Article Title
Document Type
Article
First Page
34
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore doctoral students’ perceptions of personal thriving and spirituality at a private Christian, liberal arts university in the southeastern United States. Eighty-one Ed.D. students from the target university responded to the Thriving Quotient for Graduate Students (Schreiner, 2010), a survey designed to measure student perceptions of personal thriving in the areas of engaged learning, academic determination, positive perspective, social connectedness, and diverse citizenship. In addition, the researcher added items to the survey to measure students’ spirituality. The target students’ responses to the survey were compared to the national norms of the Thriving Quotient for graduate students. The current article discusses doctoral students’ perceptions of the spiritual climate at the target university and its relationship to overall student thriving. Respondents from the target university reported a higher mean score on the composite Thriving Quotient for graduate students than the mean score of respondents in the national norm group. In addition, ratings of the spiritual climate at the target university were significant predictors of the overall composite score of the Thriving Quotient. This study adds to the body of knowledge of the factors that comprise the construct of thriving in post-secondary education. The study may prove valuable to doctoral advisors, professors, and student services personnel to help doctoral students thrive on a holistic level.
Recommended Citation
Yates, Sarah J.
(2019)
"Thriving and Spirituality in Doctoral Studies,"
Journal of Applied Social Science Research and Practice: Vol. 1, Article 4.
Available at:
https://firescholars.seu.edu/jassrp/vol1/iss1/4
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