The relation of students' precollege characteristics and freshman year experience to voluntary attrition

This study assessed the relative influence on attrition of students' precollege characteristics, their experiences and perceptions of the freshman year, and the interactions of sex, major, and racial or ethnic origin with those experiences and perceptions. A series of stepwise multiple regression analyses indicated that precollege traits are not significantly related to attrition, that integration in the academic systems of the institution may be more important than involvement in the social systems, and that certain interactions between precollege traits and freshman year experiences and perceptions may be the most important. The findings suggest that attrition reduction efforts may need to be focused on what happens to students after they arrive on campus, on academic areas, and perhaps on the development of selective plans designed for different kinds of students.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Toronto, Canada, March 1978.