A Hit or Miss—Can residential hall experience impact university students' development?

Residential halls are an important component of college education, and the benefits for holistic personal development have been documented by previous research. The majority of studies, however, have focused on Western universities. The current research therefore assessed the academic, social and independent development of students attending universities in Hong Kong. A total of 1904 students completed a self-report questionnaire measuring various aspects of their development. The students living in residential halls scored significantly higher than those not living in halls on five aspects of development—peer group interactions and communication skills, self-efficacy, problem-solving skills, self-control and open-mindedness—but not on other aspects such as academic development. The results imply that improvements to students' residential hall experiences are needed to facilitate their personal development.

宿舍是大學教育的重要組成部分，之前的研究已經記錄了對個人整體發展的好處。然而，大多數研究都集中在西方大學。因此，目前的研究評估了香港的大學學生的學術、社會和獨立發展。共有1,904名學生完成了一份自我報告問卷，衡量他們發展的各個方面。住在宿舍的學生明顯在五個方面上的發展得分高於非住在宿舍的學生，包括朋輩互動和溝通技巧、自我效能、解決問題的能力、自我控制及思想開放。但並不包括學業發展等方面的發展。結果表明，需要改善學生的宿舍體驗，以促進他們的個人發展。