Faith, Family, and Failure? Guilt, Shame, and Academic Recovery among Latina Undergraduates on Probation

• In Event: Latiné/x Students: Experiences, Growth, and Servingness Across Contexts

Abstract

This study explores how Latina undergraduate women on academic warning or probation navigate recovery while balancing cultural, religious and gendered expectations. Using critical frameworks grounded in LatCrit and Guiffrida’s culturally informed theory, and contar historias, we examine how marianismo, Catholic values, and familial pressures shape students’ internal motivation, self-worth and interactions with institutional support. Findings reveal how guilt, shame, and silence often coexist with resilience, and how advising structures frequently fall short of culturally responsive engagement. Participants resisted reductive stereotypes and called for affirming guidance. By centering their narratives, this research challenges deficit views of academic probation and highlights the need for diving practices that honor students’;’ identities and lived experiences. We offer practical recommendations for supporting culturally grounded academic recovery.

Authors

• Mary Dueñas, University of Tenneesee

• Lazaro Camacho, University of Rhode Island

• Pietro Antonio Sasso, Delaware State University