Reference List Entry:

Collings, R., V. Swanson, and R. Watkins. 2014. "The Impact of Peer Mentoring on Levels of Student Wellbeing, Integration and Retention: A Controlled Comparative Evaluation of Residential Students in UK Higher Education." Higher Education 68 (6): 927-42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9752-y.

About this Journal Article:

This research took place at two matched universities in the UK from which 109 first year undergraduates were recruited. All participants took a series of questionnaires during the first week and 10 weeks into the semester. Peer mentoring happened at one of the institutions. Measures included: perceived stress, adaptation to university life, intention to leave (all time 2); and social support, negative affect and self-esteem (time points 1 and 2). “Peer mentored individuals showed higher levels of integration to university. Four times as many non-peer mentored students had seriously considered leaving university compared to peer mentored students. Integration partially mediated the relationship between mentoring and intention to stay at university. Moderating effects analyses indicate that mentoring may buffer the effect of the transition to University.” (928) Tinto’s theory of student retention was used to explain the results.

Annotation by Eric Hall