Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 4-10-2020

Abstract

Success in the first year of college is due in part to how well students can adjust to the demands of school and integrate into collegiate life. Social cognitive factors such as self-efficacy relating to college activities, academic resilience, social support, and academic stress may contribute to students’ overall feelings of belonging and academic performance, yet most research does not take into account ways that students may change across the first year of school. Two path models investigated relationships between pairs of predictors on belonging and GPA in fall and spring semesters among 212 first-year college students, also examining differences between first- and continuing-generation students. One model found positive effects of self-efficacy over time on belonging and GPA for first- but not continuing-generation students. The same model demonstrated a positive effect of spring semester resilience on belonging, but not GPA, for all students. The second model tested support and stress and found that both fall and spring support had an effect on all students’ feelings of belonging but not on GPA. Fall semester stress negatively influenced belonging, but spring semester stress had a larger negative effect on GPA. These findings demonstrate that factors influencing success in the first year of college may change from fall to spring semesters as students gain experience at school, and that agents most influential for belonging may differ from those for GPA. College personnel may benefit from greater understanding of changes in both first-generation and continuing-generation students over their first year of school in order to improve academic success and increase retention.

Keywords

self-efficacy, resilience, social support, stress, first-generation students, path models

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Educational Psychology

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Individual, Family, and Community Education

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dr. Terri Flowerday

Second Committee Member

Dr. M. Lee Van Horn

Third Committee Member

Dr. Carolyn Hushman

Fourth Committee Member

Dr. Sarah Erickson

Download

Share

COinS