The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 40, No. 2 & Volume 41, No. 1 - 68

Larry D. Long

it is possible that fraternity/sorority living arrangements do not provide the same academic
beneﬁts as on-campus living arrangements do.
The purpose of this study was to compare the
experiences of students residing in fraternity/
sorority housing to those of students in oncampus housing in order to determine if differences in academic success, alcohol use, and
perceptions of the living environment exist
as a function of students' living arrangement
and gender.

EXPERIENCES OF STUDENTS
LIVING IN RESIDENCE HALLS
Research on college and university student
housing has focused on a variety of areas,
including academic success (Inman & Pascarella, 1998; Jamelske, 2009; López Turley
& Wodtke, 2010; McCluskey-Titus & Oliver,
2001; Wang, Arboleda, Shelley, & Whalen,
2003), satisfaction (Cleave, 1996; Li, Sheeley,
& Whalen, 2005), alcohol use (Cross, Zimmerman, & O'Grady, 2009; Fromme, Kruse, &
Corbin, 2008; Larimer et al., 2000), and social
integration (Kaya, 2004). Because of the wideranging topics that have already been studied,
this review is limited to research on the inﬂuence of living conditions on student adjustment, alcohol use, and academic success.

inability to study in the residence halls, roommate conﬂicts, sleep difﬁculties, and alcohol
use (Dusselier et al., 2005).
In a study of the inﬂuence of the residential environment on the academic, social, and
personal-emotional adjustment of 245 ﬁrstyear students at a large public institution in the
Southeast (using the Residence Hall Climate
Scale and the Student Adaptation to College
Questionnaire), Kaya (2004) found that group
cohesion was positively related to academic
and personal-emotional adjustment, perception of safety, and institutional commitment.
Student perception of safety was positively
associated with social adjustment and institutional commitment and negatively related
to disruption by noise. Respondents who expressed concerns about the noise level on their
ﬂoor tended to perceive their ﬂoor to be less
safe than did their peers who had fewer concerns about the level of noise.

Living Conditions
Research on the impact of the living conditions in residence halls has focused on outcomes such as stress, adjustment, perceptions
of safety, and attrition. In a study of what contributed to the stress of 416 residence hall students at a large public research university in the
Midwest, the researchers found that the most
common contributing factors were students'

68

Studies on residence hall attrition found
that poor living conditions, such as small
rooms, poor study conditions, and lack of
privacy, inﬂuence students to move off campus.
In comparison, social interactions, leadership
opportunities, and convenience factors, such
as proximity to academic resources and buildings, inﬂuence students to reapply for on-campus housing (Cleave, 1996; Li et al., 2005).
Overall, research on the impact of residence hall living conditions on college students found that poor living conditions might
increase stress, negatively affect perceptions
of safety, and inﬂuence students to move off
campus. A limitation of the existing research
is that most of the studies were mono-institutional in nature (e.g., Cleave, 1996; Dusselier

THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING
The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 40, No. 2 & Volume 41, No. 1

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