5.12.2024

Doctoral thesis on Continuity and Change in Finnish University Students’ Life-views

M.A. Karoliina Dahl’s doctoral thesis in Study of Religion will be put forth for public defence at The Faculty of Arts, Psychology and Theology at Åbo Akademi University.

The thesis is entitled The Same or Changed Life-views? A Faith Q-Sort Study about Continuity and Change in Finnish University Students’ Life-views.

The public defence of the doctoral thesis takes place on Friday 13 December 2024 at 1PM in auditorium Argentum, Aurum, Henrikinkatu 2, Turku. Professor Paul Stenner, The Open University, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, will serve as opponent and Professor Peter Nynäs, Åbo Akademi University, as custos.

Summary

Youth and emerging adulthood often bring changes, including shifts in views on religion. Membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (ELCF) has steadily declined, with young Finns increasingly leaving the church. This dissertation, part of the “Young Adults and Religion in a Global Perspective” (YARG) project (2015–2019) studying young adults’ worldviews across 12 countries, examines change and continuity in the life-views of 20 young adults in 2016 and 2018. Participants were university students from various parts of Finland, aged 19 to 30. They participated in the study twice by completing a questionnaire, sorting a Faith Q-Sort (FQS), and participating in an interview each time. When the FQS-instrument was used, participants sorted 101 statements about religion according to their own views. Their sorts resulted in three perspectives in both 2016 and 2018: rationalist, believer, and pluralist. This was the first time FQS was used in a longitudinal study, allowing participants to compare their own sorts during the second interview, making recollections of their own life-views a central part of the study data. In line with the FQS results, the interview data revealed that many participants felt their life-view remained the same as two years earlier, regardless of whether they had left the ELCF, joined online yoga communities, or perceived themselves as searchers. Changes and uncertainties were common, but these did not necessarily directly influence participants’ life-views. Unexpected ‘dramatic’ life changes did affect their perspectives, whereas typical and expected experiences of emerging adulthood were not perceived as impactful. These subtle shifts, though meaningful, often blended into a sense of continuity and were experienced as part of the same enduring life-view rather than distinct changes. This highlights the importance of exploring young adults’ perceptions of continuity in their life-views.

Karoliina Dahl can be reached by email karoliina.dahl@abo.fi.

The doctoral thesis can be read online through the Doria publication archive.

Click here for a press photo of the doctoral student. PHOTO: Sapfograf/Tinksu Wessman