Structuring First-Year Retention at a Regional Public Institution: Validating and Refining the Structure of Bowman's SEM Analysis

Autor/inn/en	Collier, Daniel A.; Fitzpatrick, Dan; Brehm, Chelsea; Hearit, Keith; Beach, Andrea
Titel	Structuring First-Year Retention at a Regional Public Institution: Validating and Refining the Structure of Bowman's SEM Analysis
Quelle	In: Research in Higher Education, 61 (2020) 8, S.917-942 (26 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Collier, Daniel A.) ORCID (Fitzpatrick, Dan) ORCID (Brehm, Chelsea)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0361-0365
DOI	10.1007/s11162-020-09612-w
Schlagwörter	College Freshmen; School Holding Power; Public Colleges; Structural Equation Models; Academic Persistence; Student Characteristics; Financial Problems; Security (Psychology); Food; Social Adjustment + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Studienanfänger; Security; Psychology; Sicherheit; Lebensmittel; Soziale Anpassung
Abstract	Structural equation modeling (SEM) considering how students' non-cognitive attributes influence first-year college student persistence remain extraordinarily rare--as are studies that test and expand upon published structural models or studies that include college student food security. This study addresses each. We surveyed "Beginner" Freshmen, capturing eight non-cognitive measurements and using institutional data on performance and fall-to-fall persistence measures, we then tested the structure of Bowman et al.'s (Res High Educ 60:135-152, 2019) SEM model. In Model 1, we mimic the Bowman model's financial variable by only including financial stress. We confirm that Bowman is a good structural model of student persistence, although our data were collected for another purpose, using different scales for non-cognitive elements and even one different non-cognitive measurement. We found students' non-cognitive attributes remain importantly influential to social adjustment (r=0.65), commitment to persist (r=0.40), college GPA (r=0.25), and fall-to-fall persistence (r=0.30). In Model 2, we generated a latent financial security variable incorporating financial stress and food security. Including food security generated a direct influence from the financial security variable to high-school GPA (r=0.25), not found in the Bowman model or Model 1, and a direct significant relationship from financial security to social adjustment (r=0.11)--not found in Model 1. Further changes are observed in the indirect relationship from financial security to college GPA from Model 1 (r=0.29) to Model 2 (r=0.51). We highlight the robustness of the Bowman model and that the inclusion of food security brings increased strength to several relationships without sacrificing optimal fit. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01