, 2014;Bowman & Small, 2010, 2012Bowman & Toms Smedley, 2013;Bryant, 2011;Bryant Rockenbach & Mayhew, 2013, 2014Mayhew, 2012;Mayhew et al, 2014;Mayhew & Bryant Rockenbach, 2012), this study supports the assertion that unique spiritual meanings are apparent for different worldview identities. Essential meanings of spirituality, universal to all students, are only part of the story.…”

“…The influence of college environments and experiences is not entirely uniform. An emerging stream of scholarship demonstrates students' religion/worldview influences how they perceive and experience their campus and whether and how these experiences encourage spiritual growth (Bowman, Felix, & Ortis, 2014;Bowman & Small, 2010, 2012Bowman & Toms Smedley, 2013;Bryant, 2011;Bryant Rockenbach & Mayhew, 2013, 2014Mayhew, 2012;Mayhew, Bowman, & Bryant Rockenbach, 2014;Mayhew & Bryant Rockenbach, 2012).…”

Moral Foundation of the Kindergarten Teacher’s Educational Approach: Self-Reflection Facilitated Educator Response to Pluralism in Educational Context

“…To facilitate the advancing of this part of the moral core of teaching, the teachers would need additional support in developing their sensitivity in the encountering of cultures [25] and religions [1,26]. Teachers should be provided with opportunities to consciously work on their sensitivities in order to enable attitudinal changes.…”

“…What kinds of discourses and practical level approaches do they employ regarding the diversity of worldviews and worldview education in their work? The Developmental Models for Intercultural [25] and Interreligious [1,26] explain different reactions to other, respectively, cultures and religions. Recently Holm et al [36] and Tirri and Nokelainen [37] have developed quantitative measures on these sensitivities.…”

“…Nevertheless, the empathy towards other cultures and worldviews does not develop automatically when diversity in the environment increases. Rather, the worldview differences present a particular challenge to individual's own cultural and religious preconceptions [1]. In the educational setting, pluralism present in each group of children through the diversity of the home backgrounds intensifies the teacher's need for worldview sensitivity as a moral core of their professionalism; an essential part of their educational approach.…”