Demographic, religious profiles, and cultural assimilation of three groups of Korean seminarians in Houston and Dallas, Texas

Abstract

This study deals with the relationship between and among characteristics of three groups of Korean seminarians in Houston and Dallas Theological Seminaries based on demographics, religious profile variables, and sociocultural assimilation. The data for this study were obtained from three groups of 60 Korean students at Houston Theological Seminary and Dallas Theological Seminary. These respondents consisted of 21 Houston Theological Seminary students, and 39 Dallas Theological Seminary students, of which 21 were immigrating students and 18 were non-immigrating students. The Questionnaire on Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics, the Profile of Seminarians (POS), and the Sociocultural Assimilation Questionnaire (SAQ) were administered to the respondents. The major findings that emerged from the analysis of the data in this study are as follows: First, there were differences between Houston and Dallas Theological Seminary students in 12 demographic variables and between Korean immigrating and non-immigrating students at the Dallas Theological Seminary in four out of 16 demographic variables as measured by the Questionnaire on Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics. Second, generally speaking, Houston and Dallas seminary students were not different on religious orientation as measured by The Profile of Seminarians. Differences were found in only 22 variables out of 103 variables of the instrument. Differences in two variables were found between immigrating and non-immigrating students at the Dallas Theological Seminary. In terms of demography and religious orientation, immigrating and non-immigrating students were homogeneous. Third, differences in 12 out of the 24 variables measured by the Sociocultural Assimilation Questionnaire were found among the three groups. In general, Houston seminary students reported the lowest cultural assimilation among three seminary groups.