New Article in Journal of Campus Activities Practice & Scholarship (JCAPS)
Last week, I had a new article published with one of my former students, Alexis Paladini (Minnesota State University Mankato), which explored living arrangements and involvement of commuter students. To add an extra layer of complexity, we examined the strength of living arrangements by applying Bowlby’s (1969) theory of parental attachment. We hypothesized that undergraduate commuter students would be less involved if they lived at home or had avoidant attachment styles. We assumed that these students were disengaged from their co-curricular experiences.
Our assumptions were incorrect and the findings from this study support some nuanced implications for practice. We used descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze a dataset of more than 1400 students who took 2 concurrent assessments. The findings were that there was no relationship between attachment style and involvement, but there was between attachment style and living arrangement. Those commuter students living with others and had a secure attachment style were more likely to be involved. Most participants self-disclosed they were involved, which disrupts assumptions of commuter student disengagement. Most interesting to me, was that not many students reported living with their significant other or partner. This is a different trend than with Millennial students.
Broadly, these results suggest that undergraduate commuter students are involved, but are intentionally selective when and how they are involved. The students self-reported that they spend time on campus, but are only involved in one specific cocurricular activity or student engagement opportunity.
They spend less time on campus and are more selective with their involvement, which disrupts assumptions of commuter student disengagement. We also highlight several implications for practice such as common hours and commuter student advisory boards.
The article is available in the most recent edition of JCAPS for Fall 2021.
