Students who face life's challenges with a clear focus on agency and who feel that they are in control should also be making more progress in exploring and committing to aspects of their identity (see Schwartz et al., 2005) and have greater well-being (e.g., McLean et al., 2019). Agency is a fundamental motivational drive that is reflected in the…

Scholars identify interpersonal interactions as playing significant roles in many developmental processes that occur during the college years (e.g., Baxter Magolda, 2004, 2009a; E. H. Erikson, 1997; Torres, Jones, & Renn, 2009); however, the intersection of interpersonal dimensions of college student development and trauma is scantly discussed…

Financial aid plays a critical role in college access and student success. It plays an increasingly important role as the college-going population continues to diversify and the cost of college continues to rise at both public and private institutions. In this study, the authors examined whether institutional level financial aid has any direct…

Theories of college student and adult intellectual development have shown that learning to interpret, evaluate, and construct knowledge evolves in a developmentally predictable fashion, and have offered explanations for the difficulties some students face when asked to make their own decisions (Baxter Magolda, 1992; Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger,…

Despite the importance of religion in many college students' lives, little is known about how religious affiliation is associated with student growth and development. This study examines the relationship between college students' religious affiliations and well-being using a longitudinal sample of 14,527 students at 136 institutions. Analyses show…

Within the college student development literature, epistemologic development has been studied in the context of academic learning and outside of this context. However, investigation into if and how epistemologic development relates to academic behaviors and outcomes rarely has been studied. This study uses quantitative measures to explore the…

Because 20% of college high-risk drinkers continue this drinking behavior into adulthood, we used a development lens to compare the characteristics of high-risk college drinkers who matured out (time limited) with those who remained adult persistent. Respondents (4,428 undergraduate alumni over the age of 34) completed surveys about their drinking…

This study poses two questions that grow out of the student involvement theory: First, what is the relationship between different forms of involvement? Second, what are the optimal amounts and combinations of different forms of involvement for students' cognitive and affective growth? Involvement in academic work and involvement in student clubs…

In a sample of 434 university freshmen, Sense of Identity was found to be positively related to GPA, even controlling for the Big Five personality traits of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, Extraversion, and Openness. Similar correlations were found for racial and gender subgroups. When all study variables entered a stepwise…