Spiritual Formation Among Students at Christian Seminaries: Mature Alterity, Symptoms, and Well-Being

Mature alterity is a key marker of spiritual formation. We used person-centered data analytic techniques to empirically generate subgroups differentiated by their profile on dimensions of the relational spirituality model (RSM). Four RSM dimensions were derived from factor analytic techniques on fifty items from eight measures of religiousness/spirituality and self-regulatory strengths. We used a sample of students from eighteen North American seminaries (N = 867; Mage = 31.95; 50% male; 60% White). Latent profile analyses at times 1 and 2 generated four subgroups differentiated by RSM dimensions. One subgroup, labeled the regulated seekers, represented a balanced profile of moderate acceptance of doubts as positive, low-to-moderate divine struggles and moderate interpersonal struggles, low-to-moderate anxious attachment to the divine, moderate dwelling, and consistent elevated regulation. The regulated seekers also depicted mature alterity, reporting moderate-to-high gratitude and other-forgiveness, low grandiosity, low right-wing authoritarianism, lower illusory religiousness/spirituality, and low materialistic and moderate-to-high contemplative prayer frequencies. They also reported a flourishing profile of lower symptoms, higher positive emotion, and moderate life purpose and higher belongingness. Latent transition analysis results showed that membership in this subgroup was largely stable over time. When the regulated seekers did switch subgroups, they tended to move to the subgroup whose RSM profile was characterized by greater dwelling. Findings offered support for the RSM and highlighted the need for monitoring spiritual formation using judicious assessment of RSM dimensions, mature alterity, and flourishing, along with discerning between greater religiousness/spirituality and mature alterity, which may not be synonymous.