Christian Mission Heritage Series
October 28, 2008
Don Thompson
Professor of Mathematics
Associate Vice President of Educational and
Institutional Research
Cindy Miller-Perrin
Professor of Psychology
Chair of Social Science Division
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Student Development Survey
Goal: To understand how students define vocation and
develop their own personal sense of vocation
2002 – 2006
Surveyed 300 students
Surveyed at 5 different time periods
 Baseline – summer before beginning at Pepperdine
 Each spring throughout undergraduate career
Cell-Phone Text
Message Poll
What is Vocation?
The secular definition views vocation as
work or career
 Vocation is God’s calling for one’s life –
the reason God made you
 Vocation is the intersection of faith
development and identity development
 Vocation is “the place where your deep
gladness and the world’s deep hunger
meet”
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Total applications: 7414, total enrolled: 838 (11%)
GPA 3.69
SAT Verbal 610
SAT Math 621
SAT Writing 605
Cell-Phone Text
Message Poll
Motives,
Discernment, and
Barriers
Seattle, Washington
Psychology Major
Class of 2009
Graduate School
Bound
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College years are “critical years” in vocational
development
College students consider issues associated
with personal identity, faith beliefs, and
career options
Faith, identity, and vocational development
are not uniform across the college years
Subscales
Sample Items
Strength of Belief
•I
(alpha = .81)
Faith Behavior
(alpha = .88)
Application of Faith
(alpha = .90)
view myself as a religious person.
•I have doubts about whether my
religious beliefs are true.
•How
often do you attend religious
services?
•How often have you read a
devotional, religious, or spiritual book
in the last year?
•I
depend on my faith in God for
decision-making and direction.
•I try hard to carry my religious beliefs
into all other dealings in my life.
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Students receive scores on four identity scales:
◦ Diffusion: no exploration or commitment
 “I haven’t really considered politics. It just doesn’t excite me much.”
◦ Foreclosure: no exploration, but commitment
 “My parents decided a long time ago what I should go into for employment
and I’m following through with their plans.”
◦ Moratorium: exploration without commitment
 “Religion is confusing to me right now. I keep changing my views on what is
right and wrong for me.”
◦ Achievement: exploration and commitment
 “It took me a while to figure it out, but now I really know what I want for a
career.”
Subscales
Sample Items
Discernment and
Purpose
•I
(alpha = .76)
Service to Others
(alpha = .68)
have a good sense for my life
purpose.
•I know of the many ways that I
can use my gifts and talents
within the context of my
professional career.
•I am unsure about what God is
specifically calling me to do.
•I
am motivated to choose a
career that will enable me to
provide some type of service to
others.
•I feel a deep sense of
responsibility for reducing pain
and suffering in the world.
Subscales
Barriers to life purpose
fulfillment
Personal
Barriers
•Fear
(alpha = .84)
•Lack
Interpersonal
Barriers
•A
(alpha = .86)
Social and
Cultural Barriers
(alpha = .90)
•Emotional
Problems
•Self-doubt
of motivation
parent
•A friend
•A boy/girl friend
•A teacher or professor
•Lack
of financial resources
•Feeling pressure or a desire to get married
•Feeling that my opportunities are limited by the
gender stereotypes of society

Belief Strength
Behavior

Application
Senior
Junior
Sophomore
First Year

Baseline
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Strength of
Belief varied
significantly
over time
Faith Behavior
varied
significantly
over time
Application of
Faith did not
vary
significantly
over time
Se
ni
or
Ju
ni
or
Fi
rs
t-Y
ea
r
So
ph
om
or
e
se
lin
e
Ba
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
Faith
2.5
Religion
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
35
30
25
Diffusion
Foreclosure
Moratorium
Achievement
20
15
10
Baseline
First-Year
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Baseline
First-Year
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Financial
Personal
Senior
Junior
Sophomor
First-Year
Service
Baseline
5
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
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26
25
24
23
22
Senior
Junior
Sophomore
First Year
20
Baseline
21
Personal
Total Personal
Barriers scores
varied over time,
marginally
3.5
3
2.5
2
Selfishness
Personal Control
1.5
1
0.5
0
Baseline
First-Year
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
South Bend,
Indiana
Philosophy Major
Class of 2008
Law School Bound

College students experience significant
developmental variation over time
◦ Strength of faith belief
◦ Faith behavior
◦ Identity development
 Foreclosure, Moratorium, Achievement
◦ Personal Barriers
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Faith matters – Stay spiritually nourished, seek
wisdom
Know Thyself – look for ways to challenge your
assumptions
Barriers are real – live through and with them
Sophomore year - expect a watershed
Purpose - bigger and broader than your career
Cindy Miller-Perrin:
Cindy.Perrin@pepperdine.edu
Don Thompson:
thompson@pepperdine.edu