A Systematic Review of Peer Socialization Agents in Higher Education Scholarship

• In Event: Support Structures for Student Development in Higher Education

Abstract

Colleges universally use current students to recruit, orient, and support prospective and new students. Linley (2015) coined the term ‘peer socialization agents’ (PSAs) to refer to these important students on campus. This systematic review of scholarship illuminates ways PSAs live in the tension between institutional efforts to enhance campus community and the realities of students who have adopted PSA roles alongside their curricular pursuits. The research questions we seek to answer in the systematic review are: How and to what end do PSAs enact socialization with and for undergraduate students? And how do higher education institutions intend to use peers as socialization agents for undergraduate students?

Authors

• Nicholas R. Stroup, Ohio University

• Jodi Linley, University of Iowa

• Lauren N. Irwin, University of Tennessee

• Alex C. Lange, Colorado State University

• Jaime S. Miller, Auburn University

• Mavis Gyesi, University of Iowa

• Kathleen J. Buell, University of Iowa

• Raghad Al-Khazraji, Ohio University

• Penda Gaye, Ohio University