College roommates have a modest but significant influence on each other’s political ideology

Does college change students’ political preferences? While existing research has documented associations between college education and political views, it remains unclear whether these associations reflect a causal relationship. We address this gap in previous research by analyzing a quasi-experiment in which university students are assigned to live together as roommates. While we find little evidence that college students as a whole become more liberal over time, we do find strong evidence of peer effects, in which students’ political views become more in line with the views of their roommates over time. This effect is strongest for conservative students. These findings shed light on the role of higher education in an era of political polarization.

The Influences of College Experiences on Religious Vocations

This chapter presents different aspects of college environment that had an impact on men’s and women’s religious vocation while they were in college. Based on CARA studies from 2012 and 2014 in which respondents entering religious life answered questions about their backgrounds, these aspects include witnessing religious vocation, Mass participation, spiritual direction, college service programs, devotional and spiritual practices, campus ministry, college roommates and friends, and encouragement and discouragement of vocational discernment while on campus. The chapter presents the differences in these various aspects between religious members attending Catholic and non-Catholic colleges and universities. It also discusses the different influences for men and women on their discernment of a religious vocation.

Social Anxiety and Social Surrogacy in College Roommate Relationships

The social surrogate hypothesis proposes that people with higher social anxiety (HSA) recruit others to accompany them into social situations. We tested this hypothesis with college roommates using both hypothetical (Study 1) and retrospective (Study 2) measures, while assessing roommate's perceptions of recruitment and how social surrogacy might influence liking between roommates. Across two studies, we found that HSA participants were less likely to enter social situations alone (i.e. higher conditional entry); however, HSA was related to recruitment only when participants considered hypothetical scenarios, not when recruitment was assessed globally or retrospectively. There was little evidence that HSA participants’ roommates were aware of these behaviours, although there was preliminary evidence that less social anxiety might increase liking when roommates perceived more conditional entry. We also found preliminary evidence that social anxiety may be negatively related to liking when participants were less likely to recruit an alternate surrogate if their roommate was unavailable. Taken together, these preliminary findings emphasize the importance of studying the surrogacy process from an interpersonal/dyadic perspective and using methods that will differentiate between anticipated (which may be assessed by hypothetical scenarios) and enacted recruitment behaviours. Copyright © 2017 European Association of Personality Psychology