| This study explored the characteristics, levels of effort put forth, and self-reported gains for first-generation students in American public institutions of higher learning. Further, this study investigated the relationships between select input, bridge, and environmental measures on six gain factors: personal development, science and technology, general education, vocational preparation, intellectual development, and total gains. Astin's Input-Environment-Outcome model was utilized as the conceptual and empirical framework.; Two national databases were linked and secondary analyses were conducted on the merged data file. More specifically, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) provided those data on institutional characteristics and finance, and the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ) provided the input, environment, quality of effort, and outcome variables used in this study. The sample included 4,830 first-year students who completed the CSEQ in 1999 at twenty-one public institutions across the United States. In addition to application of chi-square tests of independence and analysis of variance to those data, hierarchical regressions were completed on a subsample of first-generation students consisting of 1,550 cases.; Although a majority of these first-generation students in this sample were White, female, academically prepared, and residing on-campus; a greater proportion of this subgroup when compared to second-generation students were non-White, less academically prepared, and commuter students. These results also indicated that first-generation students self-reported lower levels of student engagement in most of the quality of effort scales and lower levels of gains. Further, the findings showed that very few input, bridge, and between-college characteristics contribute to the overall model predicting the six gains. Overall, the environmental and involvement components of the college impact equation contribute most to the overall variance for the gains.; This research supports previous literature finding that first-generation students tend to undersubscribe to opportunities for involvement, report lower levels of gains, and apparently are also influenced less by institutional characteristics but more so by the environment and student engagement on their self-reported gains. Consideration for specific programming, increased support, encouraging relationships among peers-and faculty, and targeted publications for first-generation students, as well as greater emphasis on future longitudinal research were implicated in these data. |
