Deconstruction and Identity Construction: The Role of Spirituality and Community in Religious Identity Development

The cultural discourse surrounding the phenomenon of “deconstructing” one’s faith has suggested that it may be the beginning of a widespread social movement away from religion. This study suggests that it may, in fact, be a developmental phenomenon and not just a cultural one, the result of psychological changes evident in emerging adulthood. Religious and spiritual struggle is ubiquitous in this developmental stage, especially in college students. Its ubiquity may be evidence of worldview formation and evaluation, which includes the development and integration of various aspects of one’s identity. For religious individuals, this identity evaluation can prompt them to consider their religious heritage and choose which parts are personally meaningful and worth retaining as part of their adult identity. Educational environments that emphasize identity exploration and connect students with spiritual community may further prompt such identity evaluation and related religious wrestling, and they may also provide tools for students to make identity commitments.

This paper proposes a model of religious identity development by integrating multiple streams of identity development research to make sense of the puzzling religious trends seen in emerging adulthood. This model suggests that developing a personally meaningful religious identity involves some exploration of one’s religious tradition before choosing whether to retain or change one’s religious identity, and this exploration is driven by spiritual development. The presence of religious and spiritual struggle is evidence of this “exploration in depth” and can be a positive sign for identity development, particularly if it is supported by a spiritual community, which can contribute to spiritual growth and maturity.

This study tested this hypothesis with two longitudinal studies of students at religious universities. Latent growth curve models failed to find support for the covariance of religious and spiritual struggle and identity exploration, but latent change score models found that changes in spirituality predicted changes in religious identity. Multilevel models found that spirituality was the strongest predictor of religious identity, and that religious community, identity expressiveness, and religious and spiritual struggle also contributed. Mediation models revealed that the relationship between supportive spiritual community and religious identity was mediated by spirituality. This paper concludes by discussing the implications for a model of religious identity development and deconstruction, while acknowledging limitations and suggesting future directions.