The center seeks to:

• Advance the scientific study of spiritual development by conducting qualitative and quantitative cross-cultural research on the nature, processes, and outcomes of spiritual development in childhood and adolescence.
• Build an interdisciplinary, international field of scholarship by cultivating a broad network of scholars, leaders, practitioners, and others who are engaged in advancing this field around the world, and by creating an online community for scholars and a searchable database of available literature on spiritual development around the world.
• Develop tools, resources, and partnerships to help youth workers, parents, educators, and others more effectively nurture the spiritual lives of children and adolescents.
• Communicate with the public to position spiritual development as an essential aspect of child and adolescent development.

What Makes the Center Unique?

• The center integrates current understandings of human development with spiritual development.
• The center recognizes spiritual development as linked to, but not the same as, religious development. It seeks to engage both religious and secular thought leaders, scholars, and practitioners in examining and attending to young people’s spiritual development.
• The center is intentionally multi-faith, multicultural, and interdisciplinary, bringing together insights and perspectives from the social sciences, religious studies, and other fields.
• The center is international, seeking to examine spiritual development in a global context.

Our Values

We approach this study of spiritual development with open-mindedness, intellectual rigor, and a spirit of exploration. We bring to this study:

• Respect for the beliefs and life experiences of all;
• A commitment to multicultural competence in a global context;
• Dedication to the integrity of the research; and
• A passion for improving quality of life for all children and youth.

Search Institute is a nonsectarian organization that seeks to engage scholars, leaders, practitioners, parents, and young people in exploring this domain of human development regardless of their own religious or spiritual tradition, including those who are not part of a particular religious or spiritual tradition.