Social Class Identity Integration and Success for First-Generation College Students: Antecedents, Mechanisms, and Generalizability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Herrmann ◽  
Michael E. W. Varnum ◽  
Brenda Straka ◽  
Sarah Gaither
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Academic Performance ◽  
Social Class ◽  
First Generation ◽  
First Generation College Students ◽  
Bicultural Identity ◽  
Identity Integration ◽  
Integration Framework ◽  
Bicultural Identity Integration ◽  
First Generation College

Past research has investigated challenges first-generation college students face, but has overlooked the role that acculturation to college may play. Social class bicultural identity integration research demonstrates that integrated social class identities are linked with better health, well-being, and academic performance among first-generation students. Here, we build on the identity integration framework, demonstrating that exposure to college graduates in students’ home neighborhoods before college is positively related to higher social class bicultural identity integration (Study 1), that the effect of identity integration on academic performance is mediated by academic self-efficacy (Study 2), and that the effects of identity integration on acculturative stress, life satisfaction, and overall health outcomes observed at a large public university replicated at selective, private universities (Study 3). This suggests that the identity integration framework is a useful theoretical lens to conceptualize and predict health and performance outcomes for first-generation students.

The social class worldviews of first-generation college students

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander J. Rice ◽  
Alexander J. Colbow ◽  
Shane Gibbons ◽  
Charles Cederberg ◽  
Ethan Sahker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Class ◽  
First Generation ◽  
First Generation College Students ◽  
The Social ◽  
First Generation College

Identity Work by First-Generation College Students to Counteract Class-Based Microaggressions

2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (9) ◽  
pp. 1227-1250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Gray ◽  
Tiffany Johnson ◽  
Jennifer Kish-Gephart ◽  
Jacqueline Tilton
Keyword(s):  
College Students ◽  
Social Class ◽  
First Generation ◽  
First Generation College Students ◽  
Identity Work ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Class Differences ◽  
First Generation College ◽  
Identity Threats

Using an interactional approach to studying organizations, we explore how social class differences alone and coupled with racial minority status generate identity threats for first-generation college students who are already underprivileged with respect to educational attainment. For these students the markers of social class are omnipresent and, like racial minorities, they experience microaggressions that require them to engage in identity work to counter these threats. We detail manifestations of social class differences on and off campus and identify the kinds of microaggressions these students encounter including those generated by the intersection of race and class that can destabilize students’ identities and lead to what we refer to as “identity collapse.” Our results also reveal four types of identity work including mining core identity strength, passing (via dodging and code switching), and developing peer support networks that allow some first-generation students to be resilient in responding to identity threats. We consider the implications of this class work for first-to-college students and offer suggestions for future research that expands our work to workplace organizations and inquires about the potential lasting effects of social class stigma.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document