Emphasizing Independence and Interdependence With a Values-Affirmation Intervention to Improve Outcomes for First-Generation College Students

• In Event: Motivation Interventions Targeting Mind-Set and Value

Abstract

First-generation college students, for whom neither parent has a four-year college degree, face challenges when there is not clear alignment between their values and those of their university. We modified a values-affirmation intervention to improve this alignment and tested its effects in a laboratory experiment. The intervention encouraged students to affirm both independent values (which are consistent with the culture of higher education) and interdependent values (which are consistent with working-class culture). Compared to a control condition, the intervention improved students’ performance on a stressful performance task and increased the degree to which first-generation students perceived a match between their values and those of the university. Integrating distinct cultural values may improve first-generation students’ experiences of higher education.

Authors

• Cameron Hecht, The University of Texas at Austin

• Stacy J. Priniski, Michigan State University

• Yoi Tibbetts, University of Virginia

• Judith Harackiewicz, University of Wisconsin