Current higher education is characterized by a proliferation of distance education programs and by an increasing inclusion of nontraditional students. In this study we investigated whether and to what extent nontraditional students are particularly at risk for attrition (vs. graduating) from distance education programs. We conducted a secondary analysis of cross-sectional institutional surveys deployed in the context of a public German distance teaching university among university graduates and dropouts (N = 4,599). Using binary-logistic multiple regression analyses, we predicted the likelihood of program attrition by students' membership in sociodemographic groups, their goal orientations, and the corresponding interactions. Results revealed higher risks to drop out from university for female, migrant, and fully-employed students, but lower risks for older and parent students. A higher importance of career development or personal development goals related to a lower risk for attrition. Moreover, data also provide evidence that among some student groups the likelihood to graduate (or to drop out) significantly depends on students' goal orientations. Results were robust across different academic faculties and were complemented by an analysis of dropout reasons. The practical implications of our findings are discussed with regard to designing equitable distance learning environments that value human diversity and quality of opportunity.

Recent research suggests that cultural groups comprise subgroups differing in the combination of their self-identifications with their heritage and host cultures and following distinct trajectories of acculturation. This study aimed at identifying such subgroups, predicting group membership by premigration factors, and testing for acculturation-related experiences with the host culture over time. The sample comprised 366 adolescent diaspora migrants (59% female, 16 years old) from the former Soviet Union to Germany. A person-oriented and longitudinal approach using growth mixture modeling revealed three subtypes of cultural identification change. The first subgroup (Idealists) comprised adolescents with high and stable identification with their host culture and low but increasing identification with their heritage culture. The second group (Skeptics) showed low and stable identification with their host culture and high but decreasing identification with their heritage culture. The third group (Realists) reported medium-level and stable identification with both host and heritage cultures. Group comparisons showed pre-migration differences: Idealists and Realists most likely spoke the host-culture language (i.e., German) as a native language and Idealists reported the highest level of maternal education. Membership in subgroups also related to adolescents' perception of their current situation in the host culture: Idealists reported less acculturation-related hassles with respect to language and socio-cultural adaptation. Skeptics perceived lower expectations by natives to get in contact with natives and higher expectations to spend time with members of their immigrant group than the average immigrant. Results highlight the heterogeneity in immigrant populations and their specific needs before and after the actual migration. (Berry, 2004;Phinney, 1990). Such cultural identifications have been found to be associated with immigrants' socio-cultural and psychological adaptation to a new context, such as peer relations and discrimination experiences (Herman, 2004), anxiety, depressive symptoms, and positive well-being (Yip & Fuligni, 2002). Thus it is not surprising that researchers have started to investigate the processes underlying cultural identification changes (Eschbach & Gómez, 1998;Fuligni, Kiang, Witkow, & Baldelomar, 2008;Hitlin, Brown, & Elder, 2006). However, several questions remain open. One such issue is whether subgroups exist among immigrants that differ in the combination of heritage and host cultural selfidentifications over time. Identifying such subgroups would be essential to help tackle specific needs and to avoid an overgeneralization of research findings, which may come across as stigmatization or even discrimination. A second question is whether membership in these subgroups is rooted in the situation prior to the actual transition from one country to another.For example, immigrants' pre-migration identification with the heritage culture has been shown to predict post-migration cul...

Positive attitudes toward contact with members of the host culture, host-culture language usage, and social relations with natives are frequently used criteria for assessing immigrants’ host-culture participation. Precursors of these criteria are, however, rarely studied, especially from a longitudinal perspective. We expected that a strong identification with the host culture or the culture of origin would be associated with higher or lower host-culture participation, respectively, and were able to test these assumptions longitudinally. Study 1 utilized a sample of 376 ethnic German adolescents who had repatriated from Russia to Germany. Over four annual waves, the adolescents reported their identification with being “German” and “Russian,” their attitude toward host-culture contact, frequency of host-culture language usage, and the share of natives in their peer network. Growth curve modeling revealed that level and change of identification with being “German” related positively to level and change of host-culture participation, whereas level and change of “Russian” identification related negatively. Study 2 utilized a sample of 549 Russian-Jewish immigrants to Israel, who reported identification at Wave 1 and host-culture participation in three annual assessments. Results basically resembled those of Study 1. Findings from both studies underscore the importance of cultural identification for immigrants’ successful acculturation into the host culture. However, results also revealed between-country differences with regard to level of cultural identification and the relation between identification with the host culture and culture of origin.

New experiences, challenges, and opportunities inherent in biographical transitions are expected to foster the psychosocial development of individuals. Our study investigated, first, developmental gains in children's language competence, social support seeking, and self control following the transitions to kindergarten and school; second, whether native Germans, ethnic German repatriates, Russian Jewish and Turkish migrants differed in developmental gains following these transitions; and third, whether differences in mother's education, financial standing, or network contacts accounted for ethnic group differences in developmental gains. In total, 111 mothers of kindergarten-aged and 179 mothers of school-aged children were interviewed twice, before and after the respective transition, with a one-year-interval. Results showed that, according to mothers' reports, children increased in language competence and self control after both transitions. The increase for some outcomes varied, however, between ethnic groups and was accounted for by differences in maternal education. Results underscore the importance of immigrants' education for the positive development of their offspring and of institutional opportunities in compensating for early disadvantages.

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