My Experience with the College Life Study
By Katie Hippen
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| Katie Hippen is a junior Family Science major and research assistant with the College Life Study |
I changed my major from Psychology to Family Science in the summer of 2010 and immediately noticed all of the opportunities being offered to students in the School of Public Health through the listervs, including information on work-study job openings, internships, and research assistant position openings. In one of the first emails I received, there was a research assistant opening with the College Life Study (CLS).
The College Life Study is a longitudinal study that started in 2004 and is headed by Dr. Amelia Arria, the Principal Investigator of the CLS and the Director of the Center on Young Adult Healthand Development (CYAHD). Over the last eight years, CLS has followed 1,253 college students who started as freshman at the University of Maryland in 2004. Each year the respondents are contacted and interviewed about their family life, education, employment, and drug and alcohol use. The main purpose of the study is to understand the influences that affect young adult development and to determine possible interventions to promote healthier development. More information about the study, including related publications, can be found at http://www.cls.umd.edu.
My parents encouraged me to apply for the research assistantship, even though I had very low hopes for getting the position since I was a sophomore with no research experience. To my surprise, I received a call within a couple weeks from Emily Winick, the Recruitment Coordinator of the CLS and a Faculty Research Associate at the CYAHD. She interviewed me over the phone and then invited me to come in for an interview. I met with Emily and Kim Caldeira, the Project Director of the CLS and the Associate Director of CYAHD. It was the first real interview I had ever been to and I ended up being offered the position. Before my first semester as a Family Science major even started, I already had a research position! What a great and welcoming way to enter into an unfamiliar major! Now, almost two years later, I am still working with the College Life Study as a Research Assistant and as an Office Assistant.
The College Life Study is a longitudinal study that started in 2004 and is headed by Dr. Amelia Arria, the Principal Investigator of the CLS and the Director of the Center on Young Adult Healthand Development (CYAHD). Over the last eight years, CLS has followed 1,253 college students who started as freshman at the University of Maryland in 2004. Each year the respondents are contacted and interviewed about their family life, education, employment, and drug and alcohol use. The main purpose of the study is to understand the influences that affect young adult development and to determine possible interventions to promote healthier development. More information about the study, including related publications, can be found at http://www.cls.umd.edu.
My parents encouraged me to apply for the research assistantship, even though I had very low hopes for getting the position since I was a sophomore with no research experience. To my surprise, I received a call within a couple weeks from Emily Winick, the Recruitment Coordinator of the CLS and a Faculty Research Associate at the CYAHD. She interviewed me over the phone and then invited me to come in for an interview. I met with Emily and Kim Caldeira, the Project Director of the CLS and the Associate Director of CYAHD. It was the first real interview I had ever been to and I ended up being offered the position. Before my first semester as a Family Science major even started, I already had a research position! What a great and welcoming way to enter into an unfamiliar major! Now, almost two years later, I am still working with the College Life Study as a Research Assistant and as an Office Assistant.
As a research assistant, I contact respondents daily to schedule interview appointments and conduct the interviews. Each interview lasts between an hour and two hours (depending on the interview method—phone, skype, or in-person). After the interview, I go back through the pages, check for discrepancies in the respondent’s answers, and write down notes to explain them when possible. I help scan the interviews into a computer program called Teleform that reads the interviews sort of a like a Scantron. I then verify the data, making sure that the digital copy matches up with the paper copy and submit the interview into the database.
This study is very important because it is the first large-scale investigation which looks at the health-related behaviors of college-aged youth and young adults. It is helping to provide insight into how all college-aged individuals across the United States behave. I do not find any of the results entirely surprising, based on my own observation of the college students around me. However, I do find it distressing that so many college-aged youth consume the level of alcohol that they do and use illicit drugs. For example, one major finding of the study was that from the first to the third year of college, the proportion of students who abused alcohol doubled, increasing from 9.5% to 19.5%. I do not think that being a part of this study has necessarily influenced my own decision making based on the fact that I have already tried to sustain a very healthy style of college living, but it certainly has given me a perspective on how large a problem drug and alcohol use is in the college culture overall.
I am so thankful for this research and job experience. I have learned so many things so far by working with the College Life Study staff and my fellow interviewers. Without this opportunity, my own college life experience could have been very different and not nearly as fulfilling. I have learned to work independently and responsibly, I have learned about the significance of confidentiality, and I have learned the importance of good communication between coworkers and supervisors. Most importantly, I have learned that no matter your prior job experience or the number of years you have been in school, it is always worth applying to a job that sparks your interest. If I had let my insecurity about not getting the job get the best of me, I may have never applied and gotten to experience this great opportunity the School of Public Health provided me with!
SPH note:
Dr. Ameila Arria, the principal investigator of the College Life Study, was recently interviewed by the news media for stories related to the risks of consuming caffeinated energy drinks. Links to these stories follow:
NPR News: Consumers Have Little Guidance on Energy Drinks, February 13, 2012
Today Show: Experts eye energy drinks in girls health, March 21, 2012
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