Relationship of residence hall environments and student sense of competence and academic achievement

The relationship between student-environment fit and sense of competence and academic achievement among freshmen at a large, land-grant university in the southeast was examined. Fit scores derived from the University Residence Environment Scale (URES) were used as independent measures. Sense of competence, one's level of interpersonal and intellectual confidence, was measured by scores on the Sense of Competence Scale (SCS) developed by the researcher. Grade point averages served as the measure of academic achievement. These latter measures, sense of competence and academic achievement, were used as dependent measures. Multiple regression was used to examine the relationship between these two sets of variables. A stratified sample of 600 freshmen students was selected from a freshmen class of 4280 who were required to live in residence halls. Of the 600, 428 (71.3%) returned usable questionnaires. Respondents indicated that the residence hall environment was not as emotionally supportive nor intellectually stimulating as expected. They reported that the residence hall environment was too competitive and that there needed to be more opportunity for student influence. The relationships between student-environment fit and sense of competence, and student-environment fit and academic achievement were not strong. Actual discrepancy scores proved to be the better measure of fit when compared to perceived discrepancy scores.

Ed. D.