The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2 - 33

Resident Assistant Mattering: Do Placement and Community Size Matter?

impact on an individual's life. For instance,
Dixon et al. (2009) found people with a stronger sense of mattering were less likely to be
anxious or depressed. Connolly and Myers
(2003) studied business employees and suggested mattering had a positive correlation
with job satisfaction and wellness, respectively.
Dixon and Robinson Kurpius (2008) found
positive relationships between mattering and
self-esteem. Positive relationships also have
been found between wellness and mattering
(Gibson & Myers, 2006). Furthermore, Doğan
et al., (2012) found mattering to friends was
positively associated with happiness.
Although mattering has been used as a theoretical construct in various fields of studies, it
has not been applied to RAs in a higher education context. A main function of an RA's job
is building relationships with residents (Arboleda et al., 2003; Blimling, 1998; Denzine
& Anderson, 1999). By understanding how
the components of mattering directly relate
to interactions and feelings between people,
the importance of understanding RA mattering becomes clear, as the three primary components of mattering have a direct impact on
how RAs interact with their residents. With an
increased sense of mattering, RAs are more
likely to foster a community where residents
develop a stronger sense of belonging (Schlossberg, 1989). Therefore, this study investigated
RAs sense of mattering related to different
sizes and types of residential communities.

METHODS
Data Source and Sample
Data were collected from 74 RAs during the
first week of December 2014 at a large, public
research university in Texas. At the time of the

research study, the housing department of the
university employed 81 RAs in nine different
apartments and residence hall communities.
Of the 81 employed RAs, two were absent
during data collection and five subjects did not
submit responses to community and area size
data, so the response rate of usable data was
91.36%.
At the time of data collection, approximately
4,000 students lived on campus (approximately 2,200 living in apartments and approximately 1,800 living in residence halls) in nine
different community areas. The three apartment areas ranged in population size from 332
residents to 1,214 residents, with supporting
RA staff sizes ranging from six to 10. The six
residence hall areas ranged in population size
from 96 residents to 600 residents, with supporting RA staff sizes ranging from four to 17.

MEASURES
To evaluate feelings of mattering among RAs,
a modified version of the University Mattering
Scale (UMS) (France & Finney, 2009; 2010)
was administered over the course of the first
week in December 2014 during each of the
nine community's RA staff meetings (see Appendix A). The UMS was modified to focus on
the RA's residential communities instead of
the university as a whole (e.g., the item "when
people at [my institution] need help, they come
to me" was altered to "when people in the community need help, they come to me"). RAs
were informed that the term "community" referred to the students in their entire residential community (apartment area or residence
hall). The modified UMS contained 24 items
with a 5-point Likert scale (strongly disagree to
strongly agree). Twelve items required reverse

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 2

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