The purpose of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between the self-esteem and academic success of African American students in the Minority Engineering Program (MEP) at a research-extensive university in the Southern portion of the United States. The nature of the study required the use of descriptive, comparative, and correlational research methods.
The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory Adult Form (CSEI-A), a 25-item dichotomous self-report questionnaire was used to measure the level of self-esteem of all respondents. CSEI-A data was collected through the use of an on-line survey program, called Zoomerang©. Data on the specific demographic and academic variables related to the objectives of this study was collected from the Universitys official records in the College of Engineering.
The target population of this study was defined as African American students enrolled in a Minority Engineering Program at a research extensive university in the Southern portion of the United States. A census of 260 African American engineering students was selected to participate in the study, and a total of 121 completed the on-line survey resulting in a 46.5% response rate. Overall high levels of self-esteem were demonstrated. The mean CSEI-A score was determined to be 71.64/100.
Findings of the study indicated that there was a positive relationship between level of self-esteem and demographic variables, such as parents highest educational level completed, year of classification, cumulative GPA, and engineering major GPA. Furthermore, findings revealed that respondents with high cumulative and engineering GPAs were found to have higher levels of self-esteem. Stepwise multiple regression analysis of dummy coded variables gender, age, year of classification, and parents highest educational level completed as possible predictors of CSEI-A scores revealed that year 1 students reported lower CSEI-A scores than all other students. However, year 1 students who reported their parents highest educational level completed as a bachelor degree or higher scored higher on the CSEI-A than year 1 students who reported their parents highest educational level completed as an associate degree or lower.
Results from this study support the need for the inclusion of a self-esteem building component into the retention efforts of the program. The researcher also recommended that the study institution develop first-generation college student retention strategies, such as individual and group counseling, intensive orientation programs, first-year experience courses, and learning communities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-11042009-102505 |
| Date | 04 November 2009 |
| Creators | Harris, Sandra Latrice |
| Contributors | Machtmes, Krisanna, Burnett, Michael, Friedel, Curtis, Fox, Janet, Mitchell, Roland |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-11042009-102505/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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