Motivation and First Generation Students (Prospero & Vohra-Gupta, 2007)

I took this picture when I was walking alone during my first visit to China. It reminded me of how a student might feel when approaching the college steps for the first time when neither of his/her parents had gone before...excited and yet a little apprehensive.

---------------

Reference: Prospero, M., Vohra-Gupta, S. (2007). First generation college students: Motivation, integration, and academic achievement. Community College Journal, 31, 963-975.

This article is about how to support first-generation college students (FGS), i.e., college students whose parents have not graduated from college. The authors are looking at factors that help FSG to persist and graduate from college. The study looks at whether motivation (i.e., intrinsic, extrinsic and amotivation) and integration (i.e., academic and social) dimensions significantly contribute to academic achievement and whether they do so differently for FGS than non-FGS (NFGS).

There are two theories that help explain student achievement; the integrated model of student retention (IMSR) (Cabrera et al., 1993) and the self-determination theory of motivation (STD) (Deci & Ryan, 1985). This study explores how these theories work with FGS compared to NFGS (p. 967).

The authors found that "first-generation students who are academically integrated into the college system are more likely to have higher GPAs; those students who were extrinsically motivated and amotivated are more likely to have significantly lower GPAs" (p. 971). By comparison none of the motivation or integration factors appeared to contribute significantly to academic achievement for NFGS. According to some references in the literature review this may be because the NFGS has his or her parents and their experience to help them to manage college life, generally support their educational goals and model literacy (p. 965).

For FGS academic integration had the greatest contribution towards academic achievement. Academic integration was significantly correlated with intrinsic motivation, which means they both have important contributions to academic achievement for FGS.

So at this point, I'm sure you are wondering what you can do. Here are some suggestions provided:

1. Don't focus just on external rewards of academic achievement like getting a job but of the intrinsic rewards from the joy of learning. Academic integration is seen in improved study skills and reduced absenteeism (p. 973).
2. On the institutional level there should be ways to integrate FGS. One suggested way is "training faculty to use teaching methods that promote autonomous learning" (p. 973). Various references are included.

In the literature review, I thought it was interesting that it referenced studies that said "FSG benefit more than NFGS from classroom involvement, e.g., in-class participation, in-class discussions, and collaborative learning" (p. 965), yet this study focused on the benefits of autonomous learning.

This study was conducted on 197 community college students in the southern USA. I wonder if the results would translate to university students in Canada?

-----------------------

Interesting link to Psychology Today website...

Raising children to be competent and caring

by Michael Ungar, Ph.D.

The antidote to boredom is to provide children with an environment that lets them experience
autonomy (the ability to work a little on their own), control (the right to have a say over what they do), challenge (a small push beyond their comfort zone), and intrinsic motivation (the motivation comes from inside them).

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/nurturing-resilience/201206/let-kids-be-bored-occasionally