Developing Relationships in College and Beyond: Campus Religious Organizations and Student Success Outcomes

• In Event: Crown Plaza Roundtable Session 11
  In Roundtable Session: Religion, Identity, and Schooling

Abstract

Campus religious organizations provide college students with an opportunity to develop relationships and friendships with peers while also engaging in an important aspect of their lives. As a result, this form of involvement may promote student adjustment, institutional commitment, retention, and ultimately degree attainment. Therefore, this study explores the link between participation in a campus religious organization and several student success outcomes. Unlike most previous research on campus involvement, this study uses a longitudinal design and rigorous propensity score analyses with an extensive set of covariates. The results indicate that religious organization participation is positively associated with college satisfaction and retention to the third and fourth years, but it is unrelated to college grades or retention to the second year.

Authors

• Joshua M. Holmes, University of Iowa

• Nicholas A. Bowman, University of Iowa

• Ariel M. Aloe, University of Iowa