Seminar SeriesResearch in the Catholic

ChurchPlanning for the Journey

 The Spirit of Generation Y

Spirituality among Australian Teenagers and Young Adults

Research Methods and Early Findings

© M. Mason 2005

Research team• Associate Professor Ruth Webber

(Australian Catholic University)• Dr Andrew Singleton

(Monash University)• Dr Philip Hughes

(Christian Research Association)• Dr Michael Mason

(Australian Catholic University)

Sponsors• Catholic Education Commissions of

Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia

• Catholic Education Offices of Canberra-Goulburn, Sydney, Parramatta, Broken Bay, Lismore

• Salesians, Uniting Education, Lutheran Schools Australia & Lutheran Church National Office, Salvation Army (Southern Territory), Seventh-day Adventist Church (Australia), Victorian Council for Christian Education, Council for Christian Education in Schools, YMCA

Project Website:

http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/

research/ccls/spir/spir.htm

AimsThe intended practical outcomes of the project are: to help young people to make sense of their lives by

developing a more critical awareness of the range of cultural resources for interpreting their life-stories; and to help them develop a sense of community, a social ethic and ways of constructively participating in society;

by assisting churches, schools and other agencies concerned with young people to develop policies and programs informed by an enhanced understanding of 'the spirit of Generation Y'.

The research objective of the project is to advance the understanding of 'the spirit of Generation Y':

1) Spirituality: the 'varieties of religious and spiritual experience' among young Australians aged 13 to 29 years; the versions of religion and spirituality which such experience shapes and reflects; and the alternative, non-religious ways in which young people are defining themselves and interpreting their lives; the components of these religions and forms of spirituality: the master-narratives, the worldviews, the value-complexes, the rituals and other practices, the communal structures and activities.

2) Influences on spirituality: the range of cultural resources used in constructing spirituality – including music, film and popular media; the extent to which the contemporary cultural milieu tends to shape the interpretation of the life-story more as a solitary journey than a communal one; patterns of cultural communication of spirituality; the social patterns of differential access to and distribution of forms of spirituality.

3) Consequences of spirituality: the association between particular styles of spirituality and the holding of particular values and attitudes to the self, to others, and to society; the links between people's spirituality and their social ethic, cultural creativity, attitudes of civility and sociability, social and political awareness and participation, pro-social and anti-social behaviour, citizenship activities.

Journal article on project’s research method

• Singleton, A, Mason, M & Webber, R 2004, ‘Spirituality in adolescence and young adulthood: a method for a qualitative study’, International Journal of Children’s Spirituality, 9 (3).

Definition of spirituality

For our purposes, spirituality is defined as

a conscious way of life based on a transcendent referent.

The definition is ‘stipulative’ – it states what the term ‘spirituality’ shall mean in our project.

• We now define ‘transcendence’ broadly: any worldview qualifies as a ‘spirituality’ -- even secular worldviews which themselves may well repudiate all notions of ‘spirit’, and ‘spiritual’.

• Spirituality is still seen as connoting a reference to an order of reality transcending the individual – it is by internalisation of a worldview that humans become Selves, transcending their biological level of existence.

Distinctive features of our research method

-unobtrusive measures of spirituality: avoiding nominal issues

-emphasis on personal narratives

-use of evocative techniques

12-14 20 29

15-19 41 59

20-24 4 5

25-29 6 7

Age Group No. %

Total 71 100

Interview sample: Age

Worldviews

• Traditional • New Age • Eclectic• Humanistic

Spirituality types

• Worldview & Ethos• TRAD

– / HI (23 cases) – /MED (5), – /LO (8), – /QST (13)

The Humanistic Worldview

affirms human experience and human reason, rather than adopting religious traditions or ‘spiritual’ paths.

Individualism

the infinite worth of the human individual and the inviolability of personal freedom and autonomy

Values in the humanistic ethos

• Individualism• Relativism of truth and values • Tolerance • Sovereignty of reason • Egalitarianism• Human rights, social justice• Spontaneity

Humanistic spirituality types

• HUM– /HI (7), – /MED (3), – /LO (1)

Conclusions

Growing up religious does make a difference.

Are young people spiritual consumers shopping in the New Age marketplace? Maybe later in their 20s and 30s.

‘Believing without belonging’? It’s hardly belief in any strong sense.

Comparing Australian and American teenagers.

Cf. Smith, Christian (with Denton, ML) 2005, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, New York, Oxford University Press.

• Strongly individualistic and relativistic approach to religion (USA AUS)

• Teenage religion is conventional / little conflict with parents (USA AUS)

• Religion is seen positively, as good for people, therapeutic (USA AUS )

• Little sense of quest, or of spirituality vs. religion; not many New Age or Eclectic (USA AUS)