The developmental impact of not integrating childhood peak experiences
International Journal of Children's Spirituality November 23, 2007 DOI: 10.1080/13644360701714928 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Qualitative study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 12 |
| Population | Adults recalling their childhood peak experiences |
| Topics | Mystical experience |
| Citations | 10 |
| Key findings | Argues that childhood peak experiences often go unassimilated, with five themes describing the qualities, reasons for non-assimilation, sharing, unassimilated qualities, and impacts. Non-assimilation can affect personality development, as illustrated in the lives of 12 high-functioning adults. |
Abstract
Much prior groundbreaking research has been done in recent years highlighting the qualities, quantities and means children have to enter transpersonal states of awareness. As important as this precedent research has been, in many ways it has yet to fully appreciate the gravity of childhood transpersonal experiences in terms of the impact on children and their personality development from not integrating their transpersonal experiences. This present study not only looks at the qualities, quantities and means of childhood transpersonal experiences but reveals reasons children have for not integrating such experiences and the resulting impact of not integrating their most meaningful moments. The research derives from dissertation interviews with 12 adults recalling their childhood peak experiences (CPEs). Qualitative thematic content analysis was applied to the interview transcriptions and revealed five main themes with more than 100 supporting sub‐themes. The research has discovered a composite experience of CPEs that consists of (a) qualities of the CPE, (b) the reasons for not assimilating CPEs, (c) the experience of sharing CPEs, (d) the unassimilated positive qualities of CPEs, and (e) the intrapersonal and interpersonal impact of non‐assimilation. The author terms this distinct composite process CPE non‐assimilation and describes how it played out issue by issue in the developmental lives of 12 high‐functioning adult professionals.
Comparable studies
Other qualitative studies on mystical experience, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The nature of peak experience in wilderness. Participants who had visited wilderness areas in Victoria, Australia, recruited via a... | 2009 | Qualitative study | n = 39 |
| Qualitative and Quantitative Features of Music Reported to Support Peak Mystical Experiences during Psychedelic Therapy Sessions Individuals with extensive experience administering psilocybin or psilocybin-containing... | 2017 | Survey and qualitative/quantitative analysis | n = 10 |
| Cannabis as entheogen: survey and interview data on the spiritual use of cannabis. Participants recruited from seven online communities, median age 33, 81% male | 2020 | Mixed methods (qualitative interviews and quantitative survey) | n = 319 |
| Clarifying and measuring the characteristics of experiences that involve a loss of self or a dissolution of its boundaries. Adults who reported an experience involving dissolution of self-boundaries or loss of... | 2024 | Cross-sectional survey with confirmatory factor analysis and qualitative thematic analysis | n = 386 |
| Students' Peak Experiences: A Written Exercise Undergraduate psychology students enrolled in a course | 1985 | Qualitative study |