Poster #86 - Shifts in Motivation and Belonging as Predictors of College Student Retention: A Mixed-Methods Approach

• In Event: 3-159 - Poster Session 12
  In Poster Session: PS 12 Section - Education, Schooling

Integrative Statement

Student attrition over the first year of college is an issue of longstanding concern. Research using Self-Determination Theory has shown that academic motivation predicts college retention – especially when those motives are autonomous (i.e., self-directed, volitional) – but this effect is not found consistently. Moreover, it is unclear how more controlled academic motives (i.e., externally or internally pressured) may impact retention, with evidence of both risk and protective functions.
These mixed findings may result from an overreliance on motivation data collected at college entry. The literature on college retention indicates that what happens after entry matters more than what happened before, thus initial levels of motivation may be less meaningful than the trajectory of motivation over time. The present study therefore focused on motivational shifts over the first semester as predictors of retention. We also examined shifts in students’ subjective sense of belonging, both because it promotes persistence and because there is some evidence that belonging may be a source of autonomous motivation at the college level.
We hypothesized that shifts toward greater belonging, more autonomous motives, and less controlled motives over the first semester of college would predict retention to sophomore year. Qualitative data were used to explain motivational differences as a function of retention status.

Method
471 first-year students at a liberal arts college completed surveys assessing their motivation (autonomous, controlled) and belonging at the beginning and end of their first semester. They also provided brief narratives explaining changes in their motivation. Registration status for sophomore year was collected from institutional records.

Results
Quantitative Data. As predicted, retention status was significantly predicted by growth in belonging and autonomous motivation but reduction of controlled motivation (Table 1). Importantly, these relationships held when controlling for first-year GPA. A mediation analysis showed that shifts in the proportion of autonomous to controlled motives partially mediated (29.69%) the effects of belonging on retention status.
Qualitative Data. Using thematic analysis, we coded students’ responses while blind to retention status. Figure 1 shows that dropouts were more likely to report motivational problems than their persistent peers. There was also a trend for dropouts to report more issues with the social context and less practical success as they adjusted to the collegiate environment. Reports of neither stress nor eagerness to learn differed by retention status.

Conclusion
Autonomous motives protected against dropout and controlled motives raised the risk. Importantly, motivational change was a better predictor of retention than static levels at college entry, reflecting a dynamic and situated view of motivation that may be fruitful in future research on college retention. Qualitative findings echoed these effects in that motivational problems such as loss of interest were reported more by dropouts than persisters.
Retention was also predicted by growth in belonging. Qualitative data provided triangulation in that dropouts reported more issues with the social context (e.g., not fitting in, disliking institutional culture). Students’ narratives also provided complementarity in that retention groups differed not only in terms of motivational and contextual experiences, but also the practical aspects of adjusting to college.

Authors

• Jennifer Henderlong Corpus, Reed College
  Presenting Author

• Cody H Biesanz, Reed College
  Non-Presenting Author