Christopher T. Pierson

First-Generation College Students: Additional Evidence on College Experiences and Outcomes

Longitudinal data from eighteen four-year colleges were analyzed to better understand differences between first-generation and other college students in the experiences and outcomes of postsecondary education. These differences were consistent with theorybased expectations regarding the acquisition of cultural capital during college.

Experiences and Outcomes of First-Generation Students in Community Colleges

First-generation college students (i.e., students whose parents have never attended college) are the focus of a growing body of research. The weight of evidence from this research suggests that, compared to their peers, first-generation students are at a disadvantage with respect to: basic knowledge about postsecondary education (e.g., costs, application process), level of family income and support, degree expectations and plans, and secondary school academic preparation (e.g., Berkner & Chavez, 1997; Hossler, Schmidt, & Vesper, 1999; Warburton, Bugarin, & Nunez, 2001). Moreover, as summarized by Terenzini, Springer, Yaeger, Pascarella, and Nora (1996), firstgeneration students also have a more problematic transition from secondary school to college than other students. First-generation students confront all the anxieties, dislocations, and difficulties of any college student; but their experiences often involve additional cultural as well as social and academic transitions (Rendon, 1992; Rendon, Hope, & Associates, 1996; Terenzini et al., 1994). Although we have considerable knowledge about first-generation college students

The Role of Race in the Development of Plans for a Graduate Degree

Analyzing three-year longitudinal data from 18 diverse four-year institutions, this study investigated the role of race in the solidifying plans for a graduate degree. Net of other influences, African American and Hispanic students were significantly less likely than their White classmates to lower their plans for a graduate degree. However, additional findings suggest that different conceptual models are required to account for educational plans among the three racial subgroups.

Explaining Student Growth in College When You Don't Think You Are

It is frequently the case in longitudinal research focusing on the impact of college on students that researchers will employ a pretest-posttest design. In this design, the outcome to be explained is assessed both before and after some intervention, thus affording optimal “statistical control” for an individual’s status on the outcome variable prior to the intervention. The typical analytical procedure in such a design is to regress the postintervention measure of the outcome variable on the preintervention measure and a variable representing different conditions of the intervention. Such a regression (or analysis of covariance) procedure tells us if the intervention is associated with differences (or variance) in the outcome measure that are not already accounted for by the pretest. Of course, it is not necessary that the independent variable be an intervention. It could also be a set of experiences, or even a combination of interventions and experiences. This general approach to identifying “potential” causal influences in correlational or quasi-experimental data has been used extensively (e.g., Astin, 1977, 1993; Bohr et al., 1994; Flowers & Pascarella, 1999; Hagedorn et al., 1999; Inman, 1997; Pascarella, Palmer, Moye, & Pierson, 2001; Pierson, 2002; Terenzini, Springer, Pascarella, & Nora, 1994; Whitt, Edison, Pascarella, Nora, & Terenzini, 2001; Wolniak, Pierson, & Pascarella, 2001). In this paper, we will demonstrate that pretest-posttest designs of the type discussed above provide more information than is commonly assumed. It is widely understood that they tell us if different interventions or experiences account for variations in posttest scores, above and beyond the influence of the pretest. What is typically overlooked, however, is that even when the posttest is the outcome measure, such designs also tell us if different interventions or experiences account for variations in pretest-posttest gains, above and beyond the influence of the pretest.

Differences Between Women and Men in Objectively Measured Outcomes, and the Factors That Influence Those Outcomes, in the First Three Years of College

We examined the correlation between sex and cognitive outcomes of a national sample of students at four-year institutions. Outcomes data included objective tests and self-reported gains. In the presence of controls for a wide variety of potentially confounding variables, significant differences were found between women and men in outcomes and in factors influencing those outcomes.

Influences on Community College Students' Educational Plans.

This study analyzed data from 285 students attending 5 community colleges to identify the institutional and college experience variables influencing end-of-first-year educational degree plans. Controlling for an extensive array of important confounding influences, the estimated average precollege degree plans of students at the community college one attended had significant, positive total and direct effects on an individual students end-of-first-year overall educational degree plans and plans to obtain at least a bachelors degree. In the prediction of end-of-first-year overall educational degree plans, there were significant conditional effects involving sex, race, and precollege degree plans.

Impacts of Two-Year and Four-Year College Attendance on Learning Orientations.

With statistical controls for an extensive array of confounding influences, including precollege learning orientations, attendance at a two-year versus a four-year college had modest but statistically significant positive effects on student growth in first and second-year Openness to Diversity, second-year Learning for Self-Understanding, and first-year Internal Locus of Attribution for Academic Success. The generally positive impacts of two-year college attendance, however, varied for such characteristics as race, sex, socioeconomic background, academic ability, and English fluency.

Greek-Letter Organizations, Alcohol, and the Courts: A Risky Mix?

This article examines all reported state and federal cases involving college fraternities and sororities and negligence resulting from the use of alcohol by college and university students from 1970 through 2001. Research examined the litigation volume, fact patterns, defendants named for litigation, and outcomes of cases. Results indicate student affairs professionals should focus more on student intervention than on concerns about institutional liability.