The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1 - 147

African American Students' Second-Year Networks

Scholars studying the second-year experience have also noted the importance of mentoring relationships during this time period.
Mentoring relationships for second-year students can include those with peers, faculty,

Establishing purpose in life
is related to many of the
developmental issues that
college students encounter
during their second year, such
as their struggle to develop
competence, create and maintain
interdependent relationships, and
establish identity.

and staff. Through quantitative and qualitative
studies of 4,845 traditional-age second-year
students at 41 four-year institutions in the
U.S., Schreiner (2012) found that second-year
students thrived when they were connected
to others, both faculty and peers, and other
studies have shown that living on campus increases students' ability to be involved in curricular and cocurricular activities (Pascarella
& Terenzini, 2005; Pascarella, Terenzini, &
Blimling, 1994). In a quasi-experimental study
at four universities, researchers wanted to
determine the differences between a random
sample of students living in a traditional residence hall and a random sample participating

in living-learning communities (Inkelas, Vogt,
Longerbeam, Owen, & Johnson, 2006). Not
only did living-learning community students
have more positive perceptions of the academic and social climate of their residence halls
overall, but African American students speciﬁcally had positive perceptions of the residence
hall climate and used residence hall resources
at the highest level.
A study of 100 ethnic minority ﬁrstgeneration college students found that peer
support, or the lack of needed peer support,
was a strong predictor of grades and adjustment (Dennis, Phinney, & Chuateco, 2005).
For African American students at predominantly White institutions, a sense of belonging was a signiﬁcant predictor of their ability
to thrive (Paredes-Collins, 2012). In an earlier
study, researchers examined the inﬂuence
of social support, university comfort, and
self-beliefs on decisions to persist among
98 Black students at a PWI and found that
all three constructs signiﬁcantly predicted
persistence; however, social support and university comfort were the strongest predictors
of persistence among African American students (Gloria, Robinson Kurpius, Hamilton,
& Wilson, 1999). Residence halls are uniquely
positioned to provide social support through
programs, peer mentors, and conversations
with live-in staff members.
Establishing purpose in life is related to
many of the developmental issues that college
students encounter during their second year,
such as their struggle to develop competence,
create and maintain interdependent relationships, and establish identity (Boivin et al.,
2000; Schreiner, 2010). Schaller's (2005)
study of 19 traditional-age second-year stu-

147

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1