Persistently low graduation rates continue to leave educators in search of ways to promote the success of college students. One understudied factor that scholarship has linked to student persistence and success is students' confidence in their major and career paths--their major and career self-efficacy (MCSE). Ways to increase students' MCSE in…

Wading into the third wave of student development theory, we used crip theory to reimagine nonableist student development theory. Based on data from an intersectional study of college students with physical disabilities, we analyzed the narratives of two participants. Cripping these narratives revealed how framing student development theory…

We introduce and evaluate the College Assets Measurement Profile for Undergraduate Students (CAMPUS), an assessment instrument for resilience factors in college-enrolled emerging adults. Developmental assets, its focus, are constructs proposed to protect against psychopathology, floundering, and riskiness, while also bolstering the likelihood of…

Theoretical modeling has been a widely used tool in the student persistence literature for many years; however, only recently has it been applied to the Historical Black College or University (HBCU) context in an intentional way. We investigated a theory of student persistence in commuter institutions at 2 commuter HBCUs (N = 147 students).…

Using data from the Higher Education Data Sharing Consortium (HEDS) Senior Survey, I compared first-generation students' self-reported levels of engagement and outcomes with those of continuing-generation students at 16 private liberal arts colleges (N = 7,611). Membership in the first-generation group demonstrated significant, positive main…

We used quantitative data from the National Study of LGBTQ Student Success to investigate if participation in high-impact educational practices influenced lesbian, gay, bisexual, or queer (LGBQ+) students' academic development. We also examined if these effects are mediated by perceptions of the campus environment. Our findings suggested that…

This qualitative study describes the experiences of 16 successful first-generation college students (FGCS) utilizing a theoretical lens, informed significantly by bioecological systems theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979), which guided our qualitative analyses of interview transcripts to examine the activities, roles, and relationships of these students…

Using data from a random sample of first-year students in the 2009 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), we compared engagement in educationally purposeful activities in college, a set of educational outcomes, and the relationship between student engagement and educational outcomes for nonathletes and student-athletes participating in low-…

A substantial proportion of college students have always worked while pursuing their college degree. However, despite decades of research on working college students, very little consensus has emerged about the effect of work on college student development. This study analyzes Wabash National Study (WNS) data from 2,931 first-year students at 19…

This multilevel study extends the work of Pascarella, Ethington, & Smart (1988) and Rhee and Dey (1996) to investigate how student-level characteristics and organizational characteristics affect college students' civic values. Institutional variables found to impact civic values include institutional selectivity, institutional size, and attending…

Liberal arts colleges have prided themselves on providing students with a quality undergraduate education among a scholarly community who are interested in their holistic development. Past research has found students who attended liberal arts colleges more frequently experienced Chickering and Gamson's (1987, 1991) good practices in undergraduate…

The impacts of community service participation on college student development are extensive and well documented. The characteristics of students that predict volunteerism, however, are not well understood. The purpose of this study is two-fold: first, to estimate the differences in first-year students' decision to volunteer while in college by…

This longitudinal study of Latino/a college students considers the influence of Latino/a college student experiences and ethnic identity on holistic development. Findings indicate that although similar characteristics are seen among Latino/a students, the role of recognizing and making meaning of racism is a significant developmental task. This is…

Using a survey of self-authorship (Pizzolato, 2004), this longitudinal study investigated to what extent particular student characteristics (e.g., demographics characteristics, academic preparation characteristics) and the college environment (i.e., academic and living environment) influence self-authorship development. Findings in this…

Examined the relationship between cognitive development and the development of identity in college freshmen. During the beginning of the freshman year of college, students who scored higher in cognitive development tended to have a less developed sense of self than students who scored lower in cognitive development. (Author/LLL)