Year: 1949
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: THE college residence hall offers a unique opportunity for fostering the social adjustment of the students who reside in it.As counselors we need more knowledge of group dynamics to aid us in setting up an effective program of social education.The Moreno sociometric technique makes possible the analysis of the relationships of individuals within a group.The framework of group organization can be analyzed by this technique, and cliques, cleavages, and persons dominant or isolated in the group structure can be identified.In this study the sociometric technique was employed to explore factors that contribute to friendships among college women.The 148 students living in one of the residence halls at Indiana University were studied.The majority of these students were freshmen.The class distribution was go freshmen, 19 seniors, 32 juniors, and 7 sophomores.The hall had been occupied by upperclass women the preceding year, and most of the juniors and sen-iors had lived together for at least two years.The freshmen and sophomores were new to the hall that academic year.At a general house meeting in the spring of 1946 the students were asked to respond to the following sociometric test: "Please list the names of your best friends among the students in -Hall.Limit the list to not more than ten names."These friendship choices were then tabulated according to factors that might be related to student choices.This article reports only three that showed a high relationship, namely, geographical proximity, class in the university, and religion.Proximity and case of contact certainly contributed to the 'The authors wish to achowledge the assistance of Miss Emily Taylor, Dean of Women at Northern hlontana ColIege, in the early stages of the study.
Authors: M. Catherine Evans, Margaret Wilson
Institution: Indiana University
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W182685478