American college students' understandings of the good life: a grounded theory.
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| Title: | American college students' understandings of the good life: a grounded theory. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Glanzer, Perry L.1 Perry_Glanzer@baylor.edu, Cockle, Theodore F.1, Schnitker, Sarah2, Hill, Jonathan3 |
| Source: | Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion & Education. Nov2024, Vol. 45 Issue 4, p636-656. 21p. |
| Subject Terms: | *College students, *Educators' attitudes, *Universities & colleges, *Higher education, *Career development |
| Abstract: | 'What is the good life?' Few empirical studies explore how American college students answer this important question. In this grounded theory study, we analysed the responses of 276 American college students in two phases. In the first phase, we examined responses from 109 students at 10 different universities. In the second phase, we added interviews with an additional 167 students at one of the universities. Based on our coding, we found students' visions of the good life were comprised of 24 unique ingredients; the most common being having a stable or passion-inspired career, being married, having children, continuing advanced learning, and being financially stable. We also discovered that eight distinct clusters of ingredients accounted for three-fourths of student responses. The clusters included American dreamers, happy strivers, comfort, and stability seekers, ECL (enjoy work, have comfort, limited family) students, family cultivators, singular career strivers, moral strivers, and God-followers. Plain Language Summary: 'What is the good life?' For thousands of years, authors have told us what the good life should be. Yet, if educators and other practitioners, such as student life personnel and youth workers, are going to help persuade students to develop a particular vision of the good life, respectable pedagogy requires that we first understand what students think the good life is. Unfortunately, few studies explore how American college students answer this important question. In this study, we analysed the responses of 276 American college students in two phases. In the first phase, we examined responses from 109 students at 10 different universities. In the second phase, we added interviews with an additional 167 students at one of the universities. Based on our analysis, we found students' visions of the good life were comprised of 24 unique good life 'ingredients'. An ingredient is simply one particular element of the good life that students mentioned. The most common ingredients were having a stable or passion-inspired career, being married, having children, continuing advanced learning, and being financially stable. We also discovered that eight distinct clusters of ingredients accounted for three-fourths of student responses. We named these clusters: American dreamers, happy strivers, comfort, and stability seekers, ECL (enjoy work, have comfort, limited family) students, family cultivators, singular career strivers, moral strivers, and God-followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion & Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
| FullText | Text: Availability: 0 |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 180490775 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: American college students' understandings of the good life: a grounded theory. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Glanzer%2C+Perry+L%2E%22">Glanzer, Perry L.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><i> Perry_Glanzer@baylor.edu</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Cockle%2C+Theodore+F%2E%22">Cockle, Theodore F.</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Schnitker%2C+Sarah%22">Schnitker, Sarah</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Hill%2C+Jonathan%22">Hill, Jonathan</searchLink><relatesTo>3</relatesTo> – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Journal+of+Beliefs+%26+Values%3A+Studies+in+Religion+%26+Education%22">Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion & Education</searchLink>. Nov2024, Vol. 45 Issue 4, p636-656. 21p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22College+students%22">College students</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Educators'+attitudes%22">Educators' attitudes</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Universities+%26+colleges%22">Universities & colleges</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Higher+education%22">Higher education</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Career+development%22">Career development</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: 'What is the good life?' Few empirical studies explore how American college students answer this important question. In this grounded theory study, we analysed the responses of 276 American college students in two phases. In the first phase, we examined responses from 109 students at 10 different universities. In the second phase, we added interviews with an additional 167 students at one of the universities. Based on our coding, we found students' visions of the good life were comprised of 24 unique ingredients; the most common being having a stable or passion-inspired career, being married, having children, continuing advanced learning, and being financially stable. We also discovered that eight distinct clusters of ingredients accounted for three-fourths of student responses. The clusters included American dreamers, happy strivers, comfort, and stability seekers, ECL (enjoy work, have comfort, limited family) students, family cultivators, singular career strivers, moral strivers, and God-followers. Plain Language Summary: 'What is the good life?' For thousands of years, authors have told us what the good life should be. Yet, if educators and other practitioners, such as student life personnel and youth workers, are going to help persuade students to develop a particular vision of the good life, respectable pedagogy requires that we first understand what students think the good life is. Unfortunately, few studies explore how American college students answer this important question. In this study, we analysed the responses of 276 American college students in two phases. In the first phase, we examined responses from 109 students at 10 different universities. In the second phase, we added interviews with an additional 167 students at one of the universities. Based on our analysis, we found students' visions of the good life were comprised of 24 unique good life 'ingredients'. An ingredient is simply one particular element of the good life that students mentioned. The most common ingredients were having a stable or passion-inspired career, being married, having children, continuing advanced learning, and being financially stable. We also discovered that eight distinct clusters of ingredients accounted for three-fourths of student responses. We named these clusters: American dreamers, happy strivers, comfort, and stability seekers, ECL (enjoy work, have comfort, limited family) students, family cultivators, singular career strivers, moral strivers, and God-followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion & Education is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1080/13617672.2023.2212358 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 21 StartPage: 636 Subjects: – SubjectFull: College students Type: general – SubjectFull: Educators' attitudes Type: general – SubjectFull: Universities & colleges Type: general – SubjectFull: Higher education Type: general – SubjectFull: Career development Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: American college students' understandings of the good life: a grounded theory. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Glanzer, Perry L. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Cockle, Theodore F. – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Schnitker, Sarah – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Hill, Jonathan IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 11 Text: Nov2024 Type: published Y: 2024 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 13617672 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 45 – Type: issue Value: 4 Titles: – TitleFull: Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion & Education Type: main |
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