The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 41, No. 2 & Volume 42, No. 1 - 204

emphasis on their academics, which means
leaving their RA position to allow more time for
studying and extracurricular activities directly
related to the declared major. There is also the
circumstance of changing majors, which may
require the realignment of priorities and time
management in order to be successful in the
new major. The opportunity to study abroad
may be another explanation as to why sophomore RAs voluntarily leave their position.
Future research aimed at exploring more
fully the experience of voluntary leavers may
expose why some sophomore RAs are choosing
to leave and may help determine what factors
can be controlled, improved, and impacted.
The results of the current study are limited
in speculating about exactly why sophomore
RAs may voluntarily leave the RA position
after only one year, yet administrators need to
remain aware that those voluntary leavers have
a signiﬁcantly different experience than those
who stay.

Training as Both Preparation for the Role
and the Sophomore Transition
The strong-to-moderate correlations between
the training factors and all other factors aside
from gender and GPA indicate signiﬁcant
relationships with training. Correlations
between training and RA self-efﬁcacy ranged
from moderate (0.60) to strong (0.71). The
beneﬁts of training include decreased stress,
greater emotional resiliency, and improved
counseling skills, confrontation skills, and
basic helping skills (Winston & Buckner,
1984), which provides support for the relationship found between training and RA
self-efﬁcacy. In addition, the training factors
demonstrated a strong correlation to satisfaction that clear job expectations were estab204

lished, which is addressed in the next section.
For the sophomore RA, training may
become more than preparation for the RA
position. RA training includes content on university policies, campus resources, student
development, referral skills, basic human relation skills, time management, leadership skills
(Bowman & Bowman, 1995; Upcraft & Pilato,
1982), conﬂict resolution, crisis management, and interpersonal skills (Upcraft, 1982).
Many of these topics assist RAs with supporting their residents' transition to college and
supporting residents when they are in crisis.
These transition skills continue to be of value
well into the sophomore year and beyond. And
in a worst-case scenario where sophomore
RAs feel they are in a crisis, they are trained
on who to call and are knowledgeable of the
support available. Sophomore RAs are trained
to know campus resources such as the counseling center, academic advising, career services, and learning resources centers; these are
all resources available to assist the undecided
sophomore (Schreiner, 2010), support sophomores who are questioning their philosophical
purpose (Graunke & Woosley, 2005), and help
a sophomore struggling with poor academic
performance (Adelman, 2006). RA training
for a sophomore RA evolves into preparation
to navigate their transition into and through
their sophomore year.

Clear Job Expectations and Working and
Living Conditions
Unclear or unknown job expectations were a
recurring theme reported by sophomore RAs
(Kauffman, 2008; Schaller & Wagner, 2007)
and as such provide legitimacy to including
satisfaction that clear job expectations were
established as a variable of interest in the

THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING
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
