Date of Award

8-2019

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Anne Ellison

Second Advisor

Meredith Elzy

Third Advisor

Adam Pazda

Abstract

Objective: First generation college students often experience academic, financial, and social barriers that often make it difficult for them to succeed in a college setting. First generation college students often face challenges regarding degree access, degree attainment, financial barriers, difficultly in social engagement, reduced academic self-efficacy and academic resiliency. Recent research has examined the protective factors that work to increase resiliency and buffer first generation students from these barriers. The current study sought to examine the impact of parental support on the association between generational status and academic resiliency Method: Both First Generation participants (n=109) and non-first generation (n=86) were completed surveys which assessed parental social support (Inventory of Social Supportive Behaviors), unsupportive parental interactions (Unsupportive Social Interactions Inventory), and academic resiliency (Academic Resiliency Scale-30). It was hypothesized that there would be a significant interaction between generational status, parental support behaviors, unsupportive parental interactions and academic resiliency, where first generation students would have lower academic resiliency due in part to lower levels of parental support and higher levels of unsupportive parental interactions. The direct relationship between generational status and academic resiliency was expected to be mediated by parental social support and unsupportive parental interactions. Results: Results showed that first generation students were not significantly different than non-first generation students in terms of parental support behaviors, unsupportive parental interactions and levels of academic resiliency. Thus, no mediational relationships 2 were found. However, there was a significant relationship between levels of parental support, unsupportive parental interactions and academic resiliency. Conclusions: First generation students were more similar to their non-first generation counterparts than previous research has reported. Additionally, independent of generational status, findings suggest the importance of parental interactions, both positive and negative, which act to either bolster or hinder academic resiliency in their students.

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