Latino students often embark on their post-secondary educational journey at a community college due to cost, proximity to family, and open access policies. The current literature on Latina/o community college students has primarily focused on a deficit view of the educational aspirations and educational completion of this population. The current rapid and expected growth of the Latina/o population requires a call to action to identify the capital and supports employed by these students to navigate their journey to eventual transfer to the University in the Southwest region of the United States. Guided by Yosso's (2005) Community Cultural Wealth framework, my dissertation examined the educational experiences of five Latino male students at a Southwest Community College. Latina/o students highlighted the challenges that they encountered, resources available to overcome these challenges, and their resiliency. The findings are indicative of the presence and utilization of aspirational, navigational and resilience capital driven by self-determination.

This study examined the role of ethnic identity and loneliness as predictors of suicide risk, namely, hopelessness and suicidal behaviors, in Latino college students. One hundred sixty Latino students completed a survey assessing for the aforementioned constructs. Results of conducting regression analyses indicated that ethnic identity was a significant predictor of suicide risk. When loneliness was added into the regression model, it was found to account for a significant amount of incremental variance in both of the suicide risk indices. Our findings indicate that ethnic identity dimensions and loneliness are involved in suicide risk among Latinos.

In the present study, we examined ethnic variables (viz., multigroup ethnic identity and other group orientation) along with negative life events as predictors of depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviors in a sample of 156 (38 male and 118 female) Latino college students. Results of conducting hierarchical regression analyses indicated that the set of ethnic variables accounted for significant variance in both depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviors. The inclusion of negative life events was found to account for significant additional variance in both outcomes, beyond what was accounted for by ethnic variables. Interestingly, beyond main effects, results indicated a significant Other Group Orientation × Negative Life Events interaction effect to account for additional variance in depressive symptoms and suicidal behaviors. Some implications of the present findings are discussed, including the potential value for Latinos to broaden their attitudes and interactions with other ethnic groups.

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The literature on Latino college students, particularly at Predominantly White Universities, suggests that they are enrolling at higher rates at the beginning of the first year in college than prior years, but dropping out at higher rates than any other racial/ethnic group. For students whom are the first in their family to attend college, attrition rates are even more pronounced. In the present study, based on Bourdieu’s Social Capital Theory, group differences based on race/ethnicity and college-generational status were examined for reported anxiety, depression, and academic problems at the beginning and end of the first semester of students’ first year at a university. The results indicated that differences in reported outcome measures were greater when examined between college-generation Mexican American groups, rather than between racial/ethnic groups more generally. Additionally, it was hypothesized that for Mexican American first-generation college students, perceived family support at the beginning of the semester would mediate the relationship between academic self-efficacy and academic problems at the end of the semester. The results of the study provided support for this hypothesis, suggesting that perceived support from family, even when it is not entirely instrumental, offers benefits for first-generation Mexican American college students. Implications for future interventions, both pre and post-college entry are discussed. / text

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Latinos are the largest and most rapidly growing ethnic minority in the United States, and they have the highest dropout rates of any major ethnic group in the country (U.S. Department of Labor, 2003). Latinos' educational attainment is consistently lower than that of other students (Gandara, 2008). The majority of Latino college students in the state of Oregon are of Mexican origin and have parents with low income and low levels of education, which ultimately influences the students' decisions in whether or not to pursue higher education. This study examines these and other factors which motivate Latino students to pursue higher education in selected colleges in the state of Oregon. Quantitative data was gathered and evaluated to determine their academic self-efficacy, an idea grounded in Social Cognitive Theory (Bandura 1997). Accordingly, this dissertation analyzed personal, environmental, and demographic factors as determinants of the academic self-efficacy of Latino college students. The results indicated that mothers (family being one of the environmental factors) were the most motivating persons for Latino college students pursuing higher education, followed by the influence of friends. The results also revealed that another influencing factor in academic self-efficacy of Latino college students was their own self-efficacy and their personal goal orientation. Female students reported the highest scores of self-efficacy for a four-year institution, followed by students of both genders aged between 18 and 22 years old. Latino college students' choice of agriculture as a program to pursue in higher education was also analyzed, despite the fact that the majority (92 %) of Latino college students did not choose an agriculture-related career. / Graduation date: 2012