Intergenerational Trauma and Student Success: Equity-Based Counternarratives of Power, Strength, and Hope

• In Event: Moscone Center North Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: First-Generation Students Navigating College: Challenges and Opportunities for Success

Abstract

Intergenerational or historical trauma (IHT) can adversely affect first generation student success by amplifying imposter syndrome, stereotype threat, external invalidation, constant micro- and macroaggressions, and Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome (deGruy, 2005), leaving students besieged with messages of inadequacy and feelings of incompatibility / inability to succeed. Equity-based approaches grounded in critical theory illuminate how IHT decreases when valuing, not abrogating, student narratives. Researchers will present outcome data from participants of a comprehensive student support initiative, the High Potential Sphere of Success at Saint Mary’s College of California components of which work in concert to extract how student’s experiences impact their academic and psychosocial success.

Authors

• Tracy Pascua Dea, Saint Mary's College of California

• Gloria Aquino Sosa, Saint Mary's College of California