Recently, researchers have shown considerable interest in spirituality, albeit much of the focus has been on the multi-dimensional theoretical nature of the construct (e.g., meaning of life, connectedness to others, transcendence) (Burkhardt, 1989; Cavendish et al., 2000). Relatively few studies have collected descriptive data on spiritual beliefs, or assessed the relationship between spirituality and health behaviors, and the assessment of spiritual beliefs has not advanced to a level where many sound instruments are available. The purposes of this study were to (a) assess the factor structure of Pargament's (1999) "spiritual meaning" survey, (b) describe college students' responses to this instrument, and (c) assess the relationship between spirituality, demographic characteristics, and substance use. Data were collected from 605 undergraduate students at a university in the southern United States. Demographics of the sample approximated that of the university. They completed Pargament's 20-item Likert-scaled instrument in addition to the substance use items of the National College Health Risk Behavior Survey. Spirituality items with the highest responses included, "My life is significant because I am part of God's plan," and "My relationship with God helps me find meaning in the ups and downs of life." Items with the lowest mean scores included "When I am disconnected from the spiritual dimension of my life, I lose my sense of purpose," and "Without my religious foundation, my life would be meaningless." A factor analysis yielded only one factor (Eigenvalue 12.87) accounting for 64% of the variance. A Spiritual Meaning Score (SMS) was calculated by averaging participants' responses to the 19 loading items. Comparisons of subgroup's SMS indicated a significant difference for gender, t (603)=5.87, p < .001 (females reporting significantly higher responses than males) and race, t (576)=8.12, p < .001 (black students' responses higher than white students'). Pearson Product Moment correlations were calculated to assess the relationship between respondents' SMS and behaviors relative to smoking, alcohol, marijuana, and using alcohol in combination with an illegal drug (i.e., 1=non-user, 2=occasional, 3=regular). All four correlations were significant (p < .01) and negative, ranging from -.18 to -.32. These results indicate college students' spiritual beliefs helped them find meaning in life and cope with difficulties, females and black students had stronger spiritual beliefs, and spiritual beliefs were negatively related to substance use. In addition, our data suggest Pargament's survey adequately assesses the "spiritual meaning" dimension of spirituality.Keyword(s): health promotion, measurement/evaluation, research