Literature Review #2

1.) John J. Newbold

2.) Newbold, John J. "Lifestyle Challenges for Commuter Students." Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Wiley Online Library, 2015. Web. (chapter of a book-Understanding and Addressing Commuter Student Needs)

3.) This particular chapter addresses some lifestyle challenges that commuter students face that resident students don’t. Newbold’s main argument is that lifestyle differences, particularly those due to on campus versus off campus living situations, play a major and negative role in commuter students’ academics. He posits that because of the heightened level of responsibility that commuter students must attend to outside of their school work, these students are at a major disadvantage compared to their peers.

            Also in this chapter, Newbold investigates the different sources and levels of stress that commuter students experience. As commonly known, stress, when not handled properly, can be very detrimental to one’s mental state and can have many negative impacts on an individual.

Newbold not only brings his own ideas into this chapter, but he consults with many previously conducted research and studies to support his position as well. One such consult was C.A. Lundberg’s piece The Influence of Time Limitations, Faculty, and Peer Relationships on Adult Student Learning. Lundberg addresses different aspects of external demands that commuter students face that create hindrances such as time limitations for their academic endeavors, restricted interaction with faculty and peers, and limited social involvement that traditional residential students may not encounter.

4.) The author of this chapter/book is John J. Newbold. Although Dr. Newbold is a Managing and Marketing professor at Sam Houston State University, he utilizes his line of profession to investigate and study how the managing field correlates to colleges and their student bodies. For example, one of his other scholarly works is A Study of Non-Traditional Students in Terms of their Time Management Behaviors, Stress Factors, and Coping Strategies. Newbold has been conducting research on commuter student topics with other scholars for years.

5.) One important phrase discussed in the chapter is “time management”. This phrase is important because the author actually uses it to also introduce a counter-argument. Newbold claims that time management is one of the many difficulties that commuter students face. However, in the sentence following this claim, he cites a study by Lundberg that suggests that the very fact that commuter students have to juggle their academics, commuting, work and other responsibilities is why they have better time management skills than their residential student peers.

The second important word of this chapter is “stress”. This is a key topic as it addresses the different possible reasons why commuter students have more difficulties excelling in their studies, as believed by the author. In identifying the different origins of stress, one can use this information to compare it with traditional residential students and note where the differences in their lifestyle lie.

6.) “The experience of the more mature commuting students and the many challenges that they face in their work, social life, family life, and study are dissimilar to those of the traditional residential notion of university students upon which higher education principles are usually established” (79).

“Commuter university students have considerably more role and time strains than residential college students (Morris, Brooks, & May, 2003). These commuter students often feel stressed, managing their varied roles and responsibilities (Curasi & Burkhalter, 2009). The external demands and differing responsibilities create time limitations residential students may not encounter (Lundberg, 2003)” (80).

“A few of the numerous difficulties commuter students face include academic responsibility, family obligations, work, maintaining personal relationships, time management, financial obligations, and becoming acclimated to the university environment (Negga et al., 2007)”(81).

“Commuter students have described transportation stress related to the high level of traffic, limited availability of parking, and the amount of time and energy involved in commuting (Hernandez, 2002). There is also stress associated with the inconvenience of needing to return to campus for access to library or computer facilities (Hernandez, 2002)” (81).

“Three successful coping mechanisms that work within the environment of career, social life, family life, and study can be identified as sacrifice, support, and negotiated arrangements (Kember & Leung, 2004). The idea of sacrifice comes from the concept that “something has to give,” and it is usually associated with the giving up personal pleasure or the surrender of aspects of one’s social life (Kember & Leung, 2004)” (82).

“[…] little time is devoted to actions traditionally associated with developing support groups. It is the residential students who are more involved with fraternal and social organizations, dormitories, clubs and teams (Copper & Robinson, 2000). Commuter students are likely to rely on the same people as they did prior to beginning their university studies” (82).

7.) This source helped explore my research question because it introduced a fresh idea that I have yet to come across in my other collected research: stress. Many of my other sources discuss aspects of the commuter lifestyle that contribute to their reduced performance in school, however they did not connect these ideas with stress. Reading this chapter was very insightful because it offered me another angle that I can incorporate in my argument. Because this chapter is part of a book that addresses my topic, I will do further research to consult the rest of the book to gather more information to strengthen my points. Also, because the author consulted with many different scholars’ studies, drawing from his research broadens the collection of sources from which I can gather further information for my paper.