Chapter 5 Psychosocial Change

Chapter 5: Psychosocial Change

Pascarella and Terenzinipresented by John LeMasney

Introduction (p. 213)• tradition in University: intellectual and professional

(occupational) development• Also, "a liberal education: promoting self-understanding;

expanding personal, intellectual, cultural and social interests; confronting dogma and prejudice; and developing personal moraland ethical standards while preparing students fro participation in a democratic society"

• Earlier research focuses on Inkele's self-system (identity status and ego development, academic self-concept, social self-concept, and generalized self-esteem)

• Relational systems (autonomy, independence, locus of control; authoritarianism, dogmatism and ethnocentrism; intellectual orientation, interpersonal relations, personal adjustment, psychological well-being, maturity and general personal development)

Change During College: (p. 214)

Conclusions from How College Affects Students:• Students change during their college years; become more

positive about academic/social competency, enhanced self-worth

• Ego development showed less than half a stage of growth• General lack of racial identity formation studies is seen as a

detriment to the research, and is seen as a great path for further research

• small confidence increases (22%) in math, writing, achievement motivation, leadership abilities, popularity, social and intellectual development in 4 years

• larger decreases (26-32%) in authoritarian, dependent, dogmatic, ethnocentric behavior and thinking in 4 years

• smallest: locus of control (incr. internality 10-12%), peer independence (8%), interpersonal relation (6%)

Change During College: Evidence from the 1990s (p. 215)• Identity Development: Erikson's (1963,1968) Stage 5 Crisis:

Identity versus Identity Confusion• Constantinople (1969) 1,000 student study using Erikson's

4/5/6 stages showing successful identity resolution• Whitbourne, Jelsma, and Waterman (1982) replicated

findings from 1969• Zuschlag and Whitbourne (1994) identity development is

relatively unaffected by sociohistoric times• Many issues: small studies (100 or less), single institutions,

church-related, lack of controls re: acad. ability or status • others include Bauer, Flowers, and Kuh using the CSEQ:

Self reporting on gains students feel that they've made

Change During College: Evidence from the 1990s (p. 216)• Kuh (1999) Personal Development in Juniors and Seniors

found 'quite a bit' or 'very much' progress in self-understanding during college. 

• Initial experience may cause fear and doubt, making numbers decrease in the first 2 years

• Racial Identity: Cokley (1999) found no differences between frosh and seniors in Cross' Model of Black Identity Formation, also that senior men at HBC scored higher than women on a racial identity formation. 

• Gay and Lesbian identity: Lots of issues in gathering data, political, sociological, monetary. Coming out often happens in college, despite awareness as early as the age of 3 (freedom, experimentation).

• Religious identity: may lose importance, may be due to increased locus of control in college. Others: no difference

Change During College: Self-Concept and Self-Esteem (p. 219)• Self-Concept and Self-Esteem are 'slippery terms rarely

defined in any consistent way'• "Self-Concept is generally considered to be one's self-

perceptions, formed through experience with the environment, particularly significant others" relational, comparative to others. 

• Self-Esteem "expresses an attitude of approval or disapproval and indicates the extent to which the individual considers to be capable, significant, successful, and worthy (Coopersmith, 1967)"

• Academic Self-Concept (modest consistency) Students' evaluations of their academic abilities become more positive in college. Astin (1993) used CIRP to find positive growth, but lots of findings of non-linear paths.

Change During College: Autonomy, Independence, Locus of Control, and Self-Efficacy (p. 222)• Susceptability to external influences over time, the extent to which students

believe themselves to be in control of their lives• Autonomy; Independence: degree of freedom students feel from the influence

of others (peers, parents, institutions) in their choices of attitudes, values and behaviors

• Locus of Control: the extent to which individuals are self directed; belief in the control of one's fate. Also referred to as self-direction.

• Students who believe that they, rather than the invisible hand, affect their outcomes, including academic outcomes, are more likely to succeed.

• Self-Efficacy: Banduras (1994;1997) individuals' "beliefs about capabilities to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives." personal/comparative factors. 

• recently related to student's sense that they can 'make a difference' through sociopolitical actions

• increases in independence, self-direction, willingness to take responsibility for academic performance

Change During College: Interpersonal Relations and Leadership Skills (p. 225)

• Kuh found via CSEQ that students reported 'quite a bit' or 'very much progress' in interpersonal skills. 

• MIR (Mature Interpersonal Relationship) studies show no clear pattern

• other studies point to increases in social competence, but don't reflect the magnitude of the change. 

• leadership changes are clearer: improvement in college• Astin had a 4,000 person sample and longitudinal study that

showed increases in leadership, popularity, and social self-confidence

• Other studies support these findings very strongly

Change During College: General Personal Development (p. 226)CSEQ (Pace, 1984) shows self reported gains in:• values and ethical standards• self-understanding• understanding others• getting along• developing healthy habits

Without exception, students reported positive progress, but the studies often excluded StDev, which prevents assessing generalizability. 

Net Effects of College: (p. 227)Conclusions from How College Affects Students:• Developmental Psychologists: People develop according to

their time in life• Sociological Theorists: People develop according to

environmental and sociohistorical influences• No one indicates it is one source alone, but many indicate

that it is mostly one or the other. • Earlier review was inconclusive about college's effects on

identity status due to lack of study and rigor  • small but positive effects of college and academic

attainment on self esteem, academic and social self-concepts, sense of abilities, intellectual orientation, psychosocial adjustment, psychological well-being

• reduction of authoritarianism, dogmatism, ethnocentrism•  absent: evidence of effects on autonomy, maturity, personal

development

Net Effects of College: Evidence from the 1990s (p. 227)• Identity Formation: no studies examined racial, sexual, or

religious identity development to the degree that any development could be attributed to college experience. 

• In general identity development however, Constantinople (1969) found that Erikson's stage five was successfully resolved by freshman-senior progression

• Zuschlag and Whitbourne studied whether college experience affected identity development vs. normal maturity, and found positive effects for class year and gender, but not period. Findings remain confounded. 

Net Effects of College: Self-Concept and Self-Esteem (p. 228)• Generally more extensive and persuasive than identity

development.• Astin (1993) measured intensity (effort, interaction) and

extensity (time in college) and effects of increased changes in scholarship. 

• Monzon and Maramba (1998) class year positively related to self-esteem (small sample, cross sectional, inconclusive)

• Knox, Lindsay, and Kolb (1993) more rigorous study found educational attainment statistically unrelated to self-esteem 12 years after high school graduation, but small increases in self-esteem with each successively higher level of education achieved.

Net Effects of College: Autonomy and Locus of Control (p. 229)• Jones and Watt (2001) upper division students scored

higher than freshmen in Emotional Autonomy, but when age and gender are controlled, the difference disappears. (maturation vs. college)

• Knox, Lindsay, and Kolb (1993) net effects of college on Locus of Control found 2+ year students had a slight increase (3%) in self-direction over high school graduates, and Bachelors holders had a 4% increase. 

• Pascarella, et al. (1996) found extensity had a statistically significant and positive effect over students' sense of control over their academic performance.

Net Effects of College: Interpersonal Relations and Leadership Skills (p. 230)

• College experiences appear to have a positive effect on students' interpersonal skills, but inconclusive. 

• Effects of college on leadership bears more evidence. • Astin (1993) 25,000 student sample in 1985 (freshmen) and

1990 (seniors) found that leadership skills increased during college. Extensivity significantly and positively relates to leadership skills. 

• Kuh and Hu (2001) showed that college positively affects overall personal development. Class year positively and significantly affected gains in social and personal development. (54,000 sample size from 126 schools)

Between-College Effects: (p. 231)

Conclusions from How College Affects Students • What happens to students after they enroll had more impact

than the type of institution where they enrolled. • few direct effects of institution size, type, race, sex, or

selectivity on self-evaluations in academic or social spheres. 

• size and selectivity had negative indirect effects on social self-concepts

• pre-1990 research was virtually silent on between-college effects on changes in maturity or overall personal development

Between-College Effects: Evidence from the 1990s (p. 232)• Identity Development: little can be said because so little

evidence exists about differences in identity development between different institutions. 

• Racial Identity Development: between HBCUs and PWIs showed HBCU students scoring higher or no difference in racial Identity between freshmen and seniors.

Between-College Effects: Self Concept and Self Esteem (p. 232)• institution size, control, mission, selectivity are not good predictors of

psychosocial change among students, and environment may be more influential than structural or organizational characteristics

• Academic Self-Concept: Women's college students showed greater increases in academic self-concept than co-ed respondents, HBCU students showed increases vs. PWI students. Kim argues that the peer environment of the institution was the real reason for senior self-confidence.

• Post 1990 research says that institutional culture and environment is far more influential than structure or organization in shaping student self-concepts.

• Social Self-Concept: Chang (1999) structural diversity positively affected White students' disposition to socialize with peers of different backgrounds and discuss racial issues. HBCUs and WCs may have a stronger positive effect on self-concepts than heterogenous campuses

• Self-Esteem: research mostly about differential institutional differences between WCs and coeds for women, 'clear' patterns of greater gains in self esteem at WCs than coed institutions, found less significant with controls 

Between-College Effects: Locus of Control (p. 235)• No difference in a study of 1st year students at a CC vs. a

4yr commuter university in locus of control after a year (Pascarella, et al., 1994). 

• No difference between residents and commuters in their self-direction (Knox, et al., 1993)

•  (Pascarella et al., 1996; Pierson, et al., 2003) larger studies found significant differences in locus of attribution for academic success between 2- and 4-yr colleges. CC students had a positive advantage at the end of the first year. Suggests that students gain more confidence and self-direction in a CC structure. 

• Riordan (1990;1992) WCs appeared to have a positive effect on student locus of control, but controls for economic status and academic ability dismissed it.

Between-College Effects: Interpersonal Relations and Leadership Skills (p. 236)

• Few effects on leadership skills of 1st to 4th year students linked to institutional type, control, or size; selectivity is not yet clear.

• Various aspects of a campus climate or student experience while enrolled are more powerful predictors of leadership development than institutional structure or organization.

• Dimensions of a campus environment and the kinds of experiences students have there are more powerful determinants of student leadership development than expenditures.

Between-College Effects: General Personal Development (p. 237)• Effects of HBCU on African American students increases

personal development vs. attending PWIs.• Institutional environments and cultures are more powerful

shapers of students' personal development than standard institutional descriptors

• No gains in personal development related  to institutional type or control

• conventional institutional descriptors are largely unrelated to educational effects

• Student experience and personal and institutional environments and cultures are more salient factors in how students change than are structural features.

Within-College Effects: (p. 238)

Conclusions from How College Affects Students • Living on campus rather than commuting seemed to predict

gains in academic and social self-concept• more about the living environment and social interactions

than the place itself• levels of social interaction and integration were positively

associated with enhanced academic and social self-concepts and positive outcomes.

• Residing in a living-learning center was consistently linked to increases in autonomy and independence.

Within-College Effects: Evidence from the 1990s (p. 238)• Identity Development: participation in Service Learning

courses or community service promotes change by allowing students to encounter diversity 

• Majoring in Women's Studies may be transformational for some students (Musil, 1992) such as the positive development of a feminist identity 

• Other studies are problematic and not generalizable due to cross sectional, small sample, tight focus

• Racial Identity:  Participation in diversity programs led to opportunities for racial identity development and more positive racial-ethnic attitudes

• Membership in racial-ethnic organizations appears to promote racial identity development

Within-College Effects: Self-Concept and Self-Esteem (p. 240)

• Ample evidence shows that college positively affects self-concept

• Academic Self-Concept: little doubt that student-peer interaction (tutoring, discussions, participation) positively affects self-concept (Coop. Inst. Research Program, large samples, longitudinal) increases in self-confidence, academic self-concept. Esp. powerful when diversity is present. 

• Extracurricular faculty interaction also has a positive effect on Academic self-concept. 

• Investigative students gained more than non-investigative.  • Social Self-Concept: both academic and non-academic

experiences are (small) factors in shaping self-concept. • Self-Esteem: no significant effects of major, residence, or

performance. Service learning and active/collaborative learning enhances self esteem.

Within-College Effects: Autonomy and Locus of Control (p. 244)• Volunteer and service learning activity had little to no

significant effect on internal locus of control (Pierson and Pascarella, 2002), but community service does (Astin, et al., 2000)

• Effective teaching may enhance student learning, sense of capability, sense of control of performance

• peer relations and extracurricular activities have a positive effect on students' sense of autonomy

• Greeks seem to have no significant effect on peer independence

• On/off campus status effects are uncertain

Within-College Effects: Interpersonal Relations and Leadership Skills (p. 246)• Astin (1998) Community Service enhances life skills• Gray et al. (1999, 2000) positive net effects of service

learning courses on life skills• Others find no greater impact vs. regular forms of service. • Frequency of student interaction associated with gains in

interpersonal skills• Service impacts leadership skills• Leadership courses and programs specifically succeed in

enhancing those skills. • Strongest effects on leadership skill associated with student-

peer interactions

Within-College Effects: General Personal Development (p. 248)Student gains in personal development mostly based on Pace (1984) College Student Experience Questionnaire:• values and ethical standards• self-understanding• getting along• group functioning• good health habits

Effort invested in academic and social activities is positively related to gains in personal developmentStudent peer interaction is the major force involved

Conditional Effects of College: (p. 249)

Conclusions from How College Affects Students:• Pre-1990 studies focus almost solely on gender differences• Some state males make greater gains than females, while

others show no differential effects• Consistently showed that colleges' effects on academic and

social self-concepts were general, about the same for all. • Limited evidence shows no gender related difference in self-

esteem related to educational attainment. • Nothing to support conditional college effects on such

dimensions of student relational systems such as autonomy, independence, locus of control, authoritarianism, dogmatism, ethnocentrism, interpersonal relations, psychological adjustment and well-being, or general personal development 

Conditional Effects of College: Evidence from the 1990s (p. 250)Identity Development:• Constantinople (1969) found men displayed greater gains

than women in identity development over 4 years, but likely due to gender based cohort

• subsequent studies suggest that the effects of the overall college experience are general rather than gender based

• Whether colleges' effects on students' identity development vary with Gender or race-ethnicity remains largely an unanswered question

Conditional Effects of College:Self-Concept and Self-Esteem (p. 251)• 4 studies explored impacts of different college experiences• Replication can help to assure findings• Antonio (1999) found that race diversity of a friendship

group impacted intellectual self-confidence of whites and African Americans differently, whites declining scores as diversity increased. 

• Sax (1994): Confident math majors maintain math skills confidence, other majors lose their self-confidence in math skills.

• Smart et al., (2000) academic env. such as Social Academic environments exhibit patterns of values, abilities and behaviors, students seek out congruence - Men gain self confidence in these skills, women have weaker gains in these areas

Conditional Effects of College: Locus of Control (p. 253)• Knox, et al. (1993) found no difference in the rates at which

men and women moved towards an internal locus of control over a 12 year period following high school. Blacks and whites also gain at a similar rate. 

• Pascarella, et al. (1994) 2yr/4yr students showed about the same degree of movement toward internality

• Pierson, et al. (2003) found no differences in effects of attending 2yr vs. 4 yr re: internal attribution regardless of other factors

• Replication indicates that 2yr and 4yr have similar impacts on internal locus of attribution for academic success during the first 2 years of school.

Long-Term College Effects: (p. 255)

Conclusions from How College Affects Students• Net effects of college on academic and social self-concept

were still apparent 10 years after graduating• Colleges' long term impact on academic self-concept are

indirect and apply more to white than non white.• small but statistically significant net beneficial college effects

upon self-esteem• positive long term effects of college were apparent 7 and 14

years after graduation• 3, 5 and 10 years after graduating, graduates had lower

levels of stress and anxiety comparative to measurements from their senior year.

Long-Term College Effects: Evidence from the 1990s (p. 256)• The literature on long term effects of college attendance is

mostly about Adult Development, rather than college age development and so this lit review will focus on long term college effects. 

• Identity Development:• Baxter Magolda (1986) three questions defining 4 phases of

self authorship (the ability to internally define one's own beliefs identity and relationships): following external formulas, the crossroads, becoming the author of one's life, internal foundation (generally by age 30)

• Josselson (1972) used Erikson's stage 5 and Marcia's exploration and commitment to develop 4 paths of identity formation: Guardians, Pathmakers, Searchers, Drifter, but saw later identity as malleable. 

Long-Term College Effects: Self-Concept and Self-Esteem (p. 258)• Gurin (1999) College's long term impact may be due to

students' interactions with diverse peers, and predicted future interactions with diverse peers, which was linked to intellectual self-confidence five years after graduation

• Many studies of self-concept and self-confidence may have been mediated by students' academic, social, and occupational experiences. 

• Knox. et al., (1993) found no relation between reported level of self esteem and levels of attainment. 

• Miller-Bernal (2000) found high self-esteem 6 yrs after graduation for 4 colleges, suggesting no postcollege declines

• It appears that college has some durable impact on students' self-concept, but the evidence is not compelling.

Long-Term College Effects: Locus of Control (p. 259)• College may have duarable effects on students' sense of

control over their lives• Knox, et al. (1993) found that educational attainment

significantly and positively related to internal locus of control. At each progressive degree achievement, self-direction increased.

• Some findings suggest that college effects are cumulative and not attributable to differences in collegiate experience or institution, e.g a positive net effect by college experience on self perception

• Studies show that participation in community service and service based learning during college leads to higher levels of a sense that one can make a difference (even 9 years later)

Long-Term College Effects: Leadership Skills (p. 260)• Influence of college on leadership skills is measurable 5 and

15 years out• 15 yrs after earning a Bachelor's degree, having an

advanced degree was more highly related to civic leadership than family circumstance or institutional selectivity. 

• Shulman and Bowen (2001) found little difference between college athletes and non-athletes becoming leaders, indicating a counter to the common belief that there is a link.

• Langdon (1997) found no significant long term advantage to women's leadership skills from attending a WC rather than a co-ed.

Summary: Change During College (p. 261)• 5 general areas: identity formation, self-concept & self-

esteem, autonomy & locus of control, interpersonal relations & leadership skills, and general personal development. 

• Generally, there is a movement towards higher levels of identity development during college

• In general, identity development research has declined, but specific research regarding racial identity, sexual identity, and religious identity has expanded

• Generally, students gain intellectual and academic self-confidence during college, as well as locus of control and interpersonal skills, though there is plenty of evidence that there are other directions.

Summary: Net Effects of College (p. 263)• Lack of research regarding net effects of college on identity

development before or after 1990, key issue is that maturation may be the cause rather than college. 

• College has a positive effect on student self-concepts.• It is not determined if college has a clear effect on self-

esteem• Many studies: First year increases in student belief that

good academic performance is a function of their abilities• Solid evidence: students make significant freshman to

senior gains in leadership abilities, popularity, and social self-confidence

Summary: Between-College Effects (p. 263)• Little to be said before or after 1990 about changes in

identity formation that can be attributed to characteristics of the institutions attended. 

• Variables commonly used to differentiate between or amongst institution such as size, type, control, or selectivity are poor predictors of student change or development. 

• However, structural diversity has an indirect, positive impact on self concepts by increasing frequency of diverse interactions or diverse subject matter. 

• Institutional characteristics appear to be unrelated to the development of locus of control

Summary: Within-College Effects (p. 265)• Qualitative studies of volunteer service and service learning

courses point to positive identity and locus of control effects, but quantitative studies are mixed, and it's impossible to say whether there is a positive effect on identity formation

• other academic activities, such as taking a diversity course, may have a positive effect on identity formation

• The importance of student/peer/faculty interaction is very clear in helping to develop self concept.  Dominant force in developing interpersonal and leadership skills

• Investigative environments allow for students' intellectual self confidence, academic self concepts, expectations about contributions.

Summary: Conditional Effects of College (p. 267)• Diversity of friendship groups has a highly positive net

impact on African American self confidence, but a small negative impact on White self confidence

• College appears to have a marginally greater impact  on the self-esteem of women than men

• Locus of academic attribution can be positively affected by variables such as honors programs, Greek participation, employment, teacher skills when in Community College vs. a 4 yr.

Summary: Long Term College Effects (p. 268)• Remains largely unexplored because of focus on adult

development in studies rather than effects of college.• College's influence on academic self-concept though is

apparent a decade later.• durable positive effects from college's long term impact on

locus of control  • College makes a positive if small difference in leadership

development.