The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 46, No. 1 - 84

Jonathan Manz

RAs were more competent than conservative
RAs, and RAs from low-income families were
more competent than RAs from high-income
families.
The physical space of a college's residence hall also impacts performance, as does
the academic level of the RA and the degree
to which that individual had been mentored.
Byrne (1998) reported that RAs working in
large residence halls versus medium-size and
small halls, and coed halls versus single-gender halls, indicated a stronger loyalty to their
institution, which positively impacted performance. However, RAs from medium-size halls
felt they gained more experience from committee and group work, while those from small
ones believed more strongly that their position
led them to be more respectful of others.
RA performance can also be impacted by
negative stressors such as burnout. In general,
the type of student population and size of institution may impact burnout (Hardy & Dodd,
1998; Paladino et al., 2005). Other factors,
such as certain characteristics of RAs, can
have positive effects: being a White female
(Sadouskas, 2011) or simply female, coming
from a low-income family (Watt et al., 2003),

Other Student Leaders
Results from previous studies on student
leaders in general (i.e., not specific to a certain
type of organization such as a fraternity or
student government) have shown that a variety
of experiences contributed to RA leadership
development, including challenging assignments, hardships (e.g., personal trauma),
and events involving interactions with others
(Sessa, Morgan, Kalenderli, & Hammond,
2014). Possession of managerial traits such
as the ability to build trust and credibility was
found to be important by members of the
student leaders' organizations (Peterson &
Peterson, 2012). Community college student
leaders specified that having pride in their institutions, developing relationships, and working
with administrators were three themes from
their leadership experiences (Miles, 2010). Like
their RA counterparts, other student leaders,
such as student religious group leaders, also
experienced burnout, which impacted various
aspects of their role (Forward & Sadler, 2013).

. . . RAs have the benefit of living

METHODOLOGY

among those they serve, allowing

Conceptual Framework

them to develop as they educate

According to Astin's (1970) Input-Environment-Outcome (I-E-O) model, student
outcomes such as learning or leadership development are a function of both certain inputs
(e.g., socioeconomic background, personal
traits/talents, or demographic characteristics)

their peers in the societal and
communal values associated with
citizenship.
84

attending a rural campus (Johnson & Kang,
2006), or having strong self-efficacy (Denzine
& Anderson, 1999) are all characteristics that
led to strong performance, while there were
conflicting results related to serving as a new
or returning RA (Clark, 2008).

THE JOURNAL OF COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT HOUSING

The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 46, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 46, No. 1