The student-institution fit at university: interactive effects of academic competition and social class on achievement goals

Abstract

As compared to continuing-generation students, first-generation students are struggling more at university. In the present article, we question the unconditional nature of such a phenomenon and argue that it depends on structural competition. Indeed, most academic departments use harsh selection procedure all throughout the curriculum, fostering between-student competition. In these departments, first-generation students tend to suffer from a lack of student-institution fit, that is, inconsistencies with the competitive institution’s culture, practices, and identity. However, one might contend that in less competitive academic departments continuing-generation students might be the ones experiencing a lack of fit. Using a cross-sectional design, we investigated the consequences of such a context- and category-dependent lack of fit on the endorsement of scholastically adaptive goals. We surveyed N = 378 first- and continuing-generation students from either a more competitive or a less competitive department in their first or final year of bachelor’s study. In the more competitive department, first-to-third year decrease of mastery goals (i.e., the desire to learn) was found to be steeper for first- than for continuing-generation students. In the less competitive department, the reversed pattern was found. Moreover, first-to-third year decrease of performance goals (i.e., the desire to outperform others) was found to be steeper within the less competitive department but did not depend on social class. This single-site preliminary research highlights the need to take the academic context into account when studying the social class graduation gap.

Doing better (or worse) than one's parents: Social status, mobility, and performance‐avoidance goals

“…Interestingly, in an early hierarchical model of achievement motivation, Elliot () already indicated that: ‘Research on various forms of avoidance motivation (…) suggests that women, ethnic minorities, and individuals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and interdependent cultures may be most susceptible to performance‐avoidance regulation’ (p. 175). However, this idea has only received moderate support (e.g., see Berger & Archer, ; Sommet, Quiamzade, Jury, & Mugny, ). We believe the present findings importantly clarify this issue.…”

The Experience of Low‐SES Students in Higher Education: Psychological Barriers to Success and Interventions to Reduce Social‐Class Inequality

“…More specifically, first‐generation college students are more likely to be afraid of failure (Bui, ) and thus more likely to endorse performance‐avoidance goals in college (i.e., trying not to be outperformed by others, Jury, Smeding, Court, & Darnon, ; Jury, Smeding, & Darnon, ) than continuing‐generation students. Moreover, in competitive departments (e.g., civil engineering), first‐generation college students are more likely to experience less fit and consequently, more difficulty in maintaining mastery‐goal endorsement (i.e., desire to progress, to master tasks), compared with continuing‐generation students (Sommet, Quiamzade, Jury, & Mugny, ). Such motivation regulation may be particularly problematic for these students, due, notably, to the negative links usually observed between performance‐avoidance goal endorsement and academic performance (Van Yperen, Blaga, & Postmes, ).…”

Participating in university entrance exam despite repeated failure: a qualitative study of participants’ experiences

“…Moreover, although sampling was performed from a university library from among a variety of different physicians, this library was not representative of all libraries in the country. Lastly, the lack of assessment of previous educational level, predisposing factors to educational failure, social background 70 and specialty preferences are further limitations.…”