Institutions of higher education, and more specifically residence halls within colleges and universities, pride themselves in offering and embracing a diverse community of students. A growing number of students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are attending college and choosing to live on campus. While many are able to do so successfully, some…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of living in "green" dorms on students' environmentally responsible behaviors (ERBs), in concert with other factors, including individual identity and social context in the form of behavior modeling by peers. Design/methodology/approach: The sample of 243 consists of students…

As the number of students with disabilities within residence halls increases, their interactions with other residents can become problematic; in many instances, students without disabilities may not understand the behavior of their peers with disabilities and vice versa. Misunderstandings are compounded by the fact that 84% of students with…

Students enter college with preconceived ideas about what their experience of college life will be like. Since the first Hollywood film about college, movies have contributed to society's perceptions of what it means to be a college student. Contrary to the images promoted by higher education marketing departments, Hollywood's portrayals…

This issue of "Issues in Prevention" focuses on the impact of the availability of drinks in licensed establishments, such as bars and taverns on student drinking. This issue contains the following articles: (1) Cheap Drinks at College Bars Can Escalate Student Drinking (John D. Clapp); (2) High Alcohol Outlet Density: A Problem for Campuses and…

Over the past five decades, numerous theories about college student attrition have attempted to explain student departure. Conclusions drawn by the literature broadly acknowledge that students are less likely to depart if they are academically engaged and socially integrated with the campus. Further, students who reside in a campus residence hall…

Resident Assistants (RAs) are traditionally upper-class students who are responsible for enforcing residence-hall policies (Heala, 2006). These undergraduate paraprofessional students are consistently asked to hold their peers accountable for their behavior, yet this task can be a struggle for those RAs who are unable to display consistently moral…

The purpose of this exploratory, sequential mixed-methods study was to describe resident assistants' (RAs) perceptions of their behaviors when dealing with situations involving alcohol and underage, undergraduate resident-students. Specifically, Ajzen's (1985) Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used to analyze RAs' reports of…

Residential college environments provide young people with distinctive relationship opportunities and challenges. A major purpose of the present study was to learn whether college students respond differently to conflict-of-interest vignettes in three different relationship contexts. Students were more likely to make negative interpretations about…

The purpose of this study was to compare the Experiences of students residing in on-campus housing with those of students residing in fraternity/sorority housing, specifically to explore the differences in academic success, alcohol use, and perceptions of the living environment as a function of students' living arrangement and gender. The…

Objective: The aim of this Canadian study was to assess student behavioral response to disease transmission risk, while identifying high microbial deposition/transmission sites. Participants: A student survey was conducted during October 2009. Methods: The methods included a survey of students to assess use of health services, vaccination…

Building upon conceptualisations of the sexualisation of space, this paper interrogates the ways in which heterosexual discourses are produced, enforced, legitimised and maintained as dominant within student accommodation. Analysis is derived from interviews with 17 gay male undergraduates attending a UK institution. I detail the micro-level…

The "Talking Stick" is published bimonthly, six times a year in January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, and November/December by the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International. Each issue is divided into three sections: Features, Columns, and Departments. These sections contain articles…

In a recent study, de Araujo and Murray (2010) find empirical evidence that living on campus leads to improved student performance, finding both immediate effects (GPA improves while the student lives on campus) and permanent effects (GPA remains higher even after moving off campus). Using the same dataset, we extend the analysis to explain why…

Objective: Although previous research has suggested that college housing impacts student behavior and outcomes, recent research linking college housing to risk-taking has been limited. In this study, we investigate if patterns of risk behavior differ based on the type of college housing environment students reside in. Participants: This study…