In an effort to demonstrate the complexities of accountability issues and institutional effectiveness, a 30-year review of persistence literature provides evidence of the numerous studies and emerging research on student persistence. Although Astin's (1975) groundbreaking research of access and persistence provides a framework for future…

Through the administration of self-report surveys, this study examined the relationships among a) parenting styles, b) family structure, c) academic achievement, d) birth order, e) gender, and f) humor on the initial personal-emotional, social, academic, and commitment to college adjustment among 257 first-quarter college freshmen. Multiple…

This study addressed the influence of social capital factors on the first-year persistence of beginning first- and second-generation four-year college students. First-generation students were those students whose parents had never attended college. Second-generation students had at least one parent who attended college. A case was made for…

When students enter college, they experience a series of equally exhilarating and challenging events. Those who experience more of the latter may in fact leave. For a variety of reasons--some personal, some academic--many students dropout or transfer from their first institution. Colleges are committed to providing a quality education for all…

Student dissatisfaction with certain aspects of college has been linked to attrition. Some developers of satisfaction surveys contend that in addition to satisfaction ratings, the questionnaire should contain an importance scale because dissatisfaction with the less important aspects of college is not as problematic as dissatisfaction with the…

The purpose of this investigation was to understand the student-faculty mentoring process and how mentoring relationships facilitate at-risk students' adjustment to college. The sample consisted of 65 college students who were involved in a Faculty Mentoring Program (FMP) at a four-year institution. A conceptual model was tested relating ethnic…

The present study investigated racial-ethnic differences in social anxiety among college students in two-year colleges. The sample consisted of 189 Asian American, African American, White American, and Hispanic American students from two colleges in the Southeast. Participants completed a questionnaire measure of social anxiety. The results…

Although mentoring has been linked to the retention of college students in science, it is still unclear whether students who persist in science majors (pursuers) have greater mentoring experiences than students who do not persist (switchers). In this study, 79 upper-level students who had enrolled as science majors at a research university were…

This study examines the experiences that 10 Latino recent undergraduate students reported having at a large midwestern university. Five persisted through graduation, and five stopped out. Both groups described similar home environments, a lack of social integration, and feelings of academic unpreparedness. Differences among groups were academic…

I studied how the grade point averages (GPA, a post-enrollment descriptor) of first-year developmental education students relate to two pre-enrollment descriptors: students' Academic Aptitude Ratings (AAR, a pre-enrollment criterion) and students' voluntary or forced attendance at a mandatory summer-orientation program. Students who involuntarily…