SOCQRL

May 3, 2011

Dorm Life:
Ignoring, Socializing by Homophily Relationships, and Coping to Get Through College

Dorm Life: Ignoring, Socializing, and Coping to Get Through College
Introduction
If we turn on the television and watch television reality shows like Survivor or Big Brother, we may have a chance to see how some people actually deal with being placed into new, strenuous situations we are not use to. Even though the premise of these shows is to be the last couple or the last three people standing in order for the same peers you played the game with to vote and declare you the winner by giving you their vote. It actually shows a broader complexity of the social connections we form in everyday situations and the impact socializing can have on people as well of those who surround them. In a lot of ways, college can be much like these television reality shows. 
When young adults go off to college no one them gives a student guide of how to deal with people’s attitudes, behaviors, and differences in cultures. They are often just thrown into a situation and left to figure it out with the skills that were acquired growing up or have been taught along their journey of development. This paper will examine the transition of students who have transferred in from a junior college or other colleges. The intent is to see how different they handle situations they face and how they cope with them as they navigate their first year in dorms, as they settle to both college life and new or often quite different living situations. By focusing on transfer students at one mid-western university, I will combine interviews and participant observation to display issues of socialization, conflict resolution, and coping.  
Methodology 
The data for this study will come from several sources. I did a full-immersion participant observation of my surroundings in the dorm by observing my fellow floor mates and how they interact with each other. This was done by partaking in some of the daily routines such as eating in the cafe, relaxing in the community lounge area, and by attending on social outings with the students that lived on the dorms. The observations will be taped using a recording device to ensure accurate accounts of everything that is observed and immediately transcribed after all observation periods.
The interviews for this project were completed by two informants on different transfer floors to see how different the data will be from that of the floors that was monitored by using full-immersion participation and observation analysis. A transfer floor is a floor in a dorm that houses incoming transfer students that may be transferring from junior colleges, regular colleges, or universities. The informants for the data will be obtained by circulating a signup sheet for volunteers. Some of the observations will take place on one transfer student floor in one building and another transfer floor of a different dorm building. The informants were informed that they can talk about anything that they felt comfortable with and all there information shared would be strictly confidential with consideration to the research data used in the paper. They were also made aware that their names would be protected and not disclosed to anyone, outside of the interviewer.  The informants will be referred to as informant1 and informant 2 to discuss the finding that was gathered using their perspective of their experiences. In Appendix A the informants were asked a series of questions. 
Appendix A:
1.	Can you tell me what a typical week is like for you at home?
2.	Now can you tell me what a typical week is like for you at the dorm?
3.	How do you cope with being away from home, while living in the dorm?
4.	Have you ever lived with so many different cultures or ethnicities in such a close proximity?
5.	How do you deal with adversity with other floor mates or dorm mates?
6.	Are there any clicks on the floor?
7.	If you do not know a floor mate how do you distinguish them from other floor mates you may know?
8.	Have you formed any personal relationships with any of your floor mates?
9.	How do you know you want to hang out with someone on your floor? 
During the interview, the informant will be taped with a recording device to ensure the accuracy of the content used in this paper. After the interviews all words will be transcribed from the voice recorder used. While these were the base questions used to ask the informants, which were followed by structural questions to explain certain meanings of words, in the context it was used. Then with all transcribed data collected all the information were combined to extract the data necessary for the research paper.
Ethical Matters
The only ethical matters that came into question in this research paper was when interviewing informant 1the recorder button was on while walking over to talk about the  observational experience while documenting the interview. Informant 1 was having a bad day because of some deep personal issues resulting in disciplinary action,  but decided to disclose with me what was going on with them. When the informant got through about the problem that they were facing, they then asked my advice  and I was able to shed my thoughts on the subject, informant 1 asked me if the recorder was on. When it was made clear it was on the informant asked me not to mention it in my paper because it was embarrassing to them to be involved in the whole situation. Even though it was explained again about the confidentiality would not be broken, the informant still was adamant about the issue being left out of the paper. Then the question became should the interviewer disclose the information in the data or keep to the wishes of the informant, even though this would have put more interesting finding in the paper to speak about. Although the information was relevant and related to the research that was being wrote about, I did ensure informant 1 that I would not include that segment of the pre-interview in my paper. 
Literature Review
	There were several articles that was important in writing this research paper which were The Significance of Race: Antiblack discrimination in Public Places by Joe R. Feagin, The Asshole by John Van Maanen, and Into the Dark Heart of Ethnography: The Lived Ethics and Inequality of Intimate Field Relationships by Katherine Irwin. 
While race was not focused on in this paper, there were significant findings in The Significance of Race: Antiblack discrimination in Public Places by Joe R. Feagin that related to how some blacks interacted in public places including educational institutions. Some of the observations when related to this article stood out as significant findings in the way that the black students interacted with one another as well as the other members of their floor that were not black. This journal article was filled with dramaturgy about racial issues, which related to my research paper because of the “front stage/backstage” performances that was noticeable when different people faced racism in public situations. Goffman refers to these performance areas as regions - or places bounded to some degree by barriers to perception (PS 1959: 105).   In one particular case there was a couple who waited 45 minutes to be seated at a restaurant after other people were coming after them. This was accredited to the mainstream customers that were coming in the dining establishment, being Caucasian. Speaking from the sociological imagination one can see there were more going on behind the scenes besides the restaurant making an error, because they were blantantly ignored do their race. This says that there is a lot going on with the backstage performance of the restaurant, which points to racism being involved. When the couple talked to the host there was the illusion that there was nothing wrong and it was standard procedure to wait as long as they did, while seating other patrons before them. This is known as frontstage performances where individuals may show that there is nothing wrong, all the while they are trying to deceive the observer.
	Even though the “Asshole” by Maanen, is not about the same topic, it does use language that is loaded with symbols to describe the people that the police use to describe the people they come into contact with. Maanen explains the terminologies that are used in the “Asshole” as types of domain analysis. In much the same way that “police make shorthand characterizations of suspects based on preconceive notions of trustworthiness or reliability,” one can see these same tactics to describe certain people that the students come in contact with during their dorm experience. 
“Into the Dark Heart of Ethnography: The Lived Ethics and Inequality of Intimate Field Relationships” by Katherine Irwin is used in this theoretical review in relationship to this research paper due to the observational aspects used in this journal article. Katherine Irwin, who was the author of this journal article, was researching about a tattoo shop called the Blue Mosque and was faced with several issues concerning research ethics. Since a couple of the methods used in this research paper will be full-immersion and observation, this article relates to the ethical problems one researcher faced when she was immersed in her observational investigation. One of the ethical problems that Katherine Irwin faced was when she developed a personal and intimate relationship with one of her informants called known as Lefty (who she later married). This was controversial because it might have compromised the validity of the research that was gathered. The problem with Katherine being in a relationship with one of the informants could bias the findings that she uncovered during the process of her research. This is relational to this research project in regards that there will be full-immersion and observational data extracted from the information collected. While immersing oneself in full-immersion it is noted that the researcher may form bonds which can lead to biases that can distract the researcher away from the data being gathered. By forming too close of an intimate or personal relationship this might of somewhat compromised the data collected so it was noted that staying as a neutral observer or interviewer was in the best interest of the researcher.
Socialization Context: Homophilic Bonding
Socialization is a process by which an individual starts acquainting themselves with the customs, norms, and necessary skills needed to form personal or impersonal relationships. “Similarity breeds connection. This principle—the homophily principle—structures network ties of every type, including marriage, friendship, work, advice, support, information transfer, exchange, co-membership, and other types of relationship. The result is that people’s personal networks are homogeneous with regard.” (Cook, et al, 2010) This act of socialization that can be also contributed to the socialization process of college students may be that they are driven to socialize with people who are familiar to them. These hemophilic bonds help determine who people will gravitate toward when they enter a dorm setting and cement friendships:“The earliest studies of homophily concentrated on small social groups , in which an ethnographic observer could easily ascertain all of the ties between members (whether those ties were behavioral like sitting together at a cafeteria table or reported as when an informant tells about his or her close friends)” (Cook, Mchpherson, & Smith-Lovin 2001) Relationships are formed either intentionally or unintentionally on the dorms. This may happen when they move in or as they get to know one another and they decide they would be able to get along. These friendships are dependent on if they share similar interests with one another. If the friendship continues to grow then it may lead to the relationship becoming permanent as the ones they are familiar with outside of school settings. 
Structural Vibes
	One way people determine who they will socialize with is by using “structural” (or “internal”) vibes. Internal vibes is characterized as an internal feeling that one gets about someone they come in contact with. Using a front stage might be useful if a person does not use internal vibes, but if someone utilizes this technique they may be able to determine if the person is just putting on a front to be something or someone they are not. If the internal vibe is positive that is inclination that a friendship may be possible. This can also tell if a person is worth them getting to know and if there is a negative vibe this would dissuade a person from befriending or getting to know another person. If the vibe is positive then this may lead to finding out of similar interests between one or more parties which can have a strong affect on whether or not they will have a strong association with each other and lead to socializing participation.
Homophilic Relationships
		The observations show there was a strong correlation among most of the women on the first dorm of observation and the homophily theory, with the exception of the minorities on the floor. While the minorities did speak and socialize to everyone on their floor, the people they socialized with the majority of the time did not stay on the floor they resided on. They did not tend to socialize with some of the ritualistic partying that was attributed to the other female residents on the floor. This may not have been totally contributed to cultural or ethnic differences, but the fact is that the women who did eat, party, and hung around each other were indeed of Caucasian looking descent. From the interviews from informants 1 and 2, there was not anything that pointed to the fact of a racial or cultural divide going on their dorm, which was also not a mitigating factor on the other transfer floor either. What is again noticeable in regards to the socialization process, even as young adults enter in college settings, they will continue to hang out with the people they are most familiar with. This gives an even stronger inclination to the fact that the homophily theory is more likely the source in who college students will most likely surround themselves with.
	While people tend to stick to their certain groups as a way of socializing these groups can also provide ways of conflict resolution when they are faced with unfamiliar circumstances or with problems they are not equipped to handle by themselves. One of the ways that college students cope with adversity is the avoidance technique.
Avoidance tactics
	Avoidance is where one would act like a problem does not exist or in hopes that there is a likely hood the problem will resolve itself. Changingminds.org defines avoidance as “Avoidance may include removing oneself physically from a situation. It may also involve finding ways not to discuss or even think about the topic in question.” In the argument of how they deal with weed smoke on the floor they simply try to ignore it while Community Adivisor (C.A.) handles the problem. Informants 1 and informant 2 did say that in some of the instances of the fact they could smell weed, it was hinted that everyone could smell it and not even the C.A.’s who were assigned to handle matters from intrapersonal conflicts to problems relating to drug and alcohol abuse did nothing themselves to address the problem that there was obvious drug use going on the floor. 
“A lot of us don’t really care if we don’t smell it but if it is everyday and we smell it, there is a lot(changed from a lot to a couple) couple of us who don’t like the smell and a couple of us don’t care at all. It depends on who is like smelling the smell. Personally I don’t care if you smoke just I don’t want it in my living space. I don’t personally care for the smell. It really didn’t bother me because it wasn’t on my side of the floor so I couldn’t smell it unless I was on the other side so it really wasn’t that big of an issue with it but if I had a roommate who smoked I would have an issue with that. Cause if I had a roommate that smoked I don’t want my stuff to be smelling like weed. I don’t smoke it’s not my thing, I don’t like the smell and I don’t want my stuff  smelling like it that type of stuff but I don’t care if you smoke, you smoke it, you do what you want, you’re an adult  you can..” (informant 2, 2011)
It’s apparent not all problems would be solved by the C.A. depending on the circumstances. Both informants hinted that weed smoking was a problem on the floor which often went ignored by everyone. Informant 1 speaks about their feelings about weed smoke. Informant 2 analysis of the situation was that since the weed smoke was by the men’s bathroom where the C.A. resided that the problem of smelling the marijuana odor was totally ignored as seen in the comments made by the interviewee.
“I don’t get pissed off, I dunno I just kinda delt with it, there is not much I can do unless I want to like tell on them per say. But the fact our C.A. doesn’t like smell it, I don’t really know if I believe it or not, so its kinda like obviously everybody on the floor knows that people smoke weed so its like okay. So I just kinda deal with it.” (informant 2, 2011)
Informant 1 interpretation of the role of a C.A. was accurate in regards to what the university definition of their responsibility.
“A community advisor it’s like an R.A. which is like a residential advisor is somebody on the floor who umm like kinda I don’t want to say someone who polices the floor they help you connect to the community? And if we had our problem we would take them to them.” (informant 1, 2011)
 There is not a reason why weed smoke is tolerated or avoided by the people on the floor, even by the C.A. who is suppose to be in charge of maintaining order and discipline by the university.
In observations taken on the floor, there would be people coming on the floor to visit other residents that distinctly smelled of weed. Generally there would be comments made by some of the residents that they did not have a problem with weed, but if someone would smoke it that they would at least smoke the kind that was of a better grade and quality or  had a better fragrance. Other comments made when residents smelled weed was “I wish I knew who smoked it so they could at least share,” which hinted at a tolerance for weed and just how lax the view of smoking cannabis has become. 
Roommate Avoidance
	Steering clear of someone who was at one time familiar to someone can be a bit tricky depending on the nature of the relationship that was shared by the person who was living on the same dorm. In two different instances from informant 1 and 2 presented two very different reasons to avoid someone and essentially avoid conflict. Informant 1’s conflict arises from a difference of schedules and was perceived as being appropriate times in going to sleep and showing courteousness and consideration. When I asked informant 1 if they avoided anyone on the floor there was clearly a problem that came to a problem that was unresolved.
“Like I said it was it was a noise issue, but I don’t think of sliding a draw to get some clothes out is that big of a noise; it’s not like I slammed the draw I just gently opened it cause I did recognize it was early in the morning. But other than that I don’t know exactly else was going on so I am kinda avoided her but other than that I don’t really avoid anyone on the floor. (Informant 1, 2011)”
This situation became even more tolerant due to the fact that the ex-roommate was removed from their living situation. Avoiding someone is characterized by maintaining a safe position away or going out one’s way to distance oneself away from another. While informant 1’s avoidance situation was solely biased against his/her ex-roommate informant 2’s experience circumstances was much different.
Ex- Avoidance 
This avoidance technique is characterized by when a relationship is over between a couple. When the breakup occurs it is at times awkward and inconvenient for both parties involved. In living in dorms when the relationship has come to an end both parties are forced to endure the other ones presence on the floor. Informant 2 speaks about the experience of dealing someone living on the floor and how this affects them. “I also ended up dating someone on the floor last semester.  That was a bad idea because we’re broken up and it’s really awkward to have an ex live on the floor with me.”  This type of avoidance makes the situation strenuous for the couple that has to see each other on a daily basis. This is further explained when the interviewee is asked how they maneuver in this particular situation. “Actually I don’t really have to, we just don’t see each other, it’s just weird I don’t have no class time when he has class so I’m usually up and out before he gets up so we rarely see each other even though we do stay on the same floor. We just avoid each other.” Informant 2’s situation can be very complicated when an intimate relationship is involved. Both of these avoidance technique points out to two different styles of conflict resolution. Sometimes it is best to maintain a safe distance instead of showing up in the same public places.
Conflict resolution
	Conflict resolution is a technique that an individual uses to problem solve or troubleshoot certain situations. Other conflict resolutions that were used, was to go to the C.A., whenever issues came about. Before informant 1’s roommate moved out there were attempts to resolve. Since the C.A. lives on the dorms, a lot of the problems are directed at them. In the case of what informant 1 describes how she talked to the C.A. to resolve the issue so they tried several types of conflict resolution techniques before they decided that the best solution would be for one of the roommates to move out the dorm room completely. Some of the possible resolutions that were attempted were to move the furniture around and change of sleep habits, but in the end the best decision would be to move out.
 In other attempts of conflict resolution informants discuss briefly what would happen when their floor mates would get really loud and how they decided to deal or handle the situation. Informant 1 describes how they best handled their situation to avoid conflict.
“Well there is one group of boys that are on my floor that have a suite. They are kind of a little loud and obnoxious and every once in a while you can hear them on my side of the floor. I’ll just walk up and tell them, like I’ll just walk up because I know them so I’ll walk up to them and tell them look guys you are getting a little loud and that’s it, that’s the extent of it.” (informant 1, 2011)
Informant describes a peaceful resolution where all parties show a level of respect for one another and before anything can escalate as a result of loudness becoming a problem the problem is averted. 
	As expected because everyone comes from diverse backgrounds it was witnessed when someone was seen acting in an aggressive manner where a female approached a group of individuals she was familiar with on the floor and proceeded to yell at them because she was concerned about not being able to study for a test. She approached the group of four young men and one female yelling for them to be quiet when it was still early in the afternoon. It is also noted that quiet hours do not start till 9:00p.m., which the time was 5:00p.m. This brought on bewildered looks, which caused a stir and you could hear other individuals comment on the female who observed yelling at her floor mates as someone who was not always respectful of quiet hours when they were in effect. In a much different display of how conflict was averted, the same female was angered when one of her floor mates was blasting his television when she was trying to study. The television could be heard on the other side of the dorm they resided on. It was observed the female subject handled the situation in a totally different manner. She decided that to get rid of her frustration she would iron while her floor mate would blast the music from their television. She also told other floor mates about her distress. This in mind she made no attempt to approach the other floor mate who was blasting their television set at an even later time than the previous group of young men and one female. When the dorm mate was through blasting the television she then packed up and removed herself from the living area and went back to her room to finish prepping for her next day of classes. There is not any specific inclination of why she yelled at the first group of individuals and not the second, but it was also inferred that the person who was blasting their television set, was someone who was of a much bigger stature and size, than the individuals she approached. 
	Pertaining to this particular situation there was another type of conflict resolution that emerged from this was dorm-mate avoidance. This is characterized where everyone that is associated with one member of the floor decides to disassociate themselves from a floor mate that is less popular than the other.  Everyone that the female subject knew was somehow notified of what transpired so in a type of avoidance tactic most of the women on the floor decided to ignore the perpetrator who was annoying the female dorm-mate. When they were in a group they would not say anything to the male floor-mate but it was witnessed when they were walking by their self they would acknowledge as well as greet him.
	While informant 1 handles their situation one way the other informant decides to take a different approach. Informant 2 describes how they dealt with a couple of floor-mates that annoyed them who were loud while they were trying to sleep in the middle of the night
“Well it was like 2 in the morning and I was sleeping and the guys next door decided to have a screaming argument with each other and I thought that they’ll probably calm down in a little bit and like 15 minutes passes by and I was soo mad and I put my fist up and bammed the wall and said would you just shut up? So they just kinda banged the wall back and kept going so obviously it didn’t really do much, but put a bruise on my hand. “(informant 2, 2011)
Informant 2 did also say that the problem is usually resolved when they go over to talk with the people who are making noise. The only reason Informant 2 decided to change up their usual method of handling the situation was because it was 2 o’clock in the morning and they did not feel like getting up in their pajamas to talk, especially since the conversation between the two other roommates was heated. It is permissible to say that the best method to resolve conflicts from the informant’s points of view would be to use verbal communication with any of the floor mates that they may be having problems with.
Coping Strategies
	Home coping is characterized by when a student goes home every weekend or a couple of weekends every month to deal with the transition of being away from home for the first time. Coping with life on the dorm varies for some and using different coping strategies are a useful tool when socializing or when trying to get along with floor-mates. While communicating might be one useful to aid in conflict resolution, it can also help students to cope in everyday situations from being away from home. Informant 2 explains how often they call home to talk to friends and loved one to help ease the transition of being away from home. Informant 1 expresses how coping from being away from home is easy now that it’s at the end of the second semester.
“Umm right now that the year is almost over I am pretty much use to it. Umm I go home once every couple of weeks or once a  month and like being home its nice and relaxing and but then when I go home I want to come back because it’s the freedom. I mean I have a lot of freedom at home but I have a lot more freedom here because I don’t have to report to anyone I don’t have to do anything so umm I rather adjusted rather nicely.” (informant 2, 2011)
Although the informant did mention that at the beginning of the first semester they went home every weekend.  From observational data most of the students went home on weekends because they missed their friends, loved ones, or in some cases pets. When asked “what do you do when they went home?” The biggest response was I just go home to hang out with friends and chill with my family. Most of the times on the weekend because of this the floors would appear to look like a ghost town with the exception of only a few students. The only time that the students would not go home was only if there was a planned party for that weekend because of a birthday celebration, which they might go out to a bar or a club to have drinks in honor of celebrating. One thing that is characterized was that celebrating would only happen when if it was someone who was popular on the floor or in the dominant female clique, otherwise most birthdays would be acknowledged by the C.A., but essentially go unnoticed. 
Clique Coping
Clique coping is one of the more noticeable coping techniques refer back to hemophilic relationships. In observations it was noticeable how certain groups had formed and who hung with whom on the floor. While there were others who were considered to be left on the wayside as the cliques are formed as it is apparent to the residents of the floor who are grouped up together. Informant 2 expresses their view of cliques on the dorm.
“Oh yeah there is definitely umm a bunch of clicks, there is a group of guys that go drinking together, and there actually cool guys. And there is just, I feel like are floor is completely divided because the guys are on one side of the floor and the girls are on the other, but I am on the guys side so thee um the girls on the other side are pretty much like one clique. Then there are a few oddballs that don’t hang out with anyone over there or anyone even on the floor so I dunno yeah I would say it’s pretty much divided because people don’t even keep their doors open to like be open to meet anyone else.”
This was also noticeable during the full-immersion outing, where everyone went out to show a sense of floor unity, but when we got to the club everybody went off in their group cliques after spending 15 minutes together. It is permissible to say from the research gathered that a lot of college students gravitate towards cliques to feel comfortable and help them cope in transitions by surrounding themselves in these hemophilic relationships.
Club Coping
Club coping is characterized by students joining clubs to take their mind off of the transition of being away from their loved ones. Informant 2 said that there was not a day that goes by that they did not contact someone that was a friend or family member. Informant 2 explains how they cope while they are on campus at their dorm; “I cope by keeping busy and by the people I talk to here on the dorm. I try to keep busy with school work and clubs.” This type of coping strategy the interviewee said helped ease the transition of being away from school was the organizations that they joined. Informant 1 joined their organization to feel like it would help transition to help be a part of something and when asked about why they did not go home as much this semester the response was “because I gotten involved in organizations.” This shows how important getting involved in clubs or extracurricular activities can impact someone’s transition in their new dorm settings.

Conclusion
While college is not reality T.V. it has all the daily dramas of it. From the research and the data gathered in this paper it is apparent we do not. While attention was focused on the way transfer students intermingled in their dorms settings. The fact still remained the same that people integrate, interact, and tend to stick to what they are most familiar with. Some people never stray from that pack mentality that we were introduced to back in high school.  A lot of different issues arrived for the students that arise in everyday life. People deal with different attitudes when you are thrust into different situations but what makes a difference between how you handle them when you are in high school, college, or the working world is the strategies that may be acquired on one’s journey. All this helps in the choices we make and who we surround ourselves with. Is living in a dorm more preferable to one’s journey and fundamental growth into adulthood and living on their own? Some may argue yes, but it is apparent that the challenges that some of the people in this research faced taught them who to mingle, handle problems, and choose or fight their battles in terms of what adversities they were facing.
Bibliography
Cook, James M., McPherson, Miller, and Smith-Lovin Lynn. 2001. Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks. Annaual Review of Sociology; Vol 27, Issue 1 Article
Feagin Joe R. 1991. The Significance of Race: Antiblack discrimination in Public Places published American Sociological Review, Vol. 56 issue 1
Goffman, Erving. 1959 The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Allen Lane The Penguin Press, London
Heiman, Tali, Kariv, Dafna. 2004. Coping Experience Among Students in Educational Studies Higher Education The Open University, Israel; Vol. 30, No. 4, Carfax Publishing: Taylor and Francis Group
Irwin, Katherine. 2006, Into the Dark Heart of Ethnography: The Lived Ethics and Inequality of Intimate Field Relationships. Qualitative Sociology; Vol. 29 Issue 2
Maanen, John Van. 1978. “The Asshole” In Policing: A View From The Streets, Santa Monica, P.K. Manning and J. Van Maanen (eds.) Ca. Goodyear Publishing
Straker, David. 2011 Changing Minds http://changingminds.org/explanations/behaviors/coping/avoidance.htm