Examining involvement as a critical factor: Perceptions from first generation and non-first generation college students.

摘要

This study tested the perceptions of involvement components (Non-Academic Facility Usage, Intra-Racial Relations, Campus and Charleston Involvement, Faculty Interaction, Academic Facility Usage, Inter-Racial Relations, Cultural Center Usage, and Athletic Facilities Usage) for first generation and non-first generation African American and Hispanic students. Guided by Tinto's (1987, 1993) Theory of Student Departure and Alexander Astin's (1984, 1993) Theory on Student Involvement, this investigation involved 404 participants and was conducted at a liberal arts university in the Midwestern United States during the fall semester of the 2008/09 academic year.;The following questions were addressed in this study: (a) How do first-generation and non-first generation students differ in terms of their experience across nine involvement components? (b) Is there a difference between African American and Hispanic students and their involvement in the nine involvement components for each ethnicity and generational group? (c) Which areas of involvement are most predictive of students' perceived likelihood to be connected to the university? and (d) How are the students' perceptions of their overall involvement predictive of their perceived likeliness to graduate?;The data for this study was gathered with the Participation in Campus and Community Activities (PCCA) survey on-line. The 404 participants who completed the survey were first generation and non-first generation African American and Hispanic students. The racial composition was 82% (n=332) African American and 18% (n=72) Latino/Hispanic. The criteria for participation were students needed to be enrolled the year prior to fall semester of 2008. The findings suggest that there were no differences in the levels of involvement between the first generation and non-first generation students, but there were differences between the two ethnic groups (African American and Hispanic students). Additionally, the researchers examined how connected the independent variables (first generation, non-first generation, African American, and Hispanic students) were to the institution. The African American students perceived greater connectedness to the university than Hispanic students. Yet, this difference between the African American and Hispanic was not significantly different between first generation and non-first generation students (the interaction wasn't significant). The final question determined if this study's students' perceptions of their overall involvement was predictive of their perceived likeliness to graduate. The results showed that the relationship between perceived involvement and the likelihood to graduate was, at best, mild for non-first generation and African American students in this study.