Corinna A. Ethington

Long-Term Persistence of Two-Year College Students.

This paper employs a theoretical model to explain the long-term persistence of students who began their postsecondary education in two-year institutions. The model was estimated on a national sample of 825 students who initially enrolled in 85 two-year institutions in the fall of 1971, and who were followed over a nine-year period. Although there were differences in the factors associated with persistence for men and women, the results tend to confirm the importance of person-environment fit as a salient influence on degree persistence and completion in postsecondary education. Measures of academic and social integration had the most consistent pattern of positive direct effects, and much of the influence of student precollege traits was indirect.

Persistence to graduate education

This paper examines the process by which students arrive in graduate school by estimating a causal model incorporating measures of socioeconomic background and undergraduate institutional characteristics and experiences. The students background was found to influence strongly the initial choice of undergraduate institution, but the direct impact of background became nonsignificant as the student progressed through the educational process. However, background variables do affect decisions to enroll in graduate school, although indirectly, through intervening variables. Primary direct influences on graduate school attendance were found from variables associated with the undergraduate experience. Although both academic and social integration are significant for men and women, academic integration has greater influence for men, whereas for women, social integration has a slightly larger effect.

A Structural Model of Mathematics Achievement for Men and Women

An extensive body of research indicates that men on the average achieve higher scores in mathematics than women. This paper addresses the issue of how this difference develops by estimating a latent-construct causal model of the process of mathematics achievement. When the model was compared between men and women, we found that the process of mathematics achievement differs. In particular, we found that mathematics ability and attitudes toward mathematics had stronger effects on mathematics achievement for men than for women. The interactions between sex and the variables in the model indicate that the process for men and women is not simply additive, and may be more complicated than previous researchers have assumed.

The Influence of College on Self-Concept: A Consideration of Race and Gender Differences

This study estimated the influence of college on student academic and social self-concept within the structure of a causal model. The sample was 4,597 students who enrolled in 379 four-year colleges and universities in 1971, and who were followed for 9 years. Separate estimations of the model were conducted for black and white men and women. The findings suggest that academic and social experiences during college have significant direct effects on self-concept development even when precollege traits, the characteristics of the institution attended, and post-collegiate experiences are taken into account. Apart from measures of 1971 self-concept, the major influence of both student precollege characteristics and the structural characteristics of the institution attended was mediated by the student’s collegiate and post-collegiate experiences. With a few exceptions, the factors influencing academic and social self-concept were quite similar for race and gender. What differences did exist, however, were found largely in those variables assessing the academic and social experience of college.

Women’s Selection of Quantitative Undergraduate Fields of Study: Direct and Indirect Influences

To increase women’s representation among quantitative degrees, Berryman (1985) suggested two strategies: Increase women’s share of the initial mathematical/scientific pool or reduce attrition from the pool. Current research indicates, however, that the decision to enter a quantitative field of study for women is the result of a complex interaction of many factors. This study examined the manner in which these factors influence women’s choice of undergraduate fields of study by proposing a structural equation model indicating hypothesized patterns of effects. Although no academic performance measure influenced field of study choice, the number of mathematics and science courses taken in high school was the predominant factor in the model. It had the greatest direct influence on field of study and served as the mediating variable for all indirect influences. Other significant effects were exerted by the initial choice of a quantitative field of study as a high school sophomore and student background characteristics and attitudes.

A PSYCHOLOGICAL MODEL OF STUDENT PERSISTENCE

The present study examines the validity of the Eccles model of achievement behaviors (model of academic choice) for its predictive validity when the outcome (behavior) is student persistence in the postsecondary educational system to completion of at least the baccalaureate degree. Patterns of effects hypothesized by the theoretical model were only partially supported by the results forthcoming from the estimation of the model. Of the two constructs hypothesized to directly influence persistence—the value placed on college attendance and expectations for success in college—only value had significant influence. Two measures of goal orientations—business/financial and humanitarian/social—exerted indirect influence as hypothesized, but level of degree aspirations had as strong a direct influence on persistence as did value. Prior achievement had the strongest total effects of any of the variables in the model.

What Do College Students Have To Lose? Exploring the Outcomes of Differences in Person-Environment Fits

Although students entering academic majors incongruent with their dominant personality type remain the same or decline in their initially prominent characteristics, they gain in the abilities and interests promoted by their chosen major. They do not differ from their congruent counterparts in either their academic and social involvements and satisfactions or various personal costs and discontents.

The receptive-expressive gap in the vocabulary of young second-language learners: Robustness and possible mechanisms

Adults and children learning a second language show difficulty accessing expressive vocabulary that appears accessible receptively in their first language (L1). We call this discrepancy the receptive-expressive gap. Kindergarten Spanish (L1) - English (L2) sequential bilinguals were given standardized tests of receptive and expressive vocabulary in both Spanish and English. We found a small receptive-expressive gap in English but a large receptive-expressive gap in Spanish. We categorized children as having had high or low levels of English exposure based on demographic variables and found that the receptive-expressive gap persisted across both levels of English exposure. Regression analyses revealed that variables predicting both receptive and expressive vocabulary scores failed to predict the receptive-expressive gap. The results suggest that the onset of the receptive-expressive gap in L1 must have been abrupt. We discuss possible mechanisms underlying the phenomenon.

A Test of a Model of Achievement Behaviors

Drawing on the theoretical and empirical work of decision making, achievement, and attribution theorists, Eccles and colleagues (1983) proposed an integrative theoretical model of achievement behaviors (e.g., persistence, choice, and performance). Defining achievement behavior as the intention to study more mathematics, the present study sought to determine the extent to which the key constructs within the psychological component of the model—expectations for success and task value—directly influence intention and serve as mediators for indirect influence of prior constructs. For males, expectations and value were the dominant influences and mediated the indirect influence of other variables. For females, expectations did not influence intention; dominant effects came from value, goals, and self-concept with value and goals serving as mediators of indirect influences.

The RA and TA Experience: Impediments and Benefits to Graduate Study.

This study examines the growth and professional development of graduate students and compares these outcomes for students who have held assistantships and those who have not. In general, students perceive the assistantship to be a positive experience, but teaching assistants report less of a contribution to their professional development than do research assistants. Students with the without assistantship experience report the same growth in human relation and reflective thinking skills, but teaching assistants report the least growth in research skills, less even than students not having assistantships. Students with assistantships, both teaching and research, are more likely to be active within the external academic community by participating in professional societies and higher levels of scholarly productivity.