Conclusion

2020 ◽  
pp. 165-178
Author(s):  
Janel E. Benson ◽  
Elizabeth M. Lee
Keyword(s):  
Extracurricular Activities ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Social Knowledge ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
College Life ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Selective Colleges ◽  
Complicated Process ◽  
Social Engagements

Chapter 8 recaps the primary takeaways and discusses their implications for selective campuses. While campuses and scholarly literature generally treat first-generation students as a cohesive whole, this book speaks to a much more complicated process whereby students’ intersectional identities and preferences work along with institutional structures to sort first-generation students into one of several campus geographies that then lead to different types of connections with faculty, peers, extracurricular activities, and social engagements. Campus geographies are important because they provide informal social knowledge, tools, resources, and inclinations that may be more or less helpful both in college and as they prepare for post-college life. The authors close by discussing the implications of this research for selective colleges wishing to support a range of first-generation students more successfully.

First-Generation Students at Selective Colleges

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-46
Author(s):  
Janel E. Benson ◽  
Elizabeth M. Lee
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Social Life ◽  
First Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Demographic Group ◽  
First Year Of College ◽  
Selective Colleges ◽  
Sorting Process ◽  
Academic Profile

Chapter 2 provides a portrait of first-generation students who attend selective colleges by placing them in comparison with continuing-generation students, the dominant demographic group on these campuses. This chapter focuses on students’ high school backgrounds—the ways they get to college—and then discusses briefly the ways this background leads them into an initial institutional sorting process. While first-generation students share a similarly strong high school academic profile as their continuing-generation counterparts, they come of age within very different contexts. The authors show that some of these differences have implications for how first-generation students identify connections on campus during the first few weeks of college. Moreover, first-generation students find themselves in somewhat different campus geographies than continuing-generation at the end of their first year of college. First-generation are more likely to be Disconnected than their continuing-generation peers and less embedded in campus geographies connected to mainstream social life (Play Hard and Multisphere).

More Than One Way to Be First

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Janel E. Benson ◽  
Elizabeth M. Lee
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
First Generation ◽  
First Generation College Students ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Campus Engagement ◽  
Selective Colleges ◽  
Different Types ◽  
First Generation College ◽  
Academic Lives

Chapter 1 introduces the reader to existing research on first-generation college students and argues that institutions need to learn more about the heterogeneity among first generation students to better serve this population. The authors describe their three broad questions: First, what are the different ways that first-generation students organize their social, extracurricular, and academic lives at selective and highly selective colleges? Second, how do first generation students sort themselves and get sorted into these different types of campus lives? Third, how do these different patterns of campus engagement prepare first-generation students for their post-college lives? The authors then provide an overview of their arguments and explain how their concept of campus geographies provides a new and useful lens. Finally, they describe their methods and provide an overview of the chapters in the book.

First- and Continuing-Generation Students, Substance Use, and College Graduation

Social Forces ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 98 (4) ◽  
pp. 1636-1668
Author(s):  
Raymond R Swisher ◽  
Christopher R Dennison
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Well Being ◽  
College Graduation ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Adult Health ◽  
College Life ◽  
National Longitudinal Study ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic ◽  
The Impact

AbstractGraduation from a four-year college is an important potential means of social mobility for those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. For “first-generation” students, the path to a degree is often made more difficult by circumstances such as working long hours and living with parents, as well as an unfamiliar college environment. One concerning aspect of college life is the continuing prevalence of substance use, which has hampered graduation rates and led many universities to reconsider the impact that the party subculture has on student well-being. In this paper, we use data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to examine differences in substance use (binge drinking, marijuana use, other illicit drug use) and four-year college graduation across unique combinations of students defined by college generation, work, and residential statuses. Consistent with previous qualitative studies into the class-specific consequences of the college party subculture, substance use is generally found to be higher among continuing-generation students who are not working nor living with their parents. In addition, substance use appears to have little consequence for the graduation prospects of these most traditional continuing-generation students. In contrast, substance use is negatively associated with graduation for most other groups, particularly first-generation students or those working long hours.

Test Anxiety in Potential First-Generation Students: A Longitudinal Examination of the Role of Psychological Needs

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-49
Author(s):  
Natalie Spadafora ◽  
Emily L. Murphy ◽  
Danielle S. Molnar ◽  
Dawn Zinga
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Test Anxiety ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Psychological Needs ◽  
Basic Psychological Needs ◽  
Self Report ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
School Students ◽  
Post Secondary

It is estimated that 15-22% of students have high levels of test anxiety (von der Embse, Jester, Roy, & Post, 2018), which can be associated with greater academic stress and poorer educational performance (e.g., Steinmayr, Crede, McElvany, & Withwein, 2016). First-generation students (where neither parent has completed post-secondary education) are a critical group to study given that they are at higher risk for poorer educational attainment and being unsuccessful at the post-secondary level. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the link between basic psychological needs and test anxiety in a sample of first-generation Ontario high school students across two points in time (N = 147;  Mage = 14.82, SD = 1.28). Self-report data was collected as a part of an on-going longitudinal study focusing on students attending a high school with specialized programming to enhance the transition to post-secondary institutions. Results from cross-lagged path analyses indicated that being older, female, and having higher levels of needs frustration significantly predicted higher levels of test anxiety over time within this sample. Our results highlight important educational implications, emphasizing the importance of fostering classroom environments where students perceive their psychological needs to be met, particularly within this unique population of students.

scholarly journals The effect of food insecurity during college on graduation and type of degree attained: evidence from a nationally representative longitudinal survey

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Julia A Wolfson ◽  
Noura Insolera ◽  
Alicia J Cohen ◽  
Cindy W Leung
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Food Insecurity ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Degree Attainment ◽  
Panel Study ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Household Food Security ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Effect Of Food ◽  
Nationally Representative

Abstract Objective: To examine the effect of food insecurity during college on graduation and degree attainment. Design: Secondary analysis of longitudinal panel data. We measured food insecurity concurrent with college enrollment using the 18-question USDA Household Food Security Survey Module. Educational attainment was measured in 2015-2017 via two questions about college completion and highest degree attained. Logistic and multinomial-logit models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics were estimated. Setting: United States (US) Participants: A nationally representative, balanced panel of 1,574 college students in the US in 1999-2003 with follow-up through 2015-2017 from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Results: In 1999-2003, 14.5% of college students were food insecure and were more likely to be older, non-White, and first-generation students. In adjusted models, food insecurity was associated with lower odds of college graduation (OR 0.57, 95% CI: 0.37, 0.88, p=0.01) and lower likelihood of obtaining a Bachelor’s degree (RRR 0.57 95% CI: 0.35, 0.92, p=0.02) or graduate/professional degree (RRR 0.39, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.86, p=0.022). These associations were more pronounced among first-generation students. 47.2% of first-generation students who experienced food insecurity graduated from college; food insecure first-generation students were less likely to graduate compared to first-generation students who were food secure (47.2% vs. 59.3%, p=0.020) and non-first-generation students who were food insecure (47.2% vs. 65.2%, p=0.037). Conclusions: Food insecurity during college is a barrier to graduation and higher degree attainment, particularly for first-generation students. Existing policies and programs that help mitigate food insecurity should be expanded and more accessible to the college student population.

scholarly journals Shape-shifting and pushing against the odds: staff perceptions of the experiences of first generation students in South Africa and the UK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rachel Forsyth ◽  
Claire Hamshire ◽  
Danny Fontaine-Rainen ◽  
Leza Soldaat
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
South Africa ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Staff Perceptions ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Diversity And Inclusion ◽  
University Life ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe principles of diversity and inclusion are valued across the higher education sector, but the ways in which these principles are translated into pedagogic practice are not always evident. Students who are first in their family to attend university continue to report barriers to full participation in university life. They are more likely to leave their studies early, and to achieve lower grades in their final qualifications, than students whose families have previous experience of higher education. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a mismatch between staff perceptions and students’ experiences might be a possible contributor to these disparities. The study explored and compared staff discourses about the experiences of first generation students at two universities, one in the United Kingdom (UK), and the other in South Africa (SA). One-to-one interviews were carried out with 40 staff members (20 at each institution) to explore their views about first generation students. The results showed that staff were well aware of challenges faced by first generation students; however, they were unsure of their roles in relation to shaping an inclusive environment, and tended not to consider how to use the assets that they believed first generation students bring with them to higher education. This paper explores these staff discourses; and considers proposals for challenging commonly-voiced assumptions about students and university life in a broader context of diversity and inclusive teaching practice.

How College Affects First - Generation Students

1996 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 9-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard B. London
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
First Generation Students ◽  
Research Project

For many first-generation students, college is a transforming experience—one that requires students to play out powerful intellectual, psychological, family, and cultural dramas. Drawing on a multiyear research project he conducted with a group of colleagues, the author describes these dramas, their effects on students, and what colleges can do to help as students play them out.

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