MyRoomsolution 2017

Transforming roommate relationships

m

Roommates help increase feelings of acceptance

(belonging) and influence academic performance.

Roommate conflict is one of the top 5 reasons students leave

school.

Students spend more time with roommates than non-roommates.

Roommate conflict disorients students, increases anxiety, and decreases willingness to explore academic environment.

Time

Conflict

Belonging

Retain

Sources Student Learning in College Residence Halls, Gregory S Blimling (2015)Journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Pleskac (2011)MyRoomsolution research (2015)

www.myroomsolution.com

http://www.myroomsolution.com

Belonging Defined

How do you define sense of belonging? The experience of personal involvement in a system or environment so that persons feel themselves to be an integral part of that system or environment.

Hagerty, Lynch-Sauer, Patusky, Bouwseman, & Collier, 1992, p. 173.

What feelings are associated with Sense of Belonging?

Fit your perception of how well you and others share common values or characteristics.

Valued involvement your perception that you are valued, needed, or important to others.

(Hagerty, Williams, Coyne, & Early, 1996)

How MyRoom Supports a Sense of

Belonging

Individual Voice Traditional approaches to roommate agreements assumes equal voice among all roommates and that there is a level playing field when the roommates arrive on campus. In todays setting this isnt true - students have lots of opportunities to make judgments and assumptions based on social media profiles.

Our process begins with each individual student and the behaviors that most contribute to an effective roommate relationship.

Fit & Valued Involvement We support fit and valued involvement by showing the aggregate view of the roommate answers so they know where they have common ground and where they diverge.

Marcie Tucker, Ph.D., MyRoomsolution 2017

Belonging Research

Cullum and Harton (2007) 33% of students friends live in their living units 18% who are in the same Residence Hall (RH); 27% different RH; and 22% living off campus 87% of student conversations in RHs were face-

to-face and room proximity was a significant predictor of students interactions.

Bliming, 2015, p. 77

Roommates can increase students feelings of acceptance and may influence academic performance.

Bliming, 2015, p. 78

MyRoom Research

Belonging Findings

Students who had significantly higher Ideal Roommate scores from their MyRoom profile were more satisfied with their roommate(s). They were more likely to view their roommate(s) as someone who was like family and would regularly join them for lunch, share similar hobbies and activities, and provide help if needed.

Students who scored significantly higher on Conflict Management from their MyRoom profile were more willing to address and discuss conflict and put in more effort to make the relationship work.

Marcie Tucker, Ph.D., MyRoomsolution 2017

Student Retention Roommate Relationships

Students adjustment to college is strongly associated with both academic performance and retention.

Blimling, 2015, p. 55

In the first year of college, these adjustment difficulties often include issues related to the transition to college, time management, break in the child-parent relationship, homesickness,[and] roommate conflict

Blimling, 2015, p. 56

College adjustment issues can manifest themselves in RHs [Residence Halls] through interpersonal conflicts, anxiety, low self-esteem, frustration, and feeling of failure..Students who struggle to manage the college experience need the support of resident life professionals and their peers to succeed.

Blimling, 2015, p. 58

MyRoom

Adjustment Support

Staff Support

The MyRoom software provides a hotspot rating for each room identifying issues most likely to cause roommate conflict. The hotspot rating is not shown to residents and highlights behaviors which may contribute conflict. Residence Life staff can use this information to create a personalized strategy to support the residents to maximize student learning and support student retention.

Marcie Tucker, Ph.D., MyRoomsolution 2017

www.myroomsolution.com

MyRoomsolution 2017

Transforming roommate relationships

MyRoomsolution