Academic Support and Psychosocial Factors Predicting GPA of Community College Student-Athletes by Racial/Ethnic Group

• In Event: Today's Collegiate Student-Athlete Experiences: Understanding the Psychosocial, Motivational, and Contextual Factors Involved

Abstract

Within the last two decades, there has been a growing interest in understanding the experiences of community college student-athletes (CCSA) (Comeaux & Davidson, 2022). However, unlike student-athletes at four-year institutions, the CCSA research literature on academic achievement is limited. In a recent meta-analysis (García et al., under review) examining the relationship between psychosocial factors and academic achievement across athletic divisions (two-year and four-year institutions), only 3.4% focused on CCSA.

For this quantitative study, our theoretical framework consisted of the Model for College Student-Athlete Academic Success (Comeaux & Harrison, 2011) and the Model of Student Engagement (Nora, 2003). Identifying factors for student success, both models emphasized psychosocial and background characteristics—demographics and educational preparation—contributing to academic and campus interactions, such as academic/transfer advising and student engagement. Informed by both models, we used data from the multi-institutional Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE) to examine survey items aligned with our theoretical framework. Our research question was: to what extent are background, campus interactions, environmental, and psychosocial factors associated with CCSA academic achievement?

Our sample comprised of 4,195 CCSA who completed the 2018 CCSSE and self-identified as a student-athlete sponsored by the college athletics department (see Table 6). We grouped CCSSE items into four blocks: background (age, gender, generation status, high school GPA, academic preparedness); campus interaction (frequency, satisfaction, and importance of academic advising and transfer advising), campus engagement (encouraging study time, providing support to succeed, encouraging contact with students from different backgrounds, helping cope with non-academics, providing support to thrive socially, providing financial support), and psychosocial factors (sense of belonging, self-efficacy, utility value, growth mindset, fixed mindset). Our analysis consisted of four simultaneous, hierarchical regressions—an overall CCSA sample and three racial subgroups (Hispanic, Black, White)—with college GPA as the dependent variable.

As displayed in Table 7, we found that high school GPA significantly predicted college GPA for the overall sample and the three racial subgroups. For the overall sample and White CCSA, age was a positive predictor of college GPA. As for campus interactions, the satisfaction of academic advising, the importance of transfer advising, and whether an advisor developed an academic plan significantly predicted college GPA for the overall sample. Similarly, the importance of transfer advising positively predicted GPA for Hispanic CCSA. Next, regarding environmental factors, we found that an emphasis on supporting students to succeed was positively associated with college GPA for the overall sample. In the last block, self-efficacy for the overall sample and Latinx sub-sample was positively associated with college GPA.

Although findings for the overall CCSA indicated that various institutional supports predict college GPA, this was not consistently replicated when analyzed by racial subgroups. This suggests that supporting CCSA of Color may require a greater emphasis on staff engagement and interaction, especially with Black CCSA, to student development and academic achievement (Ortagus & Merson, 2015; Oseguera et al., 2018; Rankin et al., 2016). Additionally, findings suggest that academic confidence and goals for transferring to four-year institutions are important to consider when supporting Hispanic CCSA.

Authors

• Agustín J. García, Texas State University
  Presenting Author

• Carlton J. Fong, Texas State University
  Non-Presenting Author