Abstract

Currently, there exists relatively scant sociological research on the identities of first-year UK university students, and specifically those holding a strong Christian identity. Employing a symbolic interactionist framework, this article explores issues of identity construction amongst a group of first-year undergraduate students based at a UK university, who self-identify as committed Christians. Based on a qualitative, exploratory study of the transition experiences of first-year students living on campus, the authors examine students' accounts of identity, transition, negotiation and confirmation. After an initial period of anxiety and uncertainty vis-à-vis establishing new identities, participants recounted themes of commitment to Christian identity, and considered that they had been accepted and integrated into the ‘jock’ campus subculture despite transgressing certain of its values and norms, primarily those ‘commanding’ heavy drinking.