P-06 Spirituality and Life Skills and Their Relationship with Reasons for attending Four Selected Adventist Universities in Asia

The purposes of this study are: (a) to report on the reasons for attending four Adventist universities in Asia; (b) to describe the universities’ perceived influence on student development of spirituality and life skills; and (c) to determine if reasons for attending and perceived influence on development of religiosity and life skills may be related. Survey research methodology was the design used to collect data using printed questionnaires. We designed the questionnaire to elicit information on reasons for attending the universities, engagement in curricular and extra-curricular activities, and the extent to which the university influenced student development of life skills, spirituality and altruism. One thousand nine hundred and ninety-eight (1,998) students participated in this study. Approximately 50% selected these universities for their spiritual atmosphere and spiritual values. Students generally agree that the universities have positively influenced the development of their life skills (M=4.05, SD=0.59) and spirituality (M=4.15, SD=0.69). There are no significant class status or gender differences on these variables. There are some variation among the universities but the effect size is small (η2≤.05). Approximately 15% of the variance on the linear combination of the development of religiosity and life skills are associated with the reasons for selecting Adventist universities