Faith Development in the Adult Life Cycle

SUMMARY The FaiTh Development in the Adult Life Cycle Project, completed in 1987, studied the relationship between the aging process and faith development. It is not limited to older adults, but addresses issues of faith development throughout the entire aging cycle. A telephone sample of 1000+ persons was surveyed by the Gallup Organization, supplemented by in-depth interviews with 41 persons. The data were analyzed in the context of seven hypotheses related to the topic. Among the findings were: faith development is not significantly related to age; it does not differ qualitatively by sex, although men's and women's approaches to faith development are subtly different; and there is a positive correlation between psycho-social health and faith development.