Relationship of a wellness residence hall environment and student sense of competence and academic achievement

This study examined the relationships between student-environment fit and sense of competence and academic achievement of freshmen students in wellness residence hall environments. This study was conducted at a mid-sized, midwestern state university. Perceived and actual fit scores derived from Form R and Form I of the University Residence Environment Scale (URES) served as the independent measures. Two measures, sense of competence and academic achievement, served as the dependent variables. A Sense of Competence Scale, developed by Steve Janosik (1987), measured a student's level of interpersonal and intellectual competence Academic achievement was measured by accumulative grade point averages. Step-wise multiple regression analyses were used to examine the relationships between these variables.All 571 freshmen residents living in one of six: wellness residence halls were asked to participate in this study. Of this number, 416 (72.7%) returned questionnaires and became the sample population.Freshmen residents living in the wellness residence halls reported that these environments were not as emotionally supportive nor were floor residents as involved with one another as residents would like. Further, a greater emphasis was needed in terms of academic and intellectual stimulation. Additionally, residents in the wellness residence hall environments desired more opportunities to influence their floor/hall and reported that these environments were too competitive.Significant differences existed between freshmen women and men. Women indicated that there was too much emphasis on traditional dating and other social activities and too much emphasis on competition. Women also indicated that their wellness residence hall environments did not provide them with the intellectual stimulation they wanted. Further, women rated the order and organization of these environments much lower than did men.The differences between student-environment fit and sense of competence and student-environment fit and academic achievement were not statistically significant.Actual discrepancy scores were a better measure of student-environment fit than perceived discrepancy scores.Department of Educational LeadershipThesis (D. Ed.