This article explores university students' interpretations of peer sociality in the context of academic studies. The study draws on thematic interviews with Finnish students (n = 28) representing two sets of study fields (humanities and human sciences, and technological sciences) in three regional Finnish universities. The study applies a…

The COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent move of higher education to online courses has disrupted the learning paths of many students. Social network data were collected from two cohorts of students, those starting their higher education in normal conditions in 2017 and those starting in 2020 during the pandemic. The findings showed that students…

Understanding how relationships between instructors and students develop is important for understanding the undergraduate student experience. We expect the development of positive relationships is related to the social practices (e.g., greetings, using names, sympathizing, or empathizing with students) that instructors use in the course of normal…

Purpose: Grounded in occupational socialization theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of mentoring underserved youth on the socialization of preservice teachers within a community-engaged after-school program. Methods: Data consisted of semistructured interviews, critical incident accounts, and field notes. All…

Parasocial Relationships can mirror social relationships, particularly to individuals in isolation. Student Affairs practitioners were enormously impacted by the conditions of the Great Distress Era (the period that included the COVID-19 restrictions, racial violence and protests in response, political unrest). Many engaged in parasocial…

This study investigated the differences between Chinese female and male university students regarding the relationship between conscientiousness, interpersonal relationships, and social loafing. By analyzing these relationships, this study interpreted how personality, mediators, and gender differences affect social loafing. In total, 827 Chinese…

This research examined the serial mediating effect of interaction anxiety and insight into the relationship between self-esteem and approval dependence in university students. The research group comprised 511 volunteer university students, of whom 78,7% were females and 21,3% were males. Research data was collected via "The Two-Dimensional…

Physical activity (PA) has been found to benefit a person in many ways. One benefit of being physically active is the social component. This deals with interacting with someone before, during, or after the activity. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of social interactions on college-aged students during their PA class.…

Academic dishonesty threatens the integrity of performance assessment, making it crucial to understand the various types and predictors of such behavior. Second-party cheating, which refers to aiding and abetting cheating behaviors, is similarly prevalent as individualistic cheating, yet has received limited research attention. We follow up on…

This article provides a conceptual framework of the dimensions of a toxic culture in higher education and the impact it has on the meaning of work. Seven dimensions of a toxic culture in higher education are presented as follows: toxic leadership; bullying and mobbing; colleagues as enablers; reinforced toxic social norms; purposeful, chaotic…

Fraternal organizations have often received criticism from individuals who argue that these groups perpetuate harmful gendered norms and oppress members who identify with queer communities. However, scholars and practitioners alike have paid little attention to members who identify as bisexual/pansexual (bi/pan) within these organizations. This…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive design study was to understand how graduate-level students enrolled in online classes at a small Christian university in the Midwest described their social presence experience as operationalized in the various components of Whiteside's social presence model (affective association, community cohesion,…

Although international graduate students make valuable contributions to American society, they often encounter significant difficulties. Further research is crucial to help universities better understand and accommodate international graduate students. We initiated a mixed-method participatory action research cycle, starting with a needs…

This study explored how international undergraduate students perceive their academic transition into American higher education. Schlossberg's (1984) 4S Transition Theory served as the framework for exploring what academic challenges, if any, international students experience during their first year of undergraduate studies in a new cultural and…

Nearly half of the undergraduate student population in the United States attends community colleges (Bailey, Jaggars, & Jenkins, 2015), and in serving these students, community colleges rely heavily on part-time faculty (Jaeger & Egan, 2009). The reliance on part-time faculty is typically cost-motivated and a symptom of the neoliberal…