Factors related to persistence and non-persistence among freshmen at a private, religious, non-sectarian university
University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, PhD Thesis, (1981)Abstract
The purpose of this study was to compare returning and non-returning freshmen students in relation to selected personal, academic, and institutional variables. Specifically, this study sought to identify variables which would identify those freshmen most likely to leave college during their freshmen year and/or not return for their sophomore year. Personal variables such as concern with social adjustment, study attitudes and skills, family support, and self-concept for education were measured with the Mooney Problem Checklist and the Survey of Study Habits and Attitudes. Academic variables were derived from high school grades, type of high school attended, and first semester freshman grades, while institutional variables consisted of disciplinary demerits. The sample was drawn from a random assignment of students in a required social studies class. The sample comprised approximately one-third of the freshman class of 1980-81. Findings were that only disciplinary demerits, freshman grades, and study attitudes were significantly related to persistence and non-persistence to the sophomore year. It can be concluded that freshmen attending colleges such as the one in this study represent a more heterogeneous group than may have been assumed, thus requiring more individual institutional analyses. It may also be concluded that the high schools providing these students may be more heterogeneous due to their mostly private status than had been thought to be the case.