Undergraduate Campus Involvement and Perceptions of On-Campus Safety: Applying Durkheim’s Theory of Social Integration to the University Environment

The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the social involvement of University of Dayton undergraduate students and their perceptions of safety on campus. The study hypothesizes that students more involved on campus will have higher perceptions of safety and a lower fear of crime on campus. Previous research shows that social involvement in groups aids in the social integration of an individual into a community. Perceptions of safety and the level of social integration are linked by studies of various communities, but research has overlooked how this plays out in the setting of a college campus with unique involvement opportunities and experiences of crime. Variables such as gender and race are expected to reflect in perceptions of safety, as previous literature shows women and racial minorities tend to have lower perceptions of safety and higher fear of victimization of crime due to various factors besides social involvement. This study employs a survey sent to undergraduate on-campus residents living in university-owned housing that asks about their demographics, on-campus involvement, and perceptions of safety in various ways. The survey was conducted via Qualtrics and retrieved responses anonymously. Responses were analyzed using quantitative data analysis through SPSS. The results identify trends of student safety perceptions based on involvement as well as various demographic factors.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/stander_posters/3602/thumbnail.jp