An investigation of first-year college student's psychological sense of community on campus

College Student Journal, June, 2003 by Daniel L.C. DeNeui

This study examines various personological and experiential factors as they relate to first-year college students' Psychological Sense of Community (PSC). More specifically, this longitudinal study examines how PSC develops over time and how that development relates to individual personality traits as well as student involvement and participation in various campus activities and organizations. The study included 120 participants who completed a battery of questionnaires at the beginning and end of an academic school year. Results showed that contrary to prediction students' overall PSC did not increase over the course of the academic year. However, this finding was moderated by two factors; 1) the individual personality trait of extroversion/introversion and 2) students' level of campus participation. The implications of these and other findings are discussed in relation to college and university communities.

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In the time since Sarason wrote The psychological sense of community: Prospects for a community psychology in 1974, PSC has been studied in a variety of contexts. Many of these studies conceptualize PSC as a product of specific environments or certain characteristics of those environments. For example, PSC has been examined at both the city/town and neighborhood levels, (Ahlbrant and Cunningham, 1979; Brodsky, O'Campo & Aronson, 1999; Davidson & Cotter, 1986; Glynn, 1981; Kingston, Mitchell, Florin and Stevenson, 1999; Prezza, Amici, Roberti & Tedeschi, 2001, Prezza & Costantini, 1998; Sagy, Stem, Krakover, 1996). Zaff & Devlin (1998) examined PSC in the context of a retirement community. In addition, the workplace has also been proposed as a frame of reference for PSC. Findings indicate that PSC can be experienced in the workplace and that it can benefit employees in a number of ways including increased feelings of security, stronger self-concept, self-respect and coping abilities (Klein & D'Aunno, 1986; Pretty & McCarthy, 1991). Burroughs & Eby (1998) found that employees with a high need for affiliation scored higher on measures of PSC at work.

PSC has also been examined in academic contexts (Abrahamowicz, 1988; Boudreau & Kromrey, 1994; Cruz, 1987; Dowaliby, Garrison, & Dagel, 1993; Easthope, 1975; Gass, 1990; Hill, Shaw and Devlin, 1999; Hunt & Rentz, 1994; Murguia, Padilla, & Pavel, 1991; Pascarella, 1986; Ragle & Krone, 1985; Royal & Rossi, 1999; Russel & Thompson, 1987; Spitzberg, 1992; Stoecker, Pascarella, & Wolfle, 1988; Young, Backer & Rogers, 1989; Young & Rogers, 1991). Pretty (1990) examined the relationship of PSC to social climate characteristics and found evidence that PSC is related to undergraduates' interpersonal networks and support. Related to this, Pretty, Andrews, and Collett (1994) found a significant negative correlation between school sense of community and loneliness. Other studies have examined the relationship between PSC and social predispositions (Davidson, Cotter, & Stovall, 1991), subjective well being (Davidson & Cotter, 1991), and student burnout (McCarthy, Pretty, & Catano, 1990).

The current study was based on previous research by Lounsbury and DeNeui (1995,1996) who found that; 1) PSC was significantly negatively related to institution size, 2) extroverted students had higher PSC scores than introverted students, 3) students living on-campus reported higher PSC scores than those living off-campus, 4) students involved in Greek organizations reported higher PSC than non-Greek and 5) out-of-state students reported higher PSC than in-state students.

The present research further examines how students' personality traits and participation in campus organizations and activities moderate the development of PSC during the first year of college. Specifically, because participants were incoming freshman with little or no connections to the school and hence little or no sense of community, it was predicted that students' PSC would increase over the course of the academic year. Second, students who scored higher on extroversion would indicate greater PSC at the end of the year as well as showing greater increases in PSC over the course of the year than students who scored lower on extroversion. Third, based on prior research that shows greater levels of campus involvement correlates with greater levels of PSC (Lounsbury and DeNeui, 1995,1996), it was predicted that students who exhibited higher levels of participation would indicate greater PSC at the end of the year as well as showing greater increases in PSC over the course of the year than students who exhibited lower levels of participation. The study also examined the personality traits of neuroticism, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness, however the current research regarding these constructs is exploratory and no specific predictions are offered.

Method

Participants

Time 1 participants consisted of 364 incoming first year students. Of these students, 234 were females and 128 were males. Two respondents did not indicate their gender. Participants were students enrolled in introductory psychology courses at a large southeastern university. The initial sample of students was asked if they would be willing to participate in a follow-up study to be conducted near the end of the spring semester. As an incentive to participate in the follow-up, students were offered a chance at winning a $100 cash prize. Out of the initial 364 Time 1 participants, 315 indicated they would be willing to participate in the follow-up study. Out of that sample of 315, 120 (38%) actually completed the follow-up survey. Time 2 participants included 95 women and 23 men.