The Study of College Students’ Beliefs in China

Abstract

The beliefs of college students is an important issue that is followed closely by the Government of China (GOC). In recent years, the GOC increasingly has encouraged the investigation of religious problems of college students. This phenomenon relates to college students’ special position in Chinese social structure. In the past decade, research on college students’ beliefs from the perspective of psychology has achieved initial success. These research projects include studies on the current state and characteristics of college students’ beliefs, the religious beliefs of college students, the spirituality of college students, the relationship between belief and mental health, and cross-cultural research on the beliefs of college students who are of the Han and Zang nationalities. The results of these studies suggest that college students’ social beliefs dominate other beliefs; the number of college students who hold religious belief is increasing; people tend to form religious belief when encountering challenging events; there is a certain relationship between belief and mental health; and there are both common and distinguishing characteristics between Han and Zang college students.