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

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

Another component that contributes to the development of PSC is Participation. The present results clearly showed that students who participated less frequently in campus-based activities and organizations showed the greatest amounts of decrease in PSC over the academic year.

Future research might address such issues as dropout, alumni giving, PSC change over four years, differences among various colleges and universities, PSC for minorities, etc. The present study has advanced our knowledge of the construct validity of PSC, but there are clearly many opportunities for important future research on this topic.

Limitations

As with any longitudinal study, one of the benefits of the present investigation was the ability to track individuals over time. In this case the longitudinal design provided a closer look at how collegiate PSC develops and changes over the course of an academic year. However, this design also presents some interesting problems that deserve mention. First, with 364 initial participants, the response rate for the Time 2 (i.e. spring semester) data collection was 33%. Despite persistent attempts by those involved in the data collection, 244 participants failed to complete the second half of the study. One way of increasing the response rate for future research might be to offer better incentives for participants. Finally, because the study only examined the first year of students' college experience, it's possible that PSC may take longer to develop. Tracking students over a longer period of time may reveal significant changes in PSC.

Table 1

Table of Ns, Means, Standard Deviations, Reliabilities, and
Intercorrelations of Study Variables

                Descriptive Statistics

        (1)     (2)     (3)       (4)     (5)

n       120     120     120       120     120
M       96.5    95.5     -.97     94.3    122.3
SD      11.36   13.30   11.46     21.83    19.21
alpha     .90     .91     .78 *     .92      .90

                Descriptive Statistics

        (6)      (7)      (8)      (9)

n       120      120      120      120
M       116.5    116.5    114.0    85.2
SD       18.76    15.84    19.47   15.89
alpha      .87      .86      .91     .83

* This value reflects a gain score reliability
(Cronbach & Furby, 1970)

Intercorrelation Table

                   (1)        (2)        (3)        (4)        (5)

1. Time 1 PSC      --
2. Time 2 PSC        .58 **   --
3. PSC Change       -.32 **     .59 **   --
4. Neuroticism      -.36 **    -.24 **     .08      --
5. Extroversion      .51 **     .33 **    -.12        .23 **   --
6. Openness         -.03        .03        .06        .04        .24 **
7. Agreeable         .24 **     .17       -.05       -.48 **     .24 **
8. Conscient.        .25 **     .18 *     -.04       -.45 **     .28 **
9. Participation     .21 *      .41 **     .26 **    -.13        .38 **

Intercorrelation Table

                   (6)        (7)        (8)       (9)

1. Time 1 PSC
2. Time 2 PSC
3. PSC Change
4. Neuroticism
5. Extroversion
6. Openness        --
7. Agreeable         .08      --
8. Conscient.       -.08        .28 **   --
9. Participation     .23 **    -.04        .20 *   --

* p<.05

** p<.01

Table 2

Mean Scores on Collegiate Psychological Sense of Community
(Time 1 PSC, Time 2 PSC & PSC Change) by Extroversion

Extroversion          Time 1    Time 2    PSC
Score                 PSC       PSC      Change
Introverts             89.13a   87.53a   -1.60a
Moderate Introverts    94.94b   97.84b    2.90a
Moderate Extroverts    98.60c   98.23b    -.37a
Extroverts            103.4lc   98.35b   -5.07b

Means in the same row that do not have different subscripts
differ at p<.05 in the Student Neuman Keuls comparison.

Table 3

Mean Scores on Collegiate Psychological Sense of Community
(Time 2 PSC & PSC Change) by Level of Participation

Participation        Time 2    PSC
Score                PSC       Change
Very Low             83.55a    -5.69a
Participation
Low Participation    100.27b    -.04b
High Participation   98.47b    2.50b
Very High            99.36b     .49b
Participation

Means in the same row that do not have different subscripts
differ at p<.05 in the Student Neuman Keuls comparison.

FOOTNOTES

{1} Participants in quartile 1 were called Introverts, participants
in quartile 2 were labeled Moderate Introverts, participants in
quartile 3 were called Moderate Extroverts and participants in
quartile 4 were labeled Extroverts.