Access is not enough: Cultural mismatch persists to limit first-generation students’ opportunities for achievement throughout college.

Abstract

United States higher education prioritizes independence as the cultural ideal. As a result, firstgeneration students (neither parent has a four-year degree) often confront an initial cultural mismatch early on in college settings: they endorse relatively interdependent cultural norms that diverge from the independent cultural ideal. This initial cultural mismatch can lead first-generation students to perform less well academically compared with continuing-generation students (one or more parents have a four-year degree) early in college. Yet, what happens as first-generation students experience the university culture throughout their time in college? Using cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches, we find that initial cultural mismatch is associated with psychological and academic costs that persist until graduation. First, at college entry, we find social class differences in cultural norms: first-generation students endorse more interdependent cultural norms than their continuing-generation peers. Second, endorsing interdependence at college entry predicts reduced subjective sense of fit in college four years later. Third, lower subjective sense of fit predicts lower grade point average and subjective social status upon graduation. Together, these results suggest that initial cultural mismatch contributes to worse experiences and academic outcomes among first-generation students, and that these disparities persist even until graduation. Further, we find that social class differences in cultural norms remain stable throughout college: first-generation students continue to endorse more interdependence than do continuing-generation students. We suggest providing access is not sufficient to reduce social class inequity; colleges need to create more inclusive environments to ensure that students from diverse backgrounds can reap similar rewards.

Tackling Educational Inequalities with Social Psychology: Identities, Contexts, and Interventions

“…Those from different backgrounds or cultures-where, for example, norms, language, agency, and goals may be more interdependently orientated, emphasizing the role of family and communitycan feel that the language and norms used by those institutions are unfamiliar and alien. This can increase how difficult they perceive their academic tasks to be, discourage them from making use of the resources that are available to support them, increase feelings of being an imposter, and decrease their performance (Canning, Lacosse, Kroeper, & Murphy, 2019a, Dittmann, Stephens, & Townsend, 2020Okagaki, 2001;Phillips, Stephens, & Townsend, 2015;Stephens et al, 2012a;Stephens, Dittmann, & Townsend, 2014a;Stephens, Fryberg, & Markus, 2010;Stephens, Townsend, Markus, & Phillips, 2012c).…”

Social class transitions: Three guiding questions for moving the study of class to a dynamic perspective

“…Furthermore, this work has shown that cultural assumptions developed from prior social class experiences can lead people to experience their current contexts differently. For example, studies have shown that colleges and professional workplaces can be more stressful and challenging for people who come from working‐class backgrounds because these contexts tend to be built around upper‐ and middle‐class cultural assumptions (Belmi & Laurin, 2016; Belmi, Neale, Reiff, & Ulfe, 2020; Dittmann, Stephens, & Townsend, 2020; Phillips, Stephens, Townsend, & Goudeau, 2020; Rivera, 2016; Stephens, Townsend, Markus, & Phillips, 2012).…”

“…However, largely missing from the previous research is the consideration that people are shaped not only by their place in, but also by their movement throughout, the hierarchy. For instance, emerging work considering social class transitions finds that individuals can learn new norms in new class environments (e.g., Herrmann & Varnum, 2018a, 2018b), and that class background effects can be exacerbated by organizational context (Phillips et al, 2020). Further, this dynamic perspective emphasizes not only the negatives of change (e.g., cultural mismatch), but also the positives (e.g., resilience, cultural flexibility, empathy; Martin & Côté, 2019).…”

“…These scholars have found that first‐generation students often feel like they do not belong in college settings (Stephens et al, 2012) and sometimes feel guilty about their upward mobility (Covarrubias & Fryberg, 2015; Herrmann & Varnum, 2018a, 2018b). Likewise, Rivera (2016) finds that even after graduation, first‐generation students continue to feel like they do not belong in professional settings (see also Gray & Kish‐Gephart, 2013; Jack, 2016; Phillips et al, 2020; Rivera & Tilcsik, 2016). Together, this recent work provides important insights about the psychology of upward transitions.…”

“…However, evidence suggests this may not always be the case. Phillips et al (2020) find that students from working‐class backgrounds may experience positive objective change in their social class by virtue of attending elite universities, but their subjective class experience may lag behind. Even after 4 years in college, students from working‐class backgrounds report that they feel lower status, less belonging, and different cultural norms, compared with their middle‐class peers.…”