## Metadata - Author: [[Wonkhe]] - Full Title: How to Tackle Student Loneliness Before Term Starts - Category: #Source/articles - URL: https://wonkhe.com/blogs-sus/how-to-tackle-student-loneliness-before-term-starts/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Wonkhe%20SUs%20weekly%20briefing%20-%20Friday%2014%20July&utm_content=Wonkhe%20SUs%20weekly%20briefing%20-%20Friday%2014%20July+CID_d00e04a1d328ae327f71d04a5e5e691c&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=student%20loneliness >[!AI Summary]+ >The article "How to Tackle Student Loneliness Before Term Starts" by Wonkhe discusses a study that investigated the effects of a specific intervention on student loneliness. The intervention involved randomly assigning newly admitted undergraduate students into small groups at an introduction event two months before the start of the university term. The study found that this intervention led to a higher rate of friendships, common friends, and mixed-gender friendships among students who were assigned to the same group. Although these effects diminished over the first academic year, the study suggests that such interventions can serve as early seeds for complex social network processes and can have a pronounced short-term effect and indirect long-term effects on the evolution and structure of student communities. The article also highlights that such interventions can facilitate the social integration of individuals who are at risk of remaining isolated and can foster the creation of ties between social groups segregated by factors such as gender, race, ethnicity, social class, or socio-economic status. The article concludes by suggesting that specific interventions that create early contact opportunities could become a powerful tool to overcome inequalities in the education system and beyond. ## Highlights - A new study investigated the short-term and long-term effects of one specific intervention in an undergraduate cohort newly admitted to an engineering department. In the intervention, the researchers ==randomly assigned students into small groups at an introduction event two months prior to their first day== at university. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hm8j3640fjbd85wvdbnx6d)) - And here’s the big news. ==Two months after the intervention, they found a higher rate of friendships, common friends, and mixed-gender friendships in pairs of students who were assigned to the same group than in pairs from different groups – the “short-term effects” of the intervention==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hm8jy53tdtgpryje64s1fj)) - The effects did diminish over the first academic year, but the results suggest that even though the “induced” friendship ties are less stable than other friendships, they may serve as early seeds for “complex social network processes”. ==The study shows that simple interventions can have a pronounced short-term effect and indirect long-term effects on the evolution and structure of student communities==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hmajdans1vjgk563ggspce)) - Crucially, interventions could facilitate the social integration of individuals who are at risk of remaining isolated or foster the creation of ties between social groups segregated by, for example, gender, race, ethnicity, social class, or socio-economic status. The evidence shows that contact with members of a different social group reduces “[out-group prejudice](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=21844287)” and increases the likelihood of [cross-group friendships](https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0146167297232006). These then contribute to equal access to social capital, improving things like success in the labour market for disadvantaged groups. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hmbbk6chch7yh8fhtpq47e)) - This all means that specific interventions that create early contact opportunities facilitated by SUs could become a powerful tool to overcome inequalities in the education system and beyond. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hmbhg87sjwgc1dnywnpnfx)) - Here’s a viz of what happened, showing the social networks of the cohort at three time points. Panel (a) shows the randomized groups at the “Student Introduction Days (SID groups)” in which 99 students participated. Panel (b) shows the friendship network 2 months later, in the first week at university. Friendship ties that coincide with SID groups are highlighted in the respective color, others are shown in gray. Panel (c) shows the friendship network after the end of the academic year, 14 months after the randomization (6th data wave). ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hmffxpnbqnt3fea025jddt)) -  ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hmfghav3trm311edmj869n)) - they found strong evidence that the intervention had an effect on the formation of early friendship ties. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hmn1mcb46p3e7ghnkd38f8)) - They also tracked “two-step” friendships, where two people end up with common friends. 108 two-step friendships were reported between members of the same group that took part in their intervention, whereas on average 78.5 two-step friendships were found under alternative randomizations. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hmn8b128x8e9xspas9f83p)) - that many ==early mixed-gender friendship ties are created through contact opportunities provided by the intervention==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hmgwcmf7jc81s63839f7nk)) - They say the friends you make at first don’t last – and that’s what this project found too. Direct friendships, two-step friendships, and mixed-gender friendships all faded out over time. But does that make the “intervention” a waste of time? Not at all. For a start, the found significant evidence for ==being friends with same group members until 3 months after the intervention==, for having more shared friends with them for 7 months, and for having more mixed-gender friendship relations for 9 months, almost until the end of the academic year – a major impact. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hmnjy3x9s311bzm0rd5nwg)) - Early friendship ties, some of which were “induced” by the intervention, serve as “seeds” in the emergence of complex social structures. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hn3eshqjzkpera4bp1ckp9)) - They largely conclude that “chance” matters in how we meet our friends, and argue that these decisions should be taken in a thoughtful manner, for example, by avoiding shortcuts like “sorting students by last name” and thereby inducing imbalanced groups in terms of ethnic background. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hn21syn3qhg6btq4vhdd2b)) - They also conclude that if we want to foster social integration of potentially disadvantaged groups (like female students in a STEM program in their project) we should use these sorts of interventions to increase the chance of between-group ties: ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hn36k6n5b6n8f3epddm5z8)) - Implications for SUs ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hn30s70yab4apv197xszr6)) - There’s also interesting questions for commuter student policy. Could ==facilitated short bursts of residential activity help students in this category create the bonds it looks they they need?== ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hn2z8jnpfjtq7g8zkapxvf)) - we found multiple SUs in Lithuania that were running ==Freshers’ summer camps== – these attract hundreds of students who take part in teambuilding and games – and cleverly involve both “residential” students and local commuters ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hn3se2zrcbyqggrvq532e6)) - 500 “faddrar” volunteer for all new students to have someone they can turn to with questions about their studies and life as a student. A fadder is an older student who has completed the Student Union’ faddership training program, which includes leadership, alcohol impact, anti harassment/initiation, and first aid. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hn7j7hg0b05hncdt97jx87)) - Crucially, we probably shouldn’t leave friendship making to clubs and societies and those designing entertainments programmes – ==some more direct intervention looks like it will pay dividends==. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01h5hn7nphvzxt7h1tvak1kff0))