Single-parent college students' attributions toward academic success

This study investigated female single-parent college students' own attributions of academic success. A sample of 28 single-parent students participated in the study. Results indicated that single-parent students who are more successful make different causal attributions in regard to their GPA than do those who are less successful.     

Influences on students' academic growth during four years of college

This study modeled the sources of influence on students' reported academic development over a four-year period, focusing on institutionally controllable influences on student growth and assessing how those influences vary from one year to another. A LISREL analysis indicated that students' academic integration level in each of the four years had a direct effect on reported academic skill development in that year and an indirect effect on reported growth in succeeding years. Social integration was influential in students' reported academic growth only (but prominently) in the junior and senior years. The nature and strength of the influences varied over time, however, with academic and social integration appearing to reverse their positions in relative importance over the period.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Twenty-Sixth Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Orlando, Fla., June 22–25, 1986.     

Personal factors that influence deaf college students' academic success

Research tells us that academic preparation is key to deaf students' success at college. Yet, that is not the whole story. Many academically prepared students drop out during their first year. This study identified entering deaf college students' personal factors as assessed by their individual responses to both the Noel-Levitz College Student Inventory Form B and the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory, second edition (LASSI). Entering students in 3 successive cohorts (total n =437) participated in this study. Results show that in addition to entry measurements of reading and mathematic skills, personal factors contributed to the academic performance of students in their first quarter in college. The Noel-Levitz provided the comparatively better predictive value of academic performance: Motivation for Academic Study Scale (e.g., desire to finish college). The LASSI also showed statistically significant predictors, the Self-Regulation Component (e.g., time management) and Will Component (e.g., self-discipline), but accounted for relatively less variability in the students' initial grade point averages. For this group of underprepared students, results show that personal factors can play a significant role in academic success. Deaf students' personal factors are discussed as they relate to other first-year college students and to their subsequent academic performance and persistence.     

Influences on students' perceptions of their personal development during the first three years of college

This study sought to determine whether students' perceptions of their personal growth are related to their college experiences after controlling for their precollege characteristics, whether the amount of reported development varies over the first three years of college, and whether the influences on students' perceived personal development vary from one year to another. Results indicate that students' self-reported personal development is unattributable to their precollege traits and is remarkably constant from the freshman through junior years. Differences between men and women in reported growth are, however, evident. The sources of influence on reported growth vary over the three years; the only common influence is informal contact with faculty.An earlier version of this paper was presented to the annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, Toronto, May 1983.     

Trajectories of motivation and their academic correlates over the first year of college

The first year of college is a pivotal time for academic and personal development, yet there is still much to be learned about motivational change during this period. Using Self-Determination Theory (SDT), we assessed six distinct types of motivation among an initial sample of 776 students at four time points over the first year of college. Latent growth models indicated initially high but declining levels of intrinsic motivation and identified regulation, moderate but increasing levels of positive and negative introjection, and low but increasing levels of external regulation and amotivation. These patterns suggest that, on average, more autonomous types of motivation tend to decrease over the first year of college while more controlled types of motivation tend to increase. Academic functioning was predicted by (a) initial levels of both identified regulation and amotivation and (b) change trajectories for intrinsic motivation, identified regulation, and amotivation. These findings suggest that contextual supports for building autonomous motivation and minimizing amotivation appear to be essential both prior to college entry and throughout the first year.     

Epistemic beliefs and academic performance across soft and hard disciplines in the first year of college

Mature epistemic beliefs underlie higher-order thinking and learning outcomes. Previous studies have established that epistemic beliefs predict task-specific performance. However, there is mixed evidence regarding the relationships between such beliefs and course-level academic performance. This study investigated whether disciplinary type (‘soft’ versus ‘hard’) could account for the mixed findings. A survey was conducted among 1366 Indonesian university students enrolled in ‘soft’ (design, psychology and law) and ‘hard’ (engineering, biotechnology and pharmacy) disciplines. Beliefs about the uncertainty of knowledge, the subjectivity of knowledge and authority justification were measured before the start of semester. Findings indicated that, while subjectivity belief was not associated with grade point average in the soft disciplines, it negatively predicted it in the hard disciplines. Meanwhile, uncertainty belief, but not authority belief, was positively associated with grade point average in both disciplines. Hence, the relations between some epistemic beliefs and academic performance may depend on the nature of the discipline.     

Sources of academic stress: the case of first year Jewish and Arab college students in Israel

This study examined socioculturel and gender group differences in perceptions of major sources of academic stress in first year college students, in addition to the relationship between reported academic stress and college achievement. Data were collected via a self-administered student stress inventory given to a sample of 184 Jewish and 209 Arab college undergraduates studying in a major Israel university. They evaluated the personal stressfulness of each of 53 potential sources of academic stress along a 6-point Likert-type scale covering a wide range of potential academic Stressors (academic curriculum and course requirements, course evaluation procedures, college instruction, social milieu and cultural factors on campus, college administration and bureaucracy, physical conditions and accommodations, economic factors, organismic and interpersonal factors, student expectations, daily hassles and constraints). Arab, lower-status, and female students were hypothesized and found to be more stressed than their respective Jewish, upper-class and male counterparts, respectively. Cultural group background was found to be the most salient background predictor of student stress, followed by social class and gender, with each exerting independent (noninteractive) effects. Although group differences were observed in mean ratings, there proved to be a strong correspondence in the hierarchy of perceived Stressors across sociocultural and gender subgroups. As a whole, students appeared to be most stressed by pressures originating from course overload and academic evaluation procedures and least stressed by a variety of personal, familial, and social factors. Furthermore, student stress and achievement factors were found to be inversely correlated, with little evidence for the contention that stress differentially debilitates the academic performance of students as a function of gender or sociocultural group membership. The findings also lend some evidence to the cross-cultural generalizability of major stressors in academia.     

基于PEST模型的当代大学生学业辅导体系构建

新世纪,发展性学业辅导作为一种全新的学生工作理念,受到了教育界广泛关注。为研究当代大学生"学业辅导"影响因素,在分析发展性学业辅导内涵与特点基础上,引入企业管理领域中PEST模型并加以拓展,形成政治、个人、经济、社会和技术五大类影响因素。据此,从理念和实践层面提出构建发展性学业辅导体系的思路和方法。     

Effect of individualized goal-setting on college biology students' locus of control

This study investigated the effect of Individualized Goal-Setting A-T, relative to Classic A-T, on a student's locus of control (generalized and academic). This study also examined the effect of pretesting, relative to no pretesting, on a student's locus of control. Sixty students in an introductory, Audio-Tutorial, college zoology course were randomly assigned to treatment and control groups. Control groups (Classic A-T) completed the course in the usual manner. Treatment groups (IGS A-T) completed the course in the usual manner with one exception. That is, they used a different format for Optional Minicourse mastery. This new format released greater control to students over means as well as ends of minicourse mastery. Data were collected through use of the Solomon Four-Group design, with two levels of treatment (Classic A-T, IGS A-T) and two levels of pretesting (pretest, no pretest). Instruments included the Rotter I-E and Schafer Academic I-E Locus of Control Scales. Posttest scores were analyzed by a 2 × 2 multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). The following conclusions were made (p < 0.10).

• 1 IGS A-T, relative to Classic A-T, has no significant effect on a student's locus of control.
• 2 Pretesting, relative to no pretesting, has no significant effect on posttest locus of control.

     

Determinants of college students' overall evaluations of their academic programs

This research explored the determinants of college seniors' overall evaluations of their academic programs (i.e., their major departments). The research was conducted with a sample of 775 students at two universities. The results suggest that, in general, stimulating course work and good teaching were somewhat more important than opportunities for faculty/student interaction or perceived faculty knowledgeability. There were significant field and gender differences, however. For example, faculty availability and course stimulation were more critical among women than among men, and faculty teaching ability was particularly significant in artistic fields. Theoretical and applied implications are discussed.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Chicago, April 1985.     

Affective profiles and academic success in a college science course

The current study identified affective profiles and examined their relations to behavioral engagement and disengagement as well as achievement among undergraduate students enrolled in a college anatomy course (N = 278). Cluster analysis was used to identify four affective profiles: Positive, Deactivated, Negative, and Moderate-Low. Students in the Positive and Deactivated profiles were more engaged, less disengaged, and earned higher grades on subsequent exams than those in Moderate-Low and Negative profiles, which did not differ from one another. Subsequent analyses indicated that the relation of affective profiles to achievement was mediated through engagement. Results provide support for the importance of examining students’ mixed affective experiences in terms of both valence and activation dimensions, adding important contributions to largely variable-oriented literature on academic affect and its relation to engagement and achievement.     

The influence of parental and peer attachment on college students' academic achievement

This study examined relations among attachment to parents and peers, cognitive ability, psychosocial functioning variables, and academic achievement in a multiethnic sample of college students (n = 357). A small subgroup (14.8%) of students reported low levels of attachment to both parents and peers. Significant positive correlations were documented between parent and peer attachment and several indices of psychosocial competence. Results from hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that indices of cognitive ability were significant predictors of college students' grade point averages, while broader measures of functioning in early adulthood (attachment, intellectual ability, self‐esteem) were significant predictors of scholastic competence. Results suggest that perceived attachment to both parents and peers is a component of wider patterns of social competence and adjustment that may function as protective or compensatory factors during key transitions in young adulthood, such as participation in college, and with its attendant demands for academic achievement. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

高校创新创业教育对大学生成功智力发展的影响

创新创业教育已成为高校人才培养模式的重要组成部分,但对学生学业发展的影响尚未得到充分的关注.通过数理统计分析发现,高校创新创业教育水平对成功智力水平发展具有正向作用.大学生创新能力和创新动机对分析性智力、创造性智力和实践性智力具有正向作用;在人口学变量方面,高校创新创业教育水平在性别、年级、母亲受教育程度方面存在显著性差异;大学生成功智力水平在性别、年级、生源地、学校类型、母亲受教育程度方面存在显著性差异.     

高校创新创业教育对大学生成功智力发展的影响

创新创业教育已成为高校人才培养模式的重要组成部分,但对学生学业发展的影响尚未得到充分的关注.通过数理统计分析发现,高校创新创业教育水平对成功智力水平发展具有正向作用.大学生创新能力和创新动机对分析性智力、创造性智力和实践性智力具有正向作用;在人口学变量方面,高校创新创业教育水平在性别、年级、母亲受教育程度方面存在显著性差异;大学生成功智力水平在性别、年级、生源地、学校类型、母亲受教育程度方面存在显著性差异.     

Motivation in college: Understanding Norwegian college students' performance on the LASSI Motivation Subscale and their beliefs about academic motivation

Norwegian college students have been found to score remarkably low on the Motivation subscale of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI) in relation to American norms. In this study, we first administered the LASSI Motivation subscale to a sample of 15 Norwegian college students and then interviewed the students about their responses to the scale items and their beliefs about academic motivation. Only the students having the highest scores on the Motivation scale seemed to wholeheartedly value the activities described by the scale items and conceive of motivation in the self-discipline and duty-oriented way reflected by the scale. In contrast, the students having the lowest scores did not seem to value the activities described by the scale items and clearly defined academic motivation in terms of interest, enjoyment, and excitement. It is suggested that one important reason why so many Norwegian students score low on the LASSI Motivation scale might be that they have a strong sense of autonomy and are intrinsically rather than extrinsically motivated. In conclusion, possible contextual differences between American students and our Norwegian participants are also discussed.     

Role of the Big Five personality traits in predicting college students' academic motivation and achievement

College students (308 undergraduates) completed the Five Factor Inventory and the Academic Motivations Scale, and reported their college grade point average (GPA). A correlation analysis revealed an interesting pattern of significant relationships. Further, regression analyses indicated that conscientiousness and openness explained 17% of the variance in intrinsic motivation; conscientiousness and extraversion explained 13% of the variance in extrinsic motivation; and conscientiousness and agreeableness explained 11% of the variance in amotivation. Further, four personality traits (conscientiousness, openness, neuroticism, and agreeableness) explained 14% of the variance in GPA; and intrinsic motivation to accomplish things explained 5% of the variance in GPA. Finally, conscientiousness emerged as a partial mediator of the relationship between intrinsic motivation to accomplish and GPA. These results are interpreted within the context of what educators could do to encourage and nurture student motivation and achievement.     

五年一贯制高职生第一阶段培养目标研究

由于"五年一贯制"与普通大专在办学定位、人才培养目标等方面的区别,要求我们对其五年学习过程统筹考虑才能真正达到培养应用型人才的目的。"五年一贯制"第一阶段是学生学习打基础的阶段,确定培养目标就显得尤为重要。     

Validity and bias of academic achievement measures in the first year of elementary school

We tested the criterion-related validity and potential bias of two measures of pupils' academic achievement: the Teacher Rating Scale (TRS) and the Mathematics and Literacy Achievement Tests (MLTs). These measures are representative of assessment methods largely used in the elementary school. The aims were: (1) to verify the extent to which TRS and MLTs can be predicted by external criteria collected at kindergarten and (2) to estimate the degree to which each measure might be biased by family, teacher and children's characteristics. A total of 239 children were assessed during kindergarten. At the end of the first grade, they were tested for social-emotional adjustment and academic achievement (TRS and MLTs). Results suggest that family socioeconomic status and children's school readiness at kindergarten were associated with both measures; however, the predictors accounted for significantly more variance in TRS than in MLTs. Regarding the presence of bias, results indicate that TRS seems more sensitive to children's social competence, whereas the MLTs appears to be more sensitive to pupils' anxiety.