Exemplars of Spiritual Thriving in Adolescence

Exemplars of Spiritual Thriving in Adolescence: An Exploratory Study

Principle Investigator: Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King

This study is a joint effort between the Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence at Search Institute and the Center for Research in Child and Adolescent Development in the Graduate School of Psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary and is funded by the John Templeton Foundation. The study aims to identify core principles of spiritual development that are found in youth recognized in their culture for living with profound spirituality.

In addition to developing a model of spiritual development, students are also exploring related topics of fidelity, transcendence, purpose, and spiritual coping.

The study involves in-depth interviews of 32 adolescent spiritual exemplars. These are young people nominated for living out their spirituality both inside and outside of religious tradition. The interviews were conducted in Peru, Kenya, India, Jordan, Great Britain, and the United States. The sample includes atheist, Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Protestant youth. The practice of studying exemplary individuals has been demonstrated to be an effective means for exploring the emerging domains of study or new directions of study within the field of developmental psychology. This study draws on the current understandings of spirituality/spiritual development existing in the literature and uses consensual qualitative research methods in order to explore dimensions of spiritual development.

Research Team (in alphabetical order): Ciprian Boitor, Drew Carr, Casey Clardy (project manager), Hannah Jones, and Lisa Tankersly. 

Tijuana Youth Project: Measuring Spiritual Development among Diverse Youth

Principle Investigator: Dr. Pamela Ebstyne King

Co-Investigator: Dr. Osvaldo Benitez, M.D., World Vision

As part of the larger Child Well-Being Indicators Project at World Vision International and co-jointly with the Center for Child & Adolescent Development and the Fuller Youth Institute at Fuller, this study aims to develop a measurement tool for assessing spiritual development among diverse adolescents. Although the tool is intended for use among broad populations of young people, this original pilot test will be conducted with World Vision in Tijuana, Mexico.

Based on findings from the Adolescent Spiritual Exemplar Study, this study proposes and tests a measure of adolescent diverse spirituality that is based on the concepts of transcendence, fidelity, and action. The sample includes 391 youth from the Tijuana area in Mexico. Exploratory and confirmatory analyses will be conducted as well as other tests for construct and concurrent validity.

Research Team (in alphabetical order): Casey Clardy (project manager), Lisa Tankersly, Dan Zomerlie, and Dr. Seong-Hyeon Kim