Title:
Exploring cohort differences in faith and doubt in later life
Author:
Maureen O'Hara McDonnell
Thesis Advisor:
Andrew Futterman
Committee Member:
Heather Z. Lyons
Committee Member:
Mark Freeman
Committee Member:
Frank D. Golom
Committee Member:
Stephen E. Fowl
Degree Granting Institution:
Loyola University Maryland--College of Arts and Sciences
Place:
Baltimore (Md.)
Publisher:
Loyola University Maryland
Date Created:
2021
Type of Resource:
text
Genre:
thesis
Language:
eng
Format:
application/pdf
Physical Form:
electronic
Digital Source:
born digital
Abstract:
The psychology of religion has historically focused on individual differences in religious involvement and processes that characterize an individual’s attitudes toward, understanding of, and behavioral expressions relating to the sacred. Few psychologists have focused on those aspects of religious involvement that are shared across groups of people born at the same time in the same place – what has come to be seen as cohort effects. Here the focus is on the impact of defining social and historical events during a critical period of their lives and their influences on religious development. This study examines such cohort effects and how they come to influence changes in faithful commitments and the questioning and doubting of such commitments during older adulthood. Differences in religious faith and doubt were examined in three cohorts of older adults: Depression era those over 79 born 1916-1931, Silent era those 66-78 born 1932-1945, and Baby Boomer those 54-65 born 1946-1964. Each cohort is defined by different social, historically critical periods, reflecting different upbringings particularly with respect to religious development. The Depression era was defined by the Great Depression and World War II, the Silent era and Baby Boomer in different ways by the social changes of the 1960s. A total of thirty interviews were chosen from a sample of 278 qualitative interviews on faith and doubt based on the following criteria, in order of importance: denomination, race, location, gender, length of the interview, and interviewer. Utilizing Grounded Theory to analyze interview data cohort-related shifts were exhibited in the development and view of doubt and a transition to a more personal faith and relationship with God.
Subject:
Academic theses
Subject:
Children
Subject:
Faith
Subject:
Foi
Subject:
Interpersonal relations
Subject:
Parenting
Subject:
Rôle parental
Subject:
Thèses et écrits académiques
Subject:
dissertations
Subject:
faith
Degree:
Doctor of Psychology
Level:
Doctoral
Discipline:
Clinical Psychology
Restrictions on Access:
Author has given permission to make this work available online.
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Identifier:
McDonnellMO-21
