The role of cognitive, noncognitive and career development factors in the academic success and persistence of traditional and first-generation college students

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Title The role of cognitive, noncognitive and career development factors in the academic success and persistence of traditional and first-generation college students
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Education
Department Educational Psychology
Author Carter, Louisa P.
Date 2011-05
Description First-Generation College (FGC) students are a growing demographic in postsecondary education. Approximately two million, or 39.3% of the five million students who have taken the ACT standardized test over the past two and a half years, have parents without a 4-year college degree. FGC students are more likely to arrive on campus with different needs than those of traditional college students. Recent data on college student outcomes suggest that FGC students are less engaged, are less likely to successfully integrate diverse college experiences, and are more likely to leave college prematurely than traditional students. This project will extend our understanding of FGC students by assessing the college outcomes of FGC students. Specifically, this study has two purposes: a) to assess if FGC and traditional students differ on levels of variables including noncognitive/motivational factors, career development variables, and ACT scores, as well as college outcome measures: end of first-year retention and first-tosecond-year retention, and b) to determine if noncognitive/motivational, career development and standardized test score variables differentially predict college outcome for FGC and traditional student populations. Results show FGC students had slightly higher Social Activity and Social Connection SRI Scales than traditional students. Additionally, ACT combined with noncognitive SRI scores are the most potent predictors of first-year GPA and first-to-second-year retention for both traditional and FGC students. The combination of ACT and SRI accounted for nearly twice the amount of incremental variance in predicting first year GPA for FGC than for traditional college students.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject First-generation college students
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Master of Science
Rights Management Copyright © Louisa P. Carter 2011
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 367,501 bytes
Identifier us-etd3,33011
Source original in Marriott Library Special Collections ; LC8.5 2011 .C37
ARK ark:/87278/s6rb7k9h
Setname ir_etd
ID 194274
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6rb7k9h
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