Fear and Resistance to College: Behavioral Factors in Mexican American Students Withdrawal from College

• In Event: 082 - Open Refereed Roundtable Session I
  In Refereed Roundtable: A. Table 09. Latino Education

Abstract

Only 10 percent of Hispanics have four-year college degrees. Academic struggles and social identity conflict may affect the experiences of many Hispanic students. Students with poor self-efficacy have less confidence to succeed academically. Students may also feel out of place if the university’s population is predominantly white. Consequently, some students may feel they are not academically or socially prepared to handle college assignments and to compete with white students. To examine this, Hispanic high school graduates from Chicago were interviewed using open-ended surveys. Poor academic self-efficacy, specifically concern with understanding and keeping up with college-level material, leads Hispanic students to academically withdrawal in college. Some participants demonstrated poor motivation and laziness during high school, which persisted in college, further reducing their self-efficacy and contributing to their academic withdrawal. Poor academic self-efficacy, specifically concern with understanding and keeping up with college-level material, leads Hispanic students to academically withdrawal in college. Some participants demonstrated poor motivation and laziness during high school, which persisted in college, further reducing their self-efficacy and contributing to their academic withdrawal. Some participants may withdraw from college when they fail to get involved in college activities, further amplifying social identity conflict. Some students may withdraw from college because they feel social identity conflict in college.

Authors

• Pamela Limon, University of Illinois-Chicago

• Samuel Solano, University of Illinois-Chicago

• Erik Hernandez, University of Illinois-Chicago