Environmental Faith Commitment and Religious Attitudes: Reviewing Differences in College Student Perspectives


Received: October 07, 2024 | Published: December 27, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.63130/hijcre.v1i1.110

Authors

Abstract

Catholic education shares in the evangelizing mission of the Church through the faith formation of young students. The Framework for Student Faith Formation in Catholic Schools sees the need for faith to dialogue with life issues like ecology often articulated in developmental views. Religious communities and the academe are only beginning to make sense of the impact of ecological crises lately. Hence, there is a need to bring ecological discussions that account for college-level appreciation of the environment from a faith perspective. The study sought how students differ in perspectives according to age, gender preference, religious affiliation, and academic program based on perceived Environmental Faith Commitments (EFC) among selected students in a tertiary school in Central Luzon. Secondly, it wants to know how their perceptions differ for religious attitudes in terms of age, gender preference, religious affiliation, and college academic programs. This descriptive quantitative survey will have college students selected through random sampling from various academic programs in a Catholic tertiary school. To analyze data, we checked first for internal consistency of EFC and FSAR by checking for the inter-item correlations of the items and correlations between EFC and FSAR. One-Way ANOVA was used to determine the effects of age, gender, religious affiliation, and academic program towards perceived faith-inspired environmental responses (EFC), and religious attitudes. The results offer insights into the characteristics of college students’ perceptions of faith to the environment. Further, the implications of the results were discussed concerning current efforts of the school to adopt gender and ecologically- sensitive academic programs.

Keywords:

Catholic Education, Ecological Awareness, Environmental Faith Commitment (EFC), Faith Formation, Religious Attitudes

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] Agoston, C., Balázs, B., Mónus, F., & Varga, A. (2024). Age differences and profiles in pro-environmental behavior and eco-emotions. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 48(2), 132. https://doi.org/10.1177/01650254231222436

[2] Baring, R., Sarmiento, P. J., Sibug, N., Lumanlan, P., Bonus, B., Samia, C., & Reysen, S. (2018). Filipino college students’ attitudes towards religion: An analysis of the underlying factors. Religions (3), 85. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel9030085

[3]Baring, R., Molino, J., and Reysen. 2021. The development and validation of the Christian environmentalism scale (CES) from a Philippine sample. Journal of Empirical Theology 34(2), 145-168.

[4] Bord, R., and O’Connor, R. (1997). The gender gap in environmental attitudes: The case of perceived vulnerability to risk. Social Science Quarterly 78(4), 830-840.

[5] Collado, S., Evans, G., Corraliza, J., and Sorre, M. (2015). The role played by age on children’s pro-ecological behaviors: An exploratory analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology 44(1), 85-94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.09.006

[6] Davignon, Phil, and Robert A. Thomson Jr. (2015). “Christian Colleges and Universities as Moral Communities: The Effects of Institutional Characteristics on Student Religiosity.” Review of Religious Research (57)4, 531-554

[7] Davis, T. L., Kerr, B. A., and Kurpius, S. R. (2003). Meaning, purpose and religiosity in at-risk youth: The relationship between anxiety and spirituality. Journal of Psychology & Theology, 31(4), 356-365. Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=2822edlf-53c3-405e-b890-0d31 Idf43fd8%40sessionmgr4003&vid=2&hid=4108

[8] Davidson, D. and Freudenbur, W. (1996). Gender and environmental concerns: a review and analysis of available research. Environment and Behavior 28: 302-339.

[9] Dunlap, R.E. and Jones, R.E. (2002). Environmental concern: Conceptual and measurement issues. Handbook of Environmental Psychology (pp. 481-503).

[10] Gibson, R.B. and McKeown, R. (2005). Sustainability Assessment: Criteria and Process. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, 7(4), 473-496.

[11] Gupte, M.(2002). Gender, feminist consciousness, and the environment. Women & Politics (24)1, 47-62, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1300/J014v24n01_03.

[12] Johnson, C. and Hayes, J. (2003). Troubled spirits: Prevalence and predictors of religious and spiritual concerns among university students and counseling center clients. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50, 409-119. doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.50.4.409

[13] Kollmuss, A. and Agyeman, J. (2002). Mind the gap: Why do people act environmentally and what are the barriers to pro-environmental behavior? Environmental Education Research, 8(3), 239-260. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1350462022014540

[14] Kothe, E., Ling, M., North, M., Klas, A., Mullan, A., and Novoradovskaya, L. (2019). Protection motivation theory and pro-environmental behaviour: A systematic mapping review. Australian Journal of Psychology, 71(4), 411-432, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajpy.12271.

[15] Lau, W., Ehii, C., Lam, J., Lau, E., and Cheung, S. (2015). The relationship between spirituality and quality of life among university students: An autoregressive cross-lagged panel analysis. Higher Education, 69(6), 977-990.

[16] Le Hebel, F., Montpied, P., and Fontanieu, V. (2014). What can influence students’ environmental attitudes? Results from a study of 15-year-old students in France. International Journal of Environmental and Science Education, 9, 329-345.

[17] Mayrl, D., and Oeur, F. (2009). “Religion and Higher Education: Current Knowledge and Directions for Future Research.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 48(2), 260-275.

[18] Miller, W. and Thoresen, C. (1999). Spirituality and health. In W. Miller (Ed.), integrating spirituality into treatment. American Psychological Association, doi: https://doi.org/10.1037/10327-001

[19] Sapp, S. (2017).The role of religious and spiritual beliefs in the academic success of college students: Theses and Dissertations. 299. https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/299

[20] Smith, C. (2009). Reconnecting with earth: Ecospirituality as the missing dimension in spirituality and sustainability education. International Handbook of Education for Spirituality, Care and Wellbeing.

[21] Smith, C. and Patricia S. 2009. Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults. Oxford University Press.

[22] Sawatzky, R, Gadermann, A., and Pesut, B. (2009). An investigation of the relationships between spirituality, health status and quality of life in adolescents. Applied Research Quality of Life, 4, 5-22. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/sl1482-009-9065-y

[23] Schultz, P. W. and Zelesny, L. (1999). Values as predictors of environmental attitudes: Evidence for consistency across 14 Countries. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 19(3), 255-265.

[24] Tucker, M.A. and Dorsey, A. (2008). The role of religion in environmental attitudes: A study of college students. Environmental Educational Research, 14(5), 577-592.

[25] Whitmarsh, L and O’Neill, S.J. (2010). Green identity, green action: The role of faith in environmental citizenship. Journal for Environmental Psychology, 30(2)218-229.

[26] Wiernik, B., Dilchert, S., and Deniz, O. (2016). Age and employee green behaviors: A meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(194), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00194

[27] Wright, P.J. and O’Leary T. (2016). The role of religion in environmental attitudes and behaviors: A study of college students. Environmental Educational Research, 22(2), 153-169.

Downloads

Published

12/27/2024

How to Cite

Cacal, A., Dumlao, T., Aquino, C., Caseja, A. J., & Baring, R. (2024). Environmental Faith Commitment and Religious Attitudes: Reviewing Differences in College Student Perspectives. Hitik: International Journal of Catechists and Religious Educators, 1(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.63130/hijcre.v1i1.110

Similar Articles

1 2 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.