First-generation students and students of lower socioeconomic status often prepare for postsecondary education without the benefit of information provided by their families, resulting in lower levels of college access (Lundberg, 2007). Few researchers have sought to understand how potential first-generation college students might go about obtaining the necessary information for a successful transition to college. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine to whom students talk about college and to explore the potential reciprocal relationship between resources for and information about college provided by others and students’ educational beliefs. This dissertation consisted of two empirical studies. In the first study, the composition of students’ networks and differences in social capital were examined among middle and high school students from a rural Appalachian school district (N = 388). Students reported to whom they talked about college and answered questions about each person that they named. Junior and senior high school students spoke to fewer individuals about college than middle grades students. Senior high school students spoke to individuals in their networks more frequently than middle grades students. Boys spoke to fewer individuals about college than girls. Boys received fewer pieces of information about college compared to girls. Potential first-generation college students had fewer individuals in their network who had completed a college degree. The purpose of the second study was to examine the relationship between students’ college information networks and students’ beliefs about college. Participants were 364 students in Grades 6-12 from a rural Appalachian school district. Information on students’ college information networks was collected to better understand the relationship among first-generation college students’ access to social capital, their college-going self-efficacy, and their educational aspirations. College-going self-efficacy and educational aspirations were both significant predictors of available social capital. Social capital was not a significant predictor of students’ educational beliefs. College cultural capital was a significant predictor of students’ social capital and educational beliefs. Results of this dissertation are discussed relative to social cognitive theory and suggestions for educational interventions and future research are offered.

Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT; Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994) provided a theoretical framework for the present study. Students’ beliefs in their abilities to perform academic tasks (i.e., academic self-efficacy; Solberg, O’Brien, Villarreal, Kennell, & Davis, 1993) and to make career-related decisions (i.e., career decision self-efficacy; Betz & Taylor, 2001) are influential in their completion of college. College students with limited financial resources and those who do not have a family member in an older generation who graduated from college may not experience the same degree of efficacy as those students with greater financial resources or a college graduate role model in their families (Horn & Nuñez, 2000; Oliver, Rodriguez, & Mickleson, 1985; Wohlgemuth et al., 2006-2007). The present study tested two hypotheses: 1) First-generation college students will express lower levels of academic self-efficacy and career decision self-efficacy than continuing-generation college students; and 2) College students with high financial stress will express lower levels of academic self-efficacy and career decision self-efficacy than those with low financial stress. A 2 x 3 factorial multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses. Significant results of the MANOVA were explored using descriptive discriminant function analysis. Three post-hoc analyses were also completed. The results revealed no significant differences on levels of academic or career decision self-efficacy based on generational status, however, differences in both forms of self-efficacy were found based on financial stress. Strengths and limitations, implications for theory and counseling, and directions for future research are discussed. Consistent with SCCT, the salient factor of financial stress has an influence on college students’ academic self-efficacy and career decision self-efficacy. Contrary to much of the past research, one’s generational status does not have an influence on these two variables. / Department of Counseling Psychology and Guidance Services

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2009. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 30, 2007) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2007. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 207 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 198-203).

abstract: The purpose of this study was to help increase success for first-generation Latina students at Arizona State University by providing a group mentoring support experience during the spring semester of their sophomore year. Thirteen first-generation Latinas in their sophomore year were recruited from the Obama Scholars Program at Arizona State University. These students participated in one or two 90-minute group mentoring intervention sessions during the spring semester of their sophomore year and responded to reflection questions at the end of each session. Additional data were collected through e-journaling and field notes to document the mentoring process and the short-term effects of the group mentoring intervention. Study participants named three themes as critical to their college success: college capital, confidence, and connections. Participants also reported that the intervention of group mentoring sessions helped them increase their knowledge of available resources, feel more confident about their remaining years in college, make connections with other first-generation Latinas, and convinced them to recommit themselves to working hard for immediate academic success to achieve their goal of becoming the first in their families to become a college graduate. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

abstract: While more first-generation college (FGC) students are enrolling in college than ever before, these students still have poorer performance and higher rates of dropout than continuing-generation college (CGC) students. While many theories have predicted the academic performance of FGC students, few have taken into account the cultural transition to the university context. Similar to ethnic biculturals, FGC students must adjust to the middle-class culture of the university, and face challenges negotiating different cultural identities. I propose that FGC students who perceive their working- and middle-class identities as harmonious and compatible should have improved performance, compared to those that perceive their identities as incompatible. In three preliminary studies, I demonstrate that first-generation college students identify as social class bicultural, that integrated social class identities are positively related to well-being, health, and performance, that the effects of integrated identities on health and well-being are mediated by reduced acculturative stress. The current studies explore whether these effects persist across time and whether exposure to middle-class norms before college predict social class bicultural identity integration for FGC students. Results demonstrate that the effects of social class bicultural identity integration on depression and academic performance persist across time and that exposure to college graduates before college predicts social class bicultural identity integration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Psychology 2017