Date of Award

2001

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

This mixed-method research study focused on successful first-generation college students enrolled at a mid-sized public university. The study's purpose was to explore factors that help explain academic persistence and progress among first-generation college students at Indiana State University. Quantitative analyses tested the predictive power of student characteristics associated with academic success that are commonly found in research literature. The study's 17 predictor variables together accounted for 21% of the variance in first-generation college student success. The independent variables of (1) high school grade point average, (2) SAT total score, (3) hours spent on high school homework, (4) gaining a college degree as a reason for attending college, and (5) students' rating of their chances of permanently dropping out of college, contributed to the prediction of first-generation college student success. Focus groups explored students' own explanations for their success. Students spoke of barriers to academic success such as students' lack of structure and newfound freedom at college, and the negative influences of peers. Strategies that students employed in confronting these barriers included learning professors' expectations, going to class, surrounding themselves with positive peer influences, setting high standards for themselves, and physically removing themselves from distractions. In describing what a college degree meant to them, students explained that it was providing them with a sense of self-satisfaction and respect. Attaining a degree was also a vindication from those that doubted them, and served as a key to economic and career independence. One barrier to success for students was the frustration that accompanied their uncertainty about a college major or future direction. Students' strategy for confronting this barrier was to use campus resources and services, and to talk with professors, advisors, and others to work through their uncertainty. Successful students demonstrated that they were good consumers” of resources provided in the University environment.

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