THE EFFECT OF COLLEGE ROLE MODELS, PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT IN ACADEMICS AND ACADEMIC SELF-ESTEEM ON ACADEMIC ASPIRATIONS
Open Access
Author:
Moor, Hallie Carlson
Area of Honors:
Sociology
Degree:
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type:
Thesis
Thesis Supervisors:
Jennifer Lynne Van Hook, Thesis Supervisor Stacy Silver, Thesis Honors Advisor
Keywords:
college access high-achieving students first generation college students latino low-income educational aspirations education aspirations
Abstract:
Post-secondary education has become increasingly important for obtaining a high-paying job in today’s society. This study focuses on factors that can improve academic aspirations for low-income, high-achieving, Latino, first-generation college students. The sample for this study is made up of three groups of students. Two of the groups are students enrolled in a college access program, the Campbell Scholars Program (CSP). The first contains students who have been through at least one summer session in CSP. The second group includes CSP students who had not yet taken part in a summer in CSP at the time of the study. The third group of students is made up of a national sample of students surveyed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Findings suggest that summers in CSP improve students’ academic aspirations. College role models and academic self-esteem act as partial mediators for the relationship between summers in CSP and academic aspirations. Parental involvement in academics, however, does not. Gender tends not to have a significant effect on any of these variables except for students’ academic self-esteem.