Post-Intentionally Exploring Agnostic College Students' Experiences

• In Event: 16.061 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.061-8 - Belief Systems

Abstract

Scholars have adapted student identity development models to examine and highlight the unique and varied experiences of underrepresented populations. However, limited research on the lived experiences of nontheistic and nonreligious college students exists. I followed a post-intentional phenomenological study design to explore how being agnostic might take shape for students in college (N = 10). Findings suggest that, while exploring their identities, participants moved through tentative manifestations as reflected by external to internal influences (resources and family), internal processing (identities and labels), and internal to external influences (intrapersonal relations and college involvement).

Author

• Amanda Armstrong, College of William and Mary