Classmates to Friends: Bonding Activities and College Students' Academics, Well-Being, Experience, and Interpersonal Closeness

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 1:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 4
  In Roundtable Session: Leveraging Peer Relationships and Classroom Dynamics (Table 4)

Abstract

The present study explored relationships between weekly in-class bonding activities and college students’ academic performance and self-ratings of emotional well-being, class experience, and interpersonal closeness. Through a quasi-experimental design, students enrolled in three courses (N = 154) across STEM and non-STEM fields at one university either participated in (n = 75) or did not participate in the bonding activities (n = 79). The relationships between students’ bonding activity participation and their grades, positive and negative affect, state-trait anxiety, class enjoyment, and closeness to individual classmates were not statistically significant. Statistically significant findings support the general importance of students getting to know and having positive social interactions with new classmates, their class experience of interpersonal relatedness and closeness, and their academic collaboration.

Author

• Nithan Antonette Rajappa, Northwestern University