Fitzpatrick 1

Bryan Fitzpatrick
Prof. Godbee
ENGL 3210
20 April 2015
Closed Doors, Closed Minds:
Social Isolation in the Modern Undergraduate Experience
In what follows, I first address the motivations for my research and present my specific
research questions and sub-questions. Subsequently, I describe my multi-method, qualitative
approach to my research design, relaying the methods of data collection and analysis for each
aspect of my research. This project led to my central findings, which display that undergraduates
in todays college culture are infrequently excessively isolated, and that isolation is a largely
positive factor particularly for those with busy daily schedules.
Personal Motivations
The American collegiate experience is often depicted in our society as a hotbed for
socialization and excitement. However, there are plenty of aspects of collegiate culture that do
not fit this preconceived mold. There are no parties that travel into the small hours of the
morning without the mid-afternoon studying that came before it, and not every weekend is going
to produce a lifelong memory. As a prospective college freshman, I felt that in many ways the
college experience was marketed to me and my peers as a life-changing, bombastic storm of
partying, boozing, and sexual experimentation, and that it had a strong possibility of justifying,
even defining our existence for years to come. Americas obsession with youth culture and its
exploitation of college culture stoked the flames to this unbearable hype. As a junior in my sixth
semester at Marquette University I can honestly say I have observed and experienced something

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quite different than the general outsiders perception of the college experience. This is not the
case for all students, but in numerous cases I have seen that college life can be a time of
confusion, exhaustion from packed schedules, and social divergence. There is no doubt that I
have had my share of crazy nights and close experiences with dear friends, but unfortunately due
to the overhype that led into my college experience, the times that stick out to me the most come
from the mundaneness of my day-to-day schedule. The unforeseen isolation I have encountered
on a daily basis has also been a large detriment to my university experience, both
psychologically and academically.

Research Question
This research project aims at exploring what factors and conditions foster the
development of long-lasting personal isolation in todays university life. It will also explore how
students individual opinions on the subject of isolation might affect their experience with it. The
main question that this proposed research project aims at exploring is the following:
What factors and conditions foster the development of long-lasting personal isolation in
todays university life?
Other sub-questions that I seek to answer through my research include the following:

How do students individual opinions on the subject of isolation affect their experience
with it?

How frequent are students at Marquette isolated?

What steps could be taken to prevent cases of excessive isolation?

Can the positive aspects of isolation be useful or applicable to students?

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Contributions
I expect the results of this research to contribute a number of key findings for my
anticipated audience. Firstly, I expect to have an average percentage of students who find
themselves in daily excess isolation. I also expect to find the specific positive and negative
effects of social isolation for students. Most importantly, through my research I aim to find out
what factors in the modern university culture and individual student lifestyle are affecting rates
of student isolation, and how.

Key Definitions
Id like to preface some of the following rhetoric with denotations of some of the key
words that I will be referring to in this research project. In doing so, I hope to minimize any
misconstruing of definition, as well as to clarify the language being used. I find this necessary
due to the ambiguous nature of the topic of isolation, which is a relatively young research topic
and deals in the increasingly complicated and ambiguous field of mental health. Here are a few
key words that will appear in the following paper, and with them clarifications of the context
they are being used in.

(Social) Isolation refers to the physical status of isolating ones self socially. Does not
necessarily include the emotional context with regards to feelings towards isolation.
o Loneliness Negative emotions or feelings of confinement in relation to the
effects of social isolation
o Solace Positive emotions or feelings of personal freedom in relation to social
isolation

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o Alienation A general lack of social bonds or group affiliation, correlating with
social isolation as a cause.
o Normlessness Feelings of disconnect with socially acceptable practices.

Withdrawal One persons willful personal isolation, often times relating to a disconnect
with their culture.

Relation-Interdependent Self-Construal (RISC) a module designed to assess someones

opinion of their own representation to other people, or their general orientation toward
representing oneself in terms of close relationships. Low scores on the RISC are
correlated with self-judgment, isolation, and over-identification. This term will only be
referred to in correlation with the Self compassion and relational-interdependent selfconstrual article, noted in the bibliography of this paper.

Methods
For this research project, I used a mixed-method, qualitative approach to obtaining
research. I used a combination of a survey questionnaire, one coded 45-minute interview with a
student in a university, and some qualitative, supplemental research using the Marquette Library
Social Sciences archives. Qualitative analysis was mainly based on information derived from
interviews and peer-reviewing of articles, whereas the quantitative results from the survey and
the analysis from archival studies were mainly used to support the findings in the interview
sections.

Interviews
Interview questions played off the inquiries asked in the survey except from a much more
open-ended perspective. The 45 minute interview was conducted over the phone. For the coding

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of my interview transcripts, I separated categorical information into what I perceive to be the
three main factors of this study. The first of which was Interaction, such as the frequency of
which, with whom the subject interacts, what kind of interaction (such as digital or face-to-face),
and the subjects level of satisfaction with that interaction. The next category was Isolation,
which pertained to how it affected studying habits, what did the subject do during their free time,
isolation from particular sects of people (such as friends and family), and the subjects opinions
of each of these factors and how they perceive them in their own lives. The third category,
Academic Life, included information on the interviewees schedule, extra-curriculars, future
academic or career plans, and basic demographics. This last section was included to highlight
any newfound correlations between surface-level university life and social isolation.

Survey
The survey questionnaire was submitted to various students in Marquette University,
although the students who took the questionnaire remained anonymous. The surveys questions
retrieved some demographic info about the students, including their major and housing
arrangements either on or off campus. The surveys main content questions had scalable answers
(Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Indifferent) and dealt with students opinions and feelings
towards their own social isolation, as well as determining the average frequency of each
students isolation. It also gauged what factors they thought played the most important role in
affecting isolation rates, either positive or negative.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

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In my rhetorical analysis of peer-reviewed scholarly pieces and previous studies, I
narrowed down findings or theories regarding social isolation. I tried to steer away from articles
that specified certain groups of people or certain cultures since my research is primarily based on
college student life, so I tended to look for the more universally applicable articles, or at least
ones that dealt with students.

Findings
In my research, I found that scenarios of excess isolation can be fostered by a few
different aspects of modern university culture. The biggest factor in how much isolation a
student is experiencing is their daily schedule, specifically how full it is. We would like to think
that schedules are manifestations of the students goals, and reflect what they want to get out of
their college experience. However, I found it not to be so cut and dry. An open schedule can
remain open oftentimes if the student is involved in certain habitual cycles that would keep them
inactive at home, such as indulgent internet usage. Inactivity can also quickly lead to symptoms
of mental health issues, such as depression and social anxiety, which will limit the students time
spent away from home.

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Feelings of loneliness for undergraduates at Marquette I found were fairly below what I
had expected from personal experience. I found that a relative majority of students felt they had
experienced negative isolation only sometimes, and that 42% of students reported that they felt
negative isolation either seldom or never. Only 21% of the students who took the survey reported
frequent or very frequent feelings of excess isolation. Many of the students who reported low
negative isolation suffered from a lack of sleep, but also reported high frequencies of fulfilling
daily conversations.
In interviews I found that isolation for those with busy schedules was viewed as a
reenergizing reprieve from exhausting daily activity. There was even some preference to willful
seclusion over social activity, even in cases of people who consider themselves to be naturally
extroverted.

Conclusion
Through my research, Ive discovered some illuminating facts about student isolation and
its place in the greater scheme of the university life. When I set out to start research, cases of

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confinement troubled me, and I found I had attached a negative bias towards the prospect of
isolation within the setting of the college campus. Excessive isolation can be harmful
psychologically, and correlates with habitual media use, especially regarding television and
internet usage. Excessive isolation can cause feelings of meaninglessness and cultural
disconnect, and can very negatively affect academic performance. However, when the seclusion
is not over-indulgent, there are positives to well-managed isolation in the college setting,
especially for those with very time-consuming schedules. For the busy student, isolation can
serve as a source of recharging and self-renewal, and can aid the development of personal
identification.

Proposals for Change

If handled properly, isolation can be a positive source for students, especially those who
deal with busy day-to-day schedules. Excessive isolation must be avoided to deter negative
effects, and to prevent cases of excessive isolation, In addition to providing this information to
counseling center, I propose to include seminars on avoiding excessive isolation at the beginning
of each new semester, within the first two weeks so as to cut off bad habits early. I also propose
to include an informational page in the Health and Spiritual section of Marquettes website, or
within the Counseling Center website itself, on excessive isolation and what can be done to avoid
the cycle from occurring.