DESCRIPTION: Financial stress can affect seminary students across multiple dimensions of well-being, including spiritual, mental, and relational health. Using data from 189 students at five theological seminaries, this study examines whether spiritual health helps explain how financial stress relates to broader health outcomes. Structural equation modeling found that spiritual health accounted for part of the negative relationship between financial stress and both mental and relational health. The authors suggest that supporting students’ spiritual health may be an important component of interventions aimed at improving the holistic well-being of seminarians facing financial strain.

KEYWORDS: financial health; financial stress; holistic health; mental health; relational health; seminary students; spiritual health; student debt; student well-being; theological education

DESCRIPTION: This longitudinal study examines how different types of prayer relate to anxiety, depression, and burnout among 564 seminary students from 17 theological schools. Colloquial, liturgical, and meditative prayer predicted lower experiential avoidance, which in turn was associated with fewer mental health symptoms; petitionary prayer showed no significant direct or indirect effects. The findings suggest that prayer practices may contribute to spiritual and character formation partly by helping seminarians remain engaged with difficult thoughts and emotions rather than avoiding them, with implications for student formation, mentorship, and well-being.

KEYWORDS: anxiety; burnout; character formation; COVID-19; depression; experiential avoidance; mental health; prayer; psychological flexibility; seminarians; spiritual formation; spiritual practices; student well-being

Mixed-method intervention study of 136 emerging religious leaders tests whether change in humility corresponds to change in differentiation and God attachment during a humility cultivation intervention.

KEYWORDS: attachment behavior; God concepts; humility; intention; intervention; leadership; spirituality

Longitudinal study of 580 seminarians tests whether virtues mediate the religious/spiritual commitment–well-being link, finding cross-sectional but not longitudinal mediation through blessedness and forgiveness.

KEYWORDS: construct validity; factor analysis; religiousness; virtues; well-being

Practical theology article proposing a virtue-based model of caring and Christian formation grounded in moral psychology and Wesleyan thought.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; generative care virtues of generative care; journal article; moral likeness model of spiritual maturity; practical theology; Wesley's affectional moral psychology

Article exploring the feasibility of an ecumenical measure of Christian maturation by drawing on five distinct traditions (African American, Anglican, Benedictine, Pentecostal, Reformed) and four navigation strategies.

KEYWORDS: ecumenical spirituality; measurement; psychology of religion/spirituality; spiritual assessment; spiritual formation

ATS Commission on Accrediting guide presenting a principle-based, practice-oriented framework for institutional and educational evaluation in theological schools.

KEYWORDS: open access / free access; ATS Standards of Accreditation (2020); Checklist for Effective Assessment; educational effectiveness; evaluation and assessment; institutional planning; student learning; student learning outcomes; theological schools

DESCRIPTION: Financial hardship can affect seminary students in ways that extend beyond material strain. Drawing on a sample of 189 graduate students from ATS-accredited seminaries, this study examines relationships among financial well-being, shame, depression, anxiety, and spiritual well-being. The findings show that lower financial well-being was associated with greater shame, which in turn mediated relationships between financial distress and depression, anxiety, and spiritual well-being. The authors suggest that shame may be an important mechanism for understanding the broader psychological and spiritual effects of financial hardship and student debt among seminarians.

KEYWORDS: anxiety; depression; financial distress; financial well-being; mental health; seminary students; shame; spiritual well-being; student debt; student well-being

Latent profile analysis of 580 emerging religious leaders identifies an "Integrated" profile with balanced dwelling and seeking, displaying the greatest flourishing among five relational spirituality subgroups.

KEYWORDS: flourishing; latent profile analysis; relational spirituality; well-being