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Social and Cultural Capital
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Social and Cultural Capital
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Social and Cultural Capital
How Relevant Is Grit? The Importance of Social Capital in First-Generation College Students’ Academic Success
Using social network and attribute analysis, this study examined the relationship between grit and social capital, as well as the impact both of these factors have on the college success of firstgeneration students. Participants included 156 first-generation students, all in their junior or senior years at a private, religiously affiliated university in the Southwest. Aspects of social capital, including informational network support and social support, were examined along with grit scores. Additionally, researchers surveyed participants using the Grit Scale (Duckworth et al., 2007) and the Social Support Scale (Russell & Cutrona, 1984). The findings indicate that grit was not a significant predictor of success (measured by GPA) for the first-generation students in the study; rather, access to social capital was found to be a significator predictor for the cumulative GPAs for first-generation students. Also noteworthy were the differences in the GPAs of commuter first-generation students who reported having at least five faculty and staff members in their information support network. Those commuter first-generation student participants with fewer faculty and staff in their information support network had “an expected decrease of 0.13 in GPA” (p. 14). The findings also indicate a relationship between grit and aspects of social capital— specifically, first-generation students who had higher GPAs also had larger peer information support groups compared with those of participants with lower GPAs. The researchers suggest that the intertwining of grit mindset/use of grit and use of resources in the social network of first-generation students are important for these students to succeed.
Transitioning from High School to College: Examining the Sources and Influences of Social Capital for a First-Generation Latina Student
The paper follows Camilla, a 19-year-old Latinx woman from El Salvador, as she progresses through different stages in education from childhood, through high school, and to her f irst year of college at a 4-year university. Over a 9-month period, Clemens conducted semistructured interviews, made observations, and collected supporting documents including social media posts and emails. The researcher wrote field notes and memos, developing codes for interpreting themes simultaneously. A social capital theoretical lens framed Camilla’s access to resources, relationships, and the individuals who had an impact on her transition from high school to college. Camilla shared how her previous experiences helped her adapt to a new setting in college and how her family played a vital role. Implications for students and families include managing how changing dynamics in relationships can affect communication and the bond between the student and their family members during their transition to college. The counternarrative also describes how Camilla’s experiences—and those of students similar to her—can inform public policy and reframe the first-generation student narrative from that of a deficit mindset to one of an asset-based framework.
“Life prepared me well for succeeding”: The enactment of community cultural wealth, experiential capital, and transfer student capital by firstgeneration engineering transfer students.
This qualitative study explored the experiences of 15 firstgeneration community college transfer students majoring in engineering. Using the theoretical frameworks of theory of community cultural wealth, experiential capital, and transfer student capital, the researchers analyzed semistructured interview data of 86 participants between fall 2011 and spring 2013; the data centered on how specific forms of capital, particularly relevant to first-generation transfer students, shape student decisions and experiences. The study focused on strengths associated with the variety of capital that the firstgeneration students had. Researchers found that these forms of capital (familial, aspirational, navigational/transfer, social, and experiential) intersected and interacted with one another to contribute to positive outcomes for first-generation students. Interestingly, the study participants connected with other students more for their transfer student identity than for their first-generation student or engineering identities.
Students' Intentions and Social Support as Predictors of Self-Reported Academic Behaviors: A Comparison of First- and Continuing-Generation College Students
The theoretical framework of this study included the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1991) and that of social capital (Coleman, 1988). Data came from a larger longitudinal study that examined the adjustment and academic success of college freshmen at a public, 4-year university in central Texas. The researchers used two surveys for the fall 2004 cohort of college freshmen; the first yielded 945 responses, and the second, a year later, yielded 333. The second survey included items about actual performance of specific academic behaviors and a 13item Parents as Sources of Support subscale from Kenny’s (1987) Parental Attachment Questionnaire. Findings suggested that parental and peer support were less salient for first-generation students in predicting the extent to which they performed academic behaviors; intention was the only significant variable in the regression model for first-generation students. These f indings also upheld social capital theory in that support from friends and family did not play a statistically significant part in predicting the academic behaviors of first-generation students; however, social support from either parents or peers was important for the other two groups of students. Furthermore, because this study found that parental support was predictive of the academic behaviors of the second and third groups, it may be that having parents with at least some college experience is enough to provide the social capital needed to navigate the transition to college and the college environment.
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