This research examines the relationships between first-year college students' attendance at campus-sponsored extracurricular events and grade point average, persistence from fall to spring, and retention to the second year. Students' attendance at various campus life events over the course of an academic year was tracked by scanning students'…

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to: (1) examine changes in stress during first semester among freshmen undergraduates and (2) identify predictors of stress (coping strategies, emotional states, and quality of sleep). Participants: One hundred ninety-seven freshmen students were recruited for a 10-week study during first quarter…

Objective: To examine differences between heterosexual and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning students' nonmedical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD). Participants: First-year university students between October 2009 and October 2013 who self-identified as heterosexual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, or questioning. Methods: Students completed…

Many researchers assessing the efficacy of educational programs face challenges due to issues with non-randomization and the likelihood of dependence between nested subjects. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate a rigorous research methodology using a hierarchical propensity score matching method that can be utilized in contexts where…

Research on the faculty impact on students' academic achievement has been disproportionately confined to the context of countries with developed higher education systems. Few studies have been undertaken in the developing world like Cambodia. This study employed hierarchical linear modeling to examine the relationships between faculty behaviors…

Completing college is now the minimum threshold for entry into the middle class. This has pushed college readiness issues to the forefront in efforts to increase educational attainment. Little is known about how college readiness improves outcomes for students traditionally marginalized in educational settings or if social background factors…

This study used data from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to examine how student background characteristics, student engagement, and institutional characteristics correlate with the frequency of interactional diversity among community college students. Given the current lack of research on interactional diversity among…

Students' learning goals demonstrate much stronger variety than traditional goal orientation models for classroom learning assume, especially when the educational context allows so. In this empirical study we will investigate the richness of students' goal orientation in a collaborative learning context. We do so with the help of a goal…

Openness to diversity and challenge (ODC) constitutes an integral outcome of the undergraduate experience. However, ODC may also serve as a form of generalized openness to experience; if so, then it should be positively related to a host of college experiences as well as student success. The study reported here explored this possibility within a…

This paper delves into a facet of socioeconomic diversity relatively unaddressed in the literature: student reports of cross-class interaction ("reported CCI"). Previous research has found that student interaction across social class is a significant predictor of cross-racial interaction, but it is unknown whether the actual…

Undergraduates (N = 2,823) at 6 universities were surveyed longitudinally to examine the relevance of student home setting on the transition to university. Preliminary results indicated that rural students seem less likely to attend large, ethnically diverse universities. Hierarchical linear models revealed that "proximal rural" students…

The purpose of the study was to estimate the relationship between academic achievement in college, as defined by first-year grade point average (GPA), and self-authorship among African American first-year students at an HBCU (N = 140), using hierarchical linear regression techniques. A single research question guided this investigation: What is…

The current study evaluated the relationship between various operationalizations of the Advanced Placement[R] (AP) exam and course information with first-year grade point average (FYGPA) in college to better understand the role of AP in college admission decisions. In particular, the incremental validity of the different AP variables, above…

Literature shows that attendance is an important bidirectional link in engaging students in learning. However, metacognitive awareness eludes many first-year students--particularly the disadvantaged, including those with low admission scores, English as a second language or coming from low socio-economic status (SES), migrant, or first-in-family…

Background: It is often claimed that psychology students' attitudes towards research methods and statistics affect course enrolment, persistence, achievement, and course climate. However, the inter-institutional variability has been widely neglected in the research on students' attitudes towards research methods and statistics, but it is important…