A Causal-Comparative Study of Religious Activities and Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing of Senior Secondary School Students of Marist Comprehensive Academy and Uturu Secondary School, Abia State, Nigeria

A Causal-Comparative Study of Religious Activities and Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing of Senior Secondary School Students of Marist Comprehensive Academy and Uturu Secondary School, Abia State, Nigeria

Anthony Okoye¹, Joyzy Pius Egunjobi², Vincent Kouassi³

Psycho-Spiritual Institute of Lux Terra Leadership Foundation, Nairobi, Kenya

Marist International University College, Nairobi, Kenya

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2023.70531

 Received: 20 April 2023; Revised: 02 May 2023; Accepted: 05 May 2023; Published: 31 May 2023

ABSTRACT

There have been a good number of research studies linking religious beliefs and practices to wellbeing. These studies, in a way, allude to human beings longing to have a transcendental experience as part of their nature given that religion is not epiphenomena. This explains why religious beliefs and practices are a global phenomenon. The enigma is still not adequately tackled as to the relationship and the extent to which religious activities influence wellbeing. Thus, this study hypothesized that there is no significant difference between the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of a private school, Marist Comprehensive Academy (MCA) and a public one, Uturu Secondary School (USS) with regards to religious activities. Using a casual-comparative (retrospective type) design, a structured online survey questionnaire was developed using the standardized scales of Viejo et al (2018) – Brief Psychological Wellbeing Scale for Adolescents (BSPWB-A), and Fisher (2010) – Spiritual Health and Life Orientation Measure (SHALOM). A sample size of 193 respondents (79 boys and 114 girls), senior secondary (II & III) students of MCA and USS participated in the study. The data collected were computed, analyzed and interpreted using descriptive and inferential statistic measures in tables and frequencies. Findings confirmed the hypothesis that there was no significant difference between the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students of MCA and those of USS with respect to religious activities (at p = 0.01). Although MCA students showed more effects in their psycho-spiritual wellbeing when compared to USS students, the chi-square result indicated that both variables are independent of each other.

Keywords: Beliefs and practices of religion, Psycho-spiritual, Religious Activity, Religiosity, Wellbeing

INTRODUCTION

Despite its classical nature and understanding of religion as the genesis of how people perceive the world, the way they categorize their understanding of the world, and the way they determine how to act in relation to it, the position of Durkheim (1912) on religion remains relevant. According to him, and in the words of Weiss (2018), “religion is the matrix of moral categories (p. 1), dividing the world into sacred and profane. A religious activity is defined as any activity that primarily gears on helping a student (a person) to be in close contact with the Ultimate reality they believe in. In our context, this ultimate reality is God. Consequently, religious activities (RAs) are organized programs, activities or events that are part of the school’s curriculum aimed primarily at helping students be more in touch with God. Beliefs and practices (BPs) define religion, and according to Rumun (2014) “religion is any set of BPs concerning our relationship with the sacred” (p. 38). Religion is central to mankind (Rumun, 2014) and an integral element in the society (Azizi et al, 2022) given the function/role it performs.

Given the enormous variety, and in light of the complex ways each country defines the nature and purpose of religious education (as a religious activity), beliefs and practices of religions (BPs), some scholars like Datta and Milbrandt (2014) have distinguished between learning BPs of religion, learning about BPs of religion and learning from BPs of religion. According to these scholars, learning BPs of religion entails teaching a particular religious tradition as the religious education curriculum, which is described as proceeding from faith to faith. Learning BPs about religion takes a descriptive and a historical perspective/approach (in light of anthropology). In this context or understanding, the Bible is taught as a literature and not as a sacred book of faith of a certain community of faith. Lastly, learning BPs from religion is treated as a discipline within educational studies where the pupils/students are expected to learn and participate in the beliefs and practices of religion being taught. This latter understanding has received increasing attention and support from professional religious educators across the globe and tends to inform many curricula (Ndlovu, n.d.), and is equally the perspective adopted by this study. This empirical research will examine and include in its scope, the kind of relationship these religious activities have with the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of senior secondary school students in the South-Eastern part of Nigeria.

Research findings involving adolescents’ spiritual beliefs and practices across developmental studies, sociology, and character education revealed a positive relation to physical health, life satisfaction and happiness, “conflict resolution and social skills, prosocial behaviours and a successful transition to adulthood” (Lippman & McIntosh, 2010, p. 1). This view was also shared by Estrada et al. (2019), Alebiosu and Ogunkola (2006). This shows how religion plays an important role in the life of human beings, indicating their need for connection to a transcendence. According to Kuile (2021), young people of secondary school age in America say they are religious, representing about 78% of the total population of young people in the US. Private schools in the US including high schools, are allowed to teach religious education, whereas it is forbidden for public schools to teach religious education except from a neutral, academic perspectives (Kuile, 2021).

In Africa, there have been numerous studies about the impact of religious education especially as it contributes to a country’s growth and sustainable development as observed by Daffa (2019) and Okwuchukwu (2019). But when it comes to religious activities in secondary schools, especially those that form part of the co-curricular activities, very few research works are available. This, however, does not negate the contributions and the perception different African countries have towards religious education or religion. In Uganda, for example, the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) “made it clear that one of the national aims of education is to transmit into the students moral, ethical and spiritual integrity, human fellowship and tolerance” (Okwuchukwu, 2019, p. 2). This the nation hopes to achieve through the teaching of religious education, and thereby making it a compulsory subject for primary and secondary school students. In Kenya, the same is obtainable as expressed in the words of  Daffa (2019), “Religious Education is regarded as a core subject that shapes the secondary school youth into perfect personalities in the society” (p. 18).

Nigeria is largely divided into two major religions: Christianity (49.3%) and Islam (48.8%), according to the report of Countrymeters (2022). Due to its heterogeneous religious nature, the teaching of religious education was not made a compulsory subject for all, though in the heavily Christian dominated South-Eastern region, religious education is compulsory at least for primary and junior secondary school students. This is not the case with Marist Comprehensive Academy, MCA (one of the schools used in this study), where religious and moral education is compulsory for all the students (Marist Students’ Handbook, 2018). MCA is a co-educational secondary school established by the Marist Brothers of the Schools (a Religious Congregation of Men in the Catholic Church) to offer sound Christian education to the teeming population of young people, especially the indigenous people of Abia State, one of the South Eastern States of Nigeria. In MCA, the pedagogical approach to education of the Marist Brothers which anchors around the five Marist core spiritual values of Presence, Family Spirit, Simplicity, Love of work and the Marial way, has made the school distinct and endearing to the hearts of the natives, and also in keeping with the Catholic Church directives on Catholic Education as contained in her Education Policy (Miller, 2006; Schmiesing, 2004).

The following are some structured, well-regularized and observable religious activities in MCA: Christian Religious Education/Studies (CRE/S), Religious and Moral Education (RME), the holy Mass, confessions, praying of the holy Rosary/Marian devotion, adoration/benediction, pious societies, recollection, Angelus, and reception of the sacrament of Christian initiation (Marist Students’ Handbook, 2018). The study, however, focused on the Holy Mass, the sacraments of Baptism, Holy Eucharist, Confirmation and Penance, RME, CRS and Moral Instructions.  Young people of school age are enrolled into MCA between the age bracket of (10 and 11 years) as beginners for their Post-Primary Education (Marist Students’ Handbook, 2018). This is in tandem with the federal education system operational in the country of 6-3-3-4 (Amaghionyeodiwe & Osinubi, 2006),  which affords the school authorities ample time (six years) to form and groom the admitted students. Conversely, Uturu Secondary School (USS) is a public secondary school owned and managed by the government. It is located within the same Eastern region some distance away from where MCA is situated. It appears to lack the kind of facilities, structures, systems and religious activities her sister school (MCA) could boast of.

There has been an outcry in the society by Nigerians especially from the South-East or Eastern part of the country, as observed by Olufunmilayo (2017), Ajake and Ekpo (2013) and Nwokedi (2017), of the increasing rate of students’ restiveness, rascality, immorality and other delinquent behaviours. This has created a very big gap between what is commonly believed to be the role of religion in shaping a person’s character and the reality on ground. There have been some concerted efforts from many educators, scholars, curriculum planners, and implementers, especially adherents of the Christian faith (more in Catholic Schools), by having recourse to religious activities as one way of dealing with these unruly behaviours of students. Despite these efforts, the challenge is even on the increase as cases are reported daily of students bullying their fellow students, fighting, stealing, engaging in illicit relationships, masturbation and pornography, even joining some dangerous groups like the Marlians, secret societies, among other cases as encapsulated by Olalere et al. (2021) likewise Young and Giller (2021). This problem impacts the lives of secondary school students in the South Eastern part of Nigeria negatively because it has led to poor performance, depression, suicidal ideation, drug abuse, expulsion from school, unwanted pregnancies, just to mention these six. This study becomes apt and timely given scanty research works bordering on religious activities and the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of secondary school students, especially within the location of the target population.

Objective and Hypothesis

The main objective of the study is to examine the relationship between religious activities and the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students of Marist Comprehensive Academy and Uturu Secondary School.

The study hypothesized that there is no significant difference between the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students of Marist Comprehensive Academy and the students of Uturu Secondary School with respect to religious activities.

METHODOLOGY

The research design employed for the study was Causal-Comparative (retrospective) design (CCD) or Ex-post Facto design. The choice of this design lends itself to the topic under consideration and for the infeasibility context of carrying out the normal/true experiment. Out of the sample size of 251 students, a total of 193 students were the valid participants in the study, meanwhile 58 questionnaires were rejected. From the valid number of participants, a total of 139 (72%) of the students are from MCA while 54 (28%) students are from USS. Apparently, the reason for the disparity in terms of the number of students from each school has more to do with the nature and administration of each school. While a private religious congregation owns and administers MCA, the government is responsible for USS. Besides, there was a drop in number of students in USS as at the time of the research, together with late reporting to school of some students in the same school. A survey questionnaire of psycho-spiritual wellbeing scales of Viejo et al (2018), combining Brief Psychological Wellbeing Scale for Adolescents (BSPWB-A) and Fisher’s (2010), Spiritual Health and Life Orientation Measure (SHALOM) were used to collect data. Data collected were analyzed by the use of descriptive and inferential statistics and presented in mean, standard deviation, tables, frequencies and percentages

Ethical Considerations

Several ethical measures were implemented to account for the age of the respondents in the study. These measures included obtaining consent from both the respondents and the authorities of the schools involved, submitting a letter of introduction and the questionnaire to the school authorities, refraining from requesting any revealing information from the respondents, and creating a new email specifically for the Google Form online data collection in order to ensure confidentiality.

FINDINGS

Prevalence of Religious Activities

Six items were constructed to assess the prevalence of religious activities in Marist Comprehensive Academy, MCA and Uturu Secondary School, USS. These items represented the selected religious activities as contained in the school’s program, namely: daily celebration of the Holy Mass, catechism classes for the sacraments, regular administration of the sacraments, administration of confirmation, RME and CRS as important subjects and regularity of moral instruction classes. The respondents were asked to rate their agreement on a series of attributes on a 5-point Likert Scale where 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4=Agree and 5=Strongly Agree. The findings are presented below in Table 1.

Table 1. Prevalence of Religious Activities Marist Comprehensive Academy (MCA)

According to Egunjobi (2022), a 5-point Likert Scale with average mean scores between 3.40 – 4.19 is an indication that the respondents agree to a given statement, while a mean score between 1.00 – 1.79 is an indication that the respondents strongly disagree to a given statement. From Table 1, the average mean score of respondents from Marist Comprehensive Academy (MCA) to the prevalence of religious activities in their school was high (M=3.51, SD=1.173) in comparison to that of Uturu Secondary School (USS) which was very low (M=1.35, SD=0.324). This goes to show that there is prevalence of religious activities going on in MCA which is not the case in USS. The significant score recorded by USS students as the average mean indicated is with respect to the statement of the importance of the subjects RME and CRS (M=2.44, SD=1.076), which this study attributed to the number of students offering these subjects as part of the requirements for their future educational pursuit. On the statement of regularity of moral instruction classes for the students, the mean score (M=1.41, SD=.533) for USS was lower in comparison to that of MCA (M=2.90, SD=1.229). Though both schools agreed to some extent of irregular moral instruction classes, which is informative given that it is a national curriculum requirement for schools in Nigeria according to Dikko (2017). This accounts for why they (USS) sometimes observe it even when it is very much infrequent. The implication of this is that USS as a school, has been grossly inconsistent with the organization of her moral instruction classes for her senior students.

The Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing of the Students

The scales of Viejo et al (2018) – Brief Psychological Wellbeing Scale for Adolescents (BSPWB-A) and Fisher (2010) – Spiritual Health and Life Orientation Measure (SHALOM), were used to assess the level of the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students. The assessment was done in two parts: the level of the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students and the significant difference between the means (M) of the level obtained by both schools. Both scales measure four different constructs of the domains of the psycho-spiritual wellbeing in self-acceptance, positive interpersonal relationship, autonomy, life development (for the psychological wellbeing), personal, communal, environmental and transcendental (for the spiritual wellbeing). The respondents were asked to indicate the statement that best describes their experience still on a 5-point Likert Scale where 1=Strongly Disagree, 2=Disagree, 3=Neutral, 4=Agree and 5=Strongly Agree. The results are presented in Tables 2, 3 and 4 below.

Table 2. The Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing of the Students (Mean Comparison) 

Note: For this study, “Stdd Devtn” stands for standard deviation.

From Table 2, on average, the students of MCA (M=3.73, SD=2.76) and USS (M=3.54, SD=3.46), are both experiencing a high level of psycho-spiritual wellbeing. The result from the mean comparison also corroborates the findings of Kiplagat et al., (2019), which indicated that an increase in psychological wellbeing has a corresponding positive impact on the spiritual wellbeing. This is seen in the mean scores of MCA students in their psycho-spiritual wellbeing. 

Table 3. Independent Sample “t” Test for the Psychological Wellbeing of Students

The independent “t” test samples were used to examine the significant difference between the mean values of both schools. Table 3 indicates that the only significant difference between the mean of MCA, when compared to USS, in their psychological wellbeing was observed under the domain of self-acceptance, where the significant (2-tailed) value (.001) is less than the p-value (at p=0.01). This implies that MCA students are having a different experience from USS students in the self-acceptance domain of their psychological wellbeing at t(185), = .333, p = .001.

Table 4. Independent “t” Test Samples for the Spiritual Wellbeing

Table 4 showed statistical significant differences between the spiritual wellbeing of the students of MCA and those of USS in the following spiritual wellbeing domains: personal – t(186) = -9.460, p < 0.001; communal – t(177), = .323, p = .001, and environmental t(187), = .345, p = .003. It is very implicative in that the students of MCA were in another level when compared to the students of USS in their spiritual wellbeing level.

Relationship between Religious Activities and Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing of Students from MCA and USS

The mean comparison and the use of independent “t” test analysis have accessed and shown the level and the significant difference between the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students of MCA and USS. Going further in explaining a possible relationship between both variables, Pearson chi square was then employed for the correlation or association of religious activities and each of the domains of the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students, indicating the statistical independence or association of the variables of the study. The results are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Association of Religious Activities with Psycho-Spiritual Wellbeing 

Note: the minimum expected count is .01 which is the same as the p-value for the study

The result from the Pearson Chi-Square tests as shown in Table 3 revealed that there are no significant relationships or associations between religious activities and psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students of both schools judging from the asymptotic significant 2-sided values of the chi-square at p=.01. The Pearson chi-square results supported the findings of Nelson et al (2019) that religiousness or religious activities have an insignificant relationship with the psycho-spiritual wellbeing (which includes adaptive outcomes) of students rather than a significant one. On the other hand, it negates the outcomes of the research studies of Estrada et al (2019), Ali-Eryilmaz (2015), and Dew et al (2008) who stated that students’ involvement in religious activities are closely related to their psychological wellbeing, subjective wellbeing and less substance use amongst adolescents.

It was hypothesized that there is no significant difference between the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students of Marist Comprehensive Academy and the students of Uturu Secondary School with respect to religious activities. Albeit there were significant differences between the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students according to the results from the independent “t” test samples, Table 5, however, made it clear that these differences were not as a result of religious activities since both variables are independent of each other. Therefore, the hypothesis is accepted.

DISCUSSIONS

There were six items altogether that sought to examine the prevalence of religious activities (RAs) in the schools of the respondents. Comparing the average mean score obtained by the students of MCA to that of USS across these six items on the prevalence of RAs, demonstrated that the respondents from MCA were in agreement that these RAs were going on in their school while the students from USS strongly disagreed. The study, however, noted that the respondents from USS had some significant scores in RME and CRS being important subjects for them which this study attributed to those offering these subjects as part of their future career courses and as a matter of national education policy. It was also observed that the mean score for not having regular moral instruction classes for MCA was low even when it is higher than that of USS. It is implicative in the sense that both schools were not enjoying regular moral instruction classes, though USS students seldom observed these classes in comparison to MCA. It is worthy of note that MCA recorded a low mean score on irregular classes for both Catechism and Moral Instruction. It will be important that the school authorities of MCA investigate and address what could be contributing to the inconsistency.

The average mean score obtained by the respondents from MCA in the items that make up the psychological wellbeing is not significantly different from the one obtained by the students of USS. A closer look at the psychological wellbeing domains of both schools (MCA & USS), which the independent “t” test validates, supports and is congruent with one of the findings of Bhat (2018) on the psychological wellbeing of different senior secondary school students in India, where his research work revealed an insignificant difference between private and public secondary school students on their psychological wellbeing. However, there is statistically significant difference between the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students of MCA and USS especially in the spiritual wellbeing domains. The difference supports the findings of Kiplagat et al., (2019), when they stated that increase in psychological wellbeing impacts positively high on the spiritual wellbeing. This is seen in MCA scoring higher in their psychological wellbeing as well as in their spiritual wellbeing. However, it negates the social functionality theory of Durkheim (1912) especially in giving meaning and purpose, greater psychological and physical wellbeing and motivation for positive social change which are well captured under the psychological domains. It casts doubt on the veracity of this theory to the population under study, given that USS students without these religious activities equally have high psycho-spiritual wellbeing like their counterparts which the results analysis authenticated. The findings validate the conceptual framework of this study since it points to the possibility of other contributing factors aside religious activities, as captured by the intervening variables like age, family background, economy status and child response style, in facilitating a high psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students.

Using Pearson chi-square to examine the type of relationship that exists between religious activities and the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students, especially the respondents from MCA, who agreed to having these activities as part of their program, findings revealed that there are no significant relationship or association between religious activities and the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students. The results of the chi-square tests, on one hand, supports the findings of Nelson et al. (2019), of an insignificant relationship between religious activities and the psychological wellbeing of students, while negating the outcomes of the research studies of Estrada et al (2019), Ali-Eryilmaz (2015), and Dew et al (2008), who posited a significant relationship between both variables. Besides, the findings call to question the social functionality theory in its functions, since Durkheim (1912) saw a significant relationship between one’s involvement in religious beliefs and practices and corresponding increase in psychological wellbeing. Religious activities are good in themselves and may have contributed its quota in the lives of the students but its impacts are not central to the high level of psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students. The study noted that other factors (possibly the intervening variables) could have been responsible given that USS students who agreed not having these religious activities in school still have high psycho-spiritual wellbeing prompting the question of the factors contributing to their high experience of psycho-spiritual wellbeing. This, however, is beyond the scope of this study.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Given that the hypothesis is accepted or retained, the study can conclude that though religious activities are good in themselves and students are encouraged to be involved in them, nevertheless, the relationship they (religious activities) have with their (the students) psycho-spiritual wellbeing is very casual/weak and not significant. Overemphasizing on them (religious activities) without more emphasis on the intervening variables (age, economic status, child response style to parenting, religious background and culture), and other factors like the leadership style of the school authorities, may not significantly impact positively on their overall wellbeing. Since the design employed for the study could not establish the actual cause of the level of psycho-spiritual wellbeing of the students owing to its scope, the study recommends that further research studies be carried out, studies that will investigate the actual factors responsible for the psycho-spiritual wellbeing of secondary school students.

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