The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1 - 38

Christina W. Yao • Matthew R. Wawrzynski

included creating dependent variables from
each of the surveys. The six diversity-related
questions from the FTF were combined into
one variable to represent first-year student participants’ attitudes towards diversity prior to
living on campus. The scores were combined
and grouped into two equal categories for propensity towards diversity: low and high. The
total scores for first-year participants could
range from 0 to 12. The range of scores for
low was 0 to 9 and for high was 10 to 12 after
running frequencies.
The 15 Miville-Guzman scale statements on
the RHES survey were combined into one variable to represent participants’ overall awareness
of and appreciation for diversity after one year of
living on campus. The total scores for first-year
male participants ranged from 0 to 75 and were
divided into two groups with categories of low
and high scores. The range of the scores for low
was 0 to 56 and for high was 57 to 75.
The third stage of our analyses included
running several chi-square tests of significance for statistical comparisons. Chi-square
tests are appropriate since we explored the
relationships between living environments
and pre- and post-measures for awareness of
and appreciation for diversity. One chi-square
test consisted of exploring the relationship
between participants’ residential environments and their expectations for diverse interactions prior to attending the university.
Another chi-square test explored the relationship between residential environments
and participants’ total UDO score after living
on campus for one year. The fourth stage of
our analyses included running chi-square
tests for each of the three Miville-Guzman
subscales. The subscales were explored
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along with the first-year student participants’
residential environments. The final N in
each of the three Miville-Guzman subscales
range from 53 to 55 participants due to a few
missing cases.

RESULTS
Prior Attitudes to Diversity
The chi-square tests for independence in our
analyses revealed significant and practical differences between student characteristics and the
prior attitudes towards diversity. Table 1 represents the statistically significant prior attitudes
towards diversity and the phi co-efficient effect
sizes. Chi-square tests were conducted to explore
male first-year student participants’ attitudes
towards diversity prior to their on-campus living
experiences, X2 (1, N = 53) = 5.5, p > .05, phi =
.38. Of the LLC students, the men were divided
evenly between having low (9.4%, n = 5) and high
scores (9.4%, n = 5). More students in traditional
residence halls reported their expected attitudes
toward diversity with low scores (71.7%, n = 38)
as compared to high scores (9.4%, n = 5). All participants reported at least a medium to high prior
attitudes score, with the lowest score at 6.
The results demonstrate a medium effect
size (Cohen, 1988) and indicate that a greater
proportion of first-year men living in academically based LLCs reported higher prior
attitudes scale scores (see Table 1). A greater
proportion of traditional residence hall firstyear men reported lower scale scores. These
results may indicate that men in LLCs anticipate being more open and exposed to diversity experiences when living on campus.

Universal-Diverse Orientation
Another chi-square test explored first-year

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 39, No. 2 & Volume 40, No. 1

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