Currently reading Smith & McLellan (2026) “‘I Could Go Naked and Nobody Would Notice’: A Qualitative Study of Mattering in UK University Students”

Feeling that you matter — to peers, staff, university — is important for student mental health. To really understand what it means for students to matter, Smith & McLellan (2026) analyze 155 respondents’ open-ended responses to the questions of describing situations where they felt that they did (not) matter while at university.

They do a thematic analysis and come up with four themes of mattering and three of anti-mattering:

• Participation makes students feel that they matter, for example when they are participating in academic group work or in a sports team or other leisure activity, are asked their opinion, are invited to join academic activities
• Being cared about also makes students feel that they matter, for example when someone else goes out of their way to support them, check in on them, listens to them, makes efforts to learn their name
• Not being cared about then makes students feel like they do not matter, for example when they try to explain personal circumstances and are being ignored, or being called by number instead of by name (wow!), or when they had a hard time finding people to talk with and making friends
• Helping, whether academically or privately, or volunteering in a university context, also makes students feel that they matter
• Recognition of their efforts or expertise makes students feel that they matter
• Being invisible, others not even being aware of their presence, makes students feel like they do not matter, for example when they are one in a huge group of students,
• Being ignored on purpose makes students like they do not matter. Examples include being a woman in a male-dominated discipline or a non-native speaker exchange student; only the excellent students who are also natural leaders being recognized; achievements outside of university not being noticed; not getting responses; seeing other people making plans without including that person

As Smith & McLellan (2026) also point out, the results of this study provide obvious ways for teachers to help students feel that they matter which are fully aligned with the recommendations in the literature (for example Felten & Lambert (2020), Anderson et al. (2020), Gravett et al. (2021), Beaudry et al. (2024), Glessmer et al. (2024), Hamshire et al. (2025), and always good to remember: Cooper et al. (2017)!): Making sure that students have the chance to connect with others and help others, for example by assigning groups for group work, showing that you yourself care about them as individuals by acknowledging their achievements, asking, listening, and responding (and learning their names!). So it’s good to have that written up with examples of what students say makes them feel that they matter (or don’t)!

Smith, D., & McLellan, R. (2026). ‘I Could Go Naked and Nobody Would Notice’: A Qualitative Study of Mattering in UK University Students. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 31(1), 2685162.

It is very hot here today, so the obvious thing to do is to go for a morning swim

You can see that there is a lot of biological activity right now, it feels like the water is a little viscous, or there is a very thin bio film on it.

Capillary waves are a little smoothed out and feel almost sluggish

And the surface looks very smooth for the wind speed and fetch. There are of course waves as you see, but no wind ripples

Or at least only during the stronger gusts. Maybe I should try to measure viscosity or surface films. Only how would I do that best?