The Complexity of Quest in Emerging Adults’ Religiosity, Well-being, and Identity.

The construct of quest as measured by the Quest Scale raises complexities that this study addressed with online surveys measuring religiosity, ego identity, and well-being of graduates from two Christian colleges. Intrinsic questers (those above the scale midpoint in intrinsic and quest scores but below the extrinsic midpoint) made up over half of those high in intrinsic religiosity and did not differ in Christian orthodoxy, religious identity, religious coping, or well-being from the pure intrinsics (those high in intrinsic religiosity). Indiscriminately pro-religious questing individuals (those high in intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and quest) were less religious and showed poorer coping than intrinsic questers. Quest appears to be a reasonable measure of religious orientation, improving prediction of Christian orthodoxy, religious identity, and religious coping, and was more highly correlated with ego identity exploration than with stress. In association with intrinsic religiosity quest does not appear to indicate weak religiosity or poor well-being. Instead, intrinsic questers may pursue a distinctive developmental trajectory, a path of existential searching by which emerging adults manage the demands of contemporary culture while maintaining a mature faith

Parent-Child Dynamics and Emerging Adult Religiosity: Attachment, Parental Beliefs, and Faith Support

Parental religiosity has been shown to predict child and adolescent religiosity, but the role of parents in emerging adult religiosity is largely unknown. We explored associations among emerging adult religiosity, perceived parental religiosity, perceived similarity to mother\u27s and father\u27s religious beliefs, parental faith support, and parental attachment. Participants were 481 alumni of two Christian colleges and completed surveys online. Emerging adult religiosity (measured by Christian orthodoxy and intrinsic religiosity) was high and similar to parents\u27 religiosity. Perceived similarity to parents\u27 religious beliefs, faith support, and attachment to fathers predicted emerging adult religiosity. However, parental religiosity alone was a weak predictor and functioned as a negative suppressor variable when combined with similarity to parents\u27 beliefs and faith support. Findings underscore the importance of parental support and parent-child relationship dynamics more than the level of parental religiosity and point to possible unique roles for mothers and fathers in emerging adult religiosity

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

The Complexity of Quest in Emerging Adults\u27 Religiosity, Well-Being, and Identity

A growing body of literature indicates a modestly positive association between religiosity and spirituality as predictors of psychological health (anxiety and depression), suggesting they serve as personal resiliency factors. The purpose of this study was to expand our understanding of the relationships among these constructs. Using Lazarus\u27s Transactional Model of Stress as a theoretical framework, we examined: (a) the extent to which spirituality and religiosity mediated and/or moderated the association between perceived stress and psychological health and (b) whether there was a moderated (religiosity) mediation (spirituality) between stress and health. The Perceived Stress Scale, Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale, Religious Commitment Inventory, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale were administered to measure the following constructs: stress, spirituality, religiosity, and psychological health. This study utilized a nonexperimental, quantitative, correlational, cross-sectional, moderated-mediation design, and included a convenience sample of 331 research participants. Both spirituality and religiosity moderated stress and health. However, only spirituality partially mediated the relationship. In addition, religiosity did not moderate the mediating effects of spirituality. Overall, this study confirmed the role of both religiosity and spirituality as effective resiliency resources

Meaning Making in Emerging Adults\u27 Faith Narratives: Identity, Attachment, and Religious Orientation

Using a mixed methods design, this study explored associations between identity, attachment, and religiosity, and emerging adults\u27 turning point faith narratives since college graduation. The maturity of their faith journey narratives was analyzed utilizing a qualitative measure of the complexity of their reasoning (McLean & Pratt, 2006). Participants were 119 recent graduates from two Christian liberal arts colleges. In addition to ratings for levels of maturity, categorization of emerging themes found in faith narratives rated as mature revealed three prevailing themes: perspective changes, relational challenges, and experiences of grace. Participants also completed standard measures of ego identity, parental attachment, and intrinsic religiosity. Emerging adults who produced more mature and complex accounts of faith turning points were higher in identity exploration and intrinsic religiosity but not parental attachment. However, parental attachment was related to intrinsic religiosity. Our mixed methods design was valuable in capturing emerging adults\u27 meaningful articulation of their faith journey

Attachment to God: A Qualitative Exploration of Emerging Adults’ Spiritual Relationship with God.

This study assessed emerging adults’ attachment relationships with parents, peers, and God to explore the sufficiency of the correspondence and compensation models of attachment. We analyzed narratives of 119 (60 male) Christian college graduates describing their relational experiences with God. Narratives were coded for five relational patterns in attachment relationships (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008). Participants also completed the IPPA scale and were categorized into high or low secure parental and peer attachment groups. No significant differences were found between peer and parental attachment so peer attachment was dropped from further analysis. All of the relational attachment patterns appeared in participant narratives. Perceiving God as Stronger and Wiser appeared most often in both high and low secure parental narratives; Safe Haven and Secure Base also appeared in both attachment groups’ narratives. Importantly, emerging adults with low parental security nevertheless articulated reciprocal experiences of secure, intimate attachment with God, suggesting refinement in the correspondence and compensation models to include the potential for a spiritual relationship with God that serves a corrective or reparative role