Between Class: A Latent Class Analysis of Nonclassroom Activities of First-Year College Students

• In Event: Teaching Innovations Within and Beyond the College Classroom

Abstract

How college students spend time remains a popular topic in understanding of how the collegiate environment fosters attachment and positive outcomes. Current quantitative research often focusses only on specific activities and ignore how activities interact with one another on outcomes. Using the Wabash National Study, this study utilizes a latent class analysis to understand how 30 different activities interlock with one another to create student activity portfolios. The study finds four classes of student involvement in classes. Nearly 50% of students report low involvement, high achievers constitute 20% of students, 16% of students report religious involvement, while 15% of students comprise the party-jock class. Further discussion concerns the makeup of the classes and future directions of the manuscript.

Authors

• Mitchell David Lingo, The Pennsylvania State University

• Weilin Chen, National Sun Yat-sen University