Patterns of Success: First-Year Student Success in Multiple Domains

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 69
  In Roundtable Session: First-Year Experiences

Abstract

By analyzing three domains of first-year student success simultaneously, namely students’ academic achievement, their critical thinking, and their social-emotional adjustment, this study aimed to provide insight into differences between first-year students regarding their university success. Based on questionnaire data from 389 students, latent class cluster analysis revealed three patterns of success: 1) average-achieving well-adjusted students (64%), 2) high-achieving average-adjusted students (14%), and 3) low-achieving low-adjusted students (22%). Follow-up ANCOVAs suggested that low-achieving low-adjusted students most strongly experienced that their social life hindered their study, whereas average-achieving high-adjusted students experienced the least interference from their study on their social life. These results show that student success is a multi-domain concept, with subgroups of first-year students showing specific patterns of success.

Authors

• Petrie van der Zanden, Radboud University Nijmegen

• Eddie Denessen, Radboud University Nijmegen

• Toon Cillessen, Radboud University Nijmegen

• Paulien C. Meijer, Radboud University Nijmegen