Seeking Young People ages 12 - 25 to Participate in an International Survey on Spirituality

I received an e-mail today from a colleague who heads up the New England Network on Children, Youth and Families. The Search Institute has contracted with them to help conduct an international survey on youth and spirituality. (See description below.) They need a lot of young people, ages 12-25, to fill it out in the next six weeks. The survey is not being confined to young people who attend afterschool or other programs, but even your own kids can participate!

I've been informed that the survey is long -- but it’s interesting. It can be done individually/ electronically, or printed out on paper and done in a group setting. They need 250 kids and they are reaching out to everyone to help gather data on this compelling topic.

If you can help them, please contact Melanie Wilson, mwilson@nenetwork.org. To view the survey, click here:


MEANING, PURPOSE, JOY: ARE YOUR YOUNG PEOPLE FINDING IT?

Where are you on your lifelong journey toward meaning, joy and hope? Where are the young people in your care? As someone who has contact with young people, we are asking for your help in involving them in an international research effort that investigates how young people ages 12-25 think about and use spirituality in their daily lives. Research shows a clear connection between spiritual development and pro-social behaviors in young people, and child development experts now consider spiritual development to be a critical part of the journey to maturity.

The project, led by the Minneapolis-based Search Institute, is aimed at understanding spiritual ideas and development in young people across cultures. Search Institute is one of the country’s leading researchers on child- and adolescent well-being. It also has a long history of work with faith communities; two years ago it launched a Center for Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence.

In this new project, Search treats spirituality as a broad concept that includes both religious and non-religious beliefs. The survey is meant to capture many different cultural concepts, beliefs and attitudes, meaning that all youth, religious or not, are welcomed and encouraged to take it. The survey will be administered to thousands of youth in the US, Canada, Australia, Thailand, Ghana, Ukraine and other countries, making it the largest effort of this sort ever undertaken. The New England Network (NEN) also has a national reputation for its research on spirituality and young people. NEN has published three groundbreaking studies on spirituality and at-risk youth, and offers trainings youth-serving organizations and congregations to help integrate this and related research into their youth development work.

Search has contracted with NEN to be one of several research partners in this study. We are asking you to administer the survey to young people who participate in your programs. The survey can be taken online or on paper, individually or in groups, and makes an excellent springboard for group discussions. NEN will sponsor a pizza party for groups of five or more young people who take the survey. To arrange "pizza money" and/or to receive paper surveys, contact Melanie Wilson at mwilson@nenetwork.org or (603) 778-6010.