Date

11-2013

Department

School of Education

Degree

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Chair

Mark Lamport

Keywords

Adolescent Faith, Faith Development, Lutheran Adolescent, Lutheran Church, Lutheran School, Spiritual Development

Disciplines

Christianity | Curriculum and Social Inquiry | Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research | Educational Psychology | Practical Theology

Abstract

Lutheran schools have been established to nurture and disciple children into the Christian faith. However, empirical evidence is lacking that Lutheran schools are accomplishing this goal. The purpose of this Causal comparative and Correlational study was to determine whether attendance at Lutheran or Public schools made a statistically significant difference on Spiritual Transformation Inventory 2.0 test scores among Lutheran adolescents. Participants (N=129) took the Spiritual Transformation Inventory 2.0 (STI) test which measures spiritual development from an attachment to God perspective. Data was analyzed using a t-test to examine between group differences as well as Spearman's rho to examine the relationship between STI 2.0 scores and the number of years participants attended Lutheran schools. Results showed that there was no significant difference between the STI 2.0 scores of study participants who attended Lutheran schools verses those who attended public schools. In addition, no significant relationship was observed between the number of years students spent attending Lutheran schools and their STI 2.0 scores. However, significant differences were observed between students from two-parent homes and students from divorced homes. Likewise, students who participated in additional ministries within their churches scored higher than individuals who did not participate. These results suggest that more research needs to be conducted on the effect of Lutheran school attendance on the spiritual development of students from divorced homes as well as those who are minimally committed to their church community.

Download

Share

COinS