Educational Aspirations Predict College Attendance for Potential First-Generation College Students

Stressed but not Depressed: A Longitudinal Analysis of First-Generation College Students, Stress, and Depressive Symptoms

Social Forces ◽

10.1093/sf/soaa091 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tabitha G Wilbur

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Depressive Symptoms ◽

First Generation ◽

College Attendance ◽

First Generation College Students ◽

Adult Health ◽

Stress Exposure ◽

National Longitudinal Study ◽

Significant Difference ◽

First Generation College

Abstract Using The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), I examine stress exposure and depressive symptoms among first and continuing-generation college students before and during college. I find that first-generation college students experience more stressors during both adolescence and college attendance and higher levels of depressive symptoms during adolescence as compared to continuing-generation students. During college, however, first-generation students’ level of depressive symptoms is no different from their continuing-generation peers even before adjusting for stress exposure and adolescent depressive symptoms. The gap in symptoms closes because first-generation college students’ mental health improves while attending college, as they have significantly fewer depressive symptoms than they did during adolescence. Continuing-generation students, on the other hand, did not display a significant difference in their depressive symptoms between adolescence and college attendance. Possible explanations for these findings are discussed.

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The Gap between Educational Aspirations and Attainment for First-Generation College Students and the Role of Parental Involvement

Journal of College Student Development ◽

10.1353/csd.2006.0059 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 47 (5) ◽

pp. 534-549 ◽

Cited By ~ 111

Author(s):

Graziella Pagliarulo McCarron ◽

Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

Parental Involvement ◽

First Generation ◽

Educational Aspirations ◽

First Generation College Students ◽

First Generation College

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Out of Thin Air

Campus Counterspaces ◽

10.7591/cornell/9781501746888.003.0010 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 125-138

Author(s):

Emily Lyons

Keyword(s):

College Students ◽

First Generation ◽

Academic Identity ◽

College Attendance ◽

First Generation College Students ◽

The Self ◽

First Generation Students ◽

Large Role ◽

First Generation College ◽

Family Identities

This chapter considers the processes of constructing an academic identity for first-generation students. It discusses challenges to building an academic identity among first-generation college students, both for those whose parents are unambiguously supportive of their child's college attendance and those who are ambivalent. The chapter reveals that the identities that students take on as college students and as members of their family are two aspects of the self that students described as being central to who they are. For many students, tensions between their academic and family identities are moderate to none. For first-generation students, however, the very decision to enroll in college may mark a divergence from their parents' trajectories and the trajectories expected of them. This is because schooling plays a large role in socialization, and college plays a particularly large role in shaping people's beliefs, habits, preferences, and behaviors.

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