Literature Review #4

(1) Visual

 

(2) Citation            

• Piorkowski, Geraldine K. "Survivor Guilt in the University Setting." Personnel & Guidance Journal 61.10 (1983): 620-621. Print.

(3) Summary

•  The article studies the psychological difficulties that arise among urban first-generation students. These students often feel guilty for "being spared", while their family members lack social mobility. The author writes that this concept of survivor guilt presents "emotional and academic difficulties" (620).

(4) Author(s)

• Geraldine K. Piorkowski is the director of the Counseling and Testing Service at Roosevelt University, Chicago. She conducted studies through counseling sessions with students from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds. She focused on urban, low-income, first-generation students and found that they exhibited symptoms of survivor guilt.

(5) Key terms

•  depressive withdrawal- psychological symptom in response to family conflict and disintegration
• "blank in mind"- description of survivor's state of mind following a tragic event; not being able to focus intellectually which interferes ability to concentrate on intellectual material at the college or university level.

(6) Quotes

• "Often these students wonder why they should escape poverty with all of its attendant ills when their brothers and sisters have failed to do so" (620).
• "With low-income, urban, first-generation college students, the issue is not always death in the physical sense but rather death or stagnation at the emotional level" (620).
• "Some of these urban university students have encountered serious forms of psychosocial pathology among their families; others have witnessed less dramatic but equally meaningful examples of psychosocial failure, such as unemployment, apathy, or chaotic interpersonal relationships" (620).

(7) Value

• The article is helpful because it concentrates on the probability that first-generation students come from an urban or low-income background. It provides a more specific explanation of survivor guilt among first-generation students by introducing the severity of urban first-generation students. The author also introduces that maybe these students face tougher challenges because they are most likely to commute, juggle family responsibilities, and face tragic family misfortunes. This connection of survivor guilt gives an unforeseen reason for low first-generation student retention rates I have found in other sources.

Literature Review #3

(1) Visual

 

(2) Citation            

• Savitz-Romer, Mandy, and Suzanne M. Bouffard. Ready, Willing, and Able : A Developmental Approach to College Access and Success. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Education Press, 2012. Print.

(3) Summary

•  The book explores the entire college process of first-generation students. It offers information from an educational psychology point-of-view. The authors studied how such students measure their own potential to succeed in college. As well, they studied how peer and adult relationships can bolster college success.

(4) Author(s)

• Mandy Savitz-Romer Faculty Member and Director of the Prevention Science and Practice Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

• Suzanne Bouffard Researcher and Writer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

(5) Key terms

•  developmental perspective- focus on individual struggles and opportunities and their effects on the subject
• college success- completion of a degree [it is important to define what "success" is, in terms of education]

(6) Quotes

• "[Ronaldo] summed up his experience by saying that people in the [six-week campus live-in] program 'didn't see me,' by which he meant that they didn't see him as he saw himself--as a responsible person headed for a bright future," (1).
• "...first-generation college students need as much support as possible to help them overcome the many challenges they face, which often include the stresses associated with low family income and under-sourced communities, limited access to high-quality educational resources, and structural and social barriers like racism and classism, (4).
• "College access initiatives rely on youth having already developed the personal resources, such as motivation and a college-going identity, that will enable them to benefit from other programmatic resource," (4).

(7) Value

• The book is helpful in a sense that it provides a different, more developmental-psychology perspective on first-generation students. It shares individual case stories that elaborate general challenges of these students. The authors also highlight how discrimination may influence the choices such students make when deciding their future career goals. The discrimination from others ultimately shape how these students motivate themselves. The book complements my search for unique aspects that influence first-generation students.

Research Blog #5: Bibliography with Five Scholarly Sources

Bibliography with Five Scholarly Sources is appended to Research Blog #4: Research Proposal

Research Blog #4: Research Proposal

Lavina Ng

Professor Goeller

Research in Disciplines: College!

March 11, 2014

Research Proposal

Topic

The Higher Education Act defines first-generation students as students whose parents have not obtained a postsecondary degree. Extensive research studies the correlation between parental education levels and first-generation student success. In First-Generation College Students by Lee Ward, Michael J. Siegel, and Zebulun Davenport, researchers found that students whose parents did not attain a college degree were more likely to drop out of college in their first year (Ward, Siegel, and Davenport 4). They are unable to fully integrate into the academic and social life of universities, and therefore are less likely to succeed (Engle and Tinto 6). In fact, their specific upbringing and circumstances deem them susceptible to an inability to fully immerse themselves in academic and social life on campus. I anticipate to debate what and how factors of first-generation college students’ lives affect their inability to seek resources for success in college. I also intend to highlight significant differences between first-generation students and non-first-generation students in campus involvement.

Research Question

Students that are academically and socially engaged in campus life are more likely to succeed at college. However, contrary to non-first-generation peers, first-generation students are confronted by unique circumstances that bar them from full academic and social integration. How do such obstacles greatly reduce their chances of success in college?

Theoretical Frame

Moving Beyond Access: College Success for Low-Income, First-Generation Students by Jennifer Engle and Vincent Tinto explores the impact of social experiences on academic success. It helps frame the importance of first-generation student involvement. The authors highlight reasons and consequences of a lack of social engagement, especially for first-generation students in financial disability. Such reasons range from lack of financial and parental support to social isolation. Consequently, the students that were studied are unaware of resources offered by institutions and become unmotivated.

As a contributing factor, I will also analyze how first-generation student’s use of the psychological term “survivor guilt” discourages them from participating in social and extracurricular college activities. In "Finding Purpose in Pain: Using Logotherapy as a Method for Addressing Survivor Guilt in First-Generation College Students," survivor guilt is the excessive worry of advancing further than family and peers. They do not want to appear overly successful due to their deep connection with family and friends who are at lower levels of academic attainment (Tate, Williams, and Harden 80). I think this study is a thought-provoking standpoint. With further research, it can potentially be an interesting reason for such students’ intentional social isolation.
 

Research Plan, Case or Additional Questions

An additional question that has come up asks how the university can be at fault for failure, rather than solely the student’s background. Is the public university system also responsible for the obstacles that first-generation students face? I will look for case studies regarding large public institutions because they provide a higher probability for academic/social isolation.

As well, I will focus on case studies that compare first-generation to non-first-generation students. The case study conducted by Michael J. Stebleton and Krista M. Soria revealed that there are significant differences between first-generation and non-first-generation students. Their study was based on levels of competing job responsibilities, family responsibilities, weak math skills, weak English skills, inadequate study skills, and feeling depressed, stressed, or upset (Stebleton and Soria 11). The case study is a beginning for my argument that first-generation students have distinctive differences that decrease their chances of success because they are unable to integrate into university life. In addition, I intend to interview several college students and alumni who are either first-generation or not. Their stories will provide a real-life connection to the secondary sources of books and journals.

Working Bibliography

Engle, Jennifer, Vincent Tinto, and Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in,Higher Education. Moving Beyond Access: College Success for Low-Income, First-Generation Students. Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, 2008. Print.

Kennedy, Gary J. "The Influence of Academic Values and Belongingness Concerns on Achievement Goals, Self-Efficacy, and Perceived Stress in First Quarter Freshmen: Relationships to Academic Performance and the Mediating Role of Procrastination." ProQuest LLC (2009)Print.

Oldfield, Kenneth. "Still Humble and Hopeful: Two More Recommendations on Welcoming First-Generation Poor and Working-Class Students to College." About Campus 17.5 (2012): 2-13. Print.

Piorkowski, Geraldine K. "Survivor Guilt in the University Setting." Personnel & Guidance Journal 61.10 (1983): 620. Print.

Savitz-Romer, Mandy, and Suzanne M. Bouffard. Ready, Willing, and Able : A Developmental Approach to College Access and Success. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Education Press, 2012. Print.

Stebleton, Michael J., and Krista M. Soria. "Breaking Down Barriers: Academic Obstacles of First-Generation Students at Research Universities." Learning Assistance Review 17.2 (2012): 7-20. Print.

Tate, Kevin A., Williams,Cyrus, I.,II, and Dia Harden. "Finding Purpose in Pain: Using Logotherapy as a Method for Addressing Survivor Guilt in First-Generation College Students." Journal of College Counseling 16.1 (2013): 79-92. Print.

Ward, Lee, Michael J. Siegel, and Zebulun Davenport. First-Generation College Students: Understanding and Improving the Experience from Recruitment to Commencement. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012. Print. The Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series .

Literature Review #2

(1) Visual

 

(2) Citation            

• Tate, Kevin A., Williams,Cyrus, I.,II, and Dia Harden. "Finding Purpose in Pain: Using Logotherapy as a Method for Addressing Survivor Guilt in First-Generation College Students." Journal of College Counseling 16.1 (2013): 79-92. Print.

(3) Summary

•  The article studies the feeling of survivor guilt in first-generation college students. They propose that such college students worry that they will advance too far ahead of their family and friends. Thus, they are reluctant to participate in social and academic events on campus.

(4) Author(s)

• Kevin A.Tate Assistant Professor, Counselor Education and Counseling Psychology, Marquette University. He has extensive works related to his areas of interest including counselor competence and development, career development of marginalized and oppressed populations, liberation psychology, and critical consciousness. His areas of interest coincide with the psychological mentality of survival guilt in first-generation students.
• Cyrus Williams III Assistant Professor, Counseling Department, Regent University. Among his many areas of focus, he focuses on persistence and retention rates, and the overall college experience for first-generation college students and at risk individuals and families. He contributes to the real social college experience of first-generation students.
• Dia Harden Department of Counseling, University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Her career as professional school counselor allows contribution of primary observations in the study of student progression through college.

(5) Key terms

•  survivor guilt- extensive worry of being in a better position than family and friends and that he/she undeservingly has the opportunity to succeed while others are stuck in their lower positions
• logotherapy- in context, the psychological method that guides students to find motivation and purpose in college

(6) Quotes

• "These students also face significant transitional issues in adjusting to college life and are less involved in campus life and student activities than are continuing-generation college students" (Tate, Williams, and Harden 80).
• "Individuals who experience survivor guilt suffer from anxiety, depression, and other maladaptive emotions, which may prevent them from reaching their potential," (Tate, Williams, and Harden 81).
• "the difference with this college population is they do not have the luxury of generational, institutional, or social capital that is needed to succeed in higher education" (Tate, Williams, and Harden 83).

(7) Value

• The reading frames an interesting circumstance that first-generation students face. They do not want to distant themselves from old family and friends. Most commonly, first-generation student's close relatives and friends have not attain high levels of education. For such, the first-generation students refrain from integrated campus life because they do not want to seem like they have a better life (Tate, Williams, and Harden 80). Such mechanism later leads to decreased chances of success in college. I think this article provides a good basis for further in-depth research about the effect of survivor guilt on college performance.