Date of Award

2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Collins, Denise

Abstract

With college students becoming more interested in the spiritual dimensions of their lives (Astin, 2004; Lindholm, 2007), gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) students may have a harder time finding the support to navigate their spiritual selves. Because of this, the intersection of spiritual identity and GLB identity was investigated. Specifically, this study sought to see if students‟ GLB identities affect their spiritual identities, if their spiritual identities affect their GLB identities, and if there was a connection and intersection between the two. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with eight students. This study showed that there could be a relationship between the formation of GLB and spiritual identity. Themes from the interviews were (a) intrapersonal identity, (b) judgments, (c) life changing crises, and (d) moving from independence to interdependence. Additionally, the interviews were connected to Parks‟ (2000) model of young adult faith formation and Fassinger‟s (1998) model of sexual minority identity formation. This research‟s findings offer implications for student affairs and higher educational practice with GLB and spiritual students, as well as potential for further research on spiritual GLB students.

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