College students who do not have parents with 4-year degrees (first-generation students) earn lower grades and encounter more obstacles to success than do students who have at least one parent with a 4-year degree (continuing-generation students). In the study reported here, we tested a novel intervention designed to reduce this social-class achievement gap with a randomized controlled trial (N = 168). Using senior college students’ real-life stories, we conducted a difference-education intervention with incoming students about how their diverse backgrounds can shape what they experience in college. Compared with a standard intervention that provided similar stories of college adjustment without highlighting students’ different backgrounds, the difference-education intervention eliminated the social-class achievement gap by increasing first-generation students’ tendency to seek out college resources (e.g., meeting with professors) and, in turn, improving their end-of-year grade point averages. The difference-education intervention also improved the college transition for all students on numerous psychosocial outcomes (e.g., mental health and engagement).
BlackwellL. S.TrzesniewskiK. H.DweckC. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child Development, 78, 246–263.
2.
BowenW. G.KurzweilM. A.TobinE. M. (2005). Equity and excellence in American higher education. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press.
3.
CalarcoJ. M. (2011). “I need help!” Social class and children’s help-seeking in elementary school. American Sociological Review, 76, 862–882.
4.
CohenG. L.GarciaJ.ApfelN.MasterA. (2006). Reducing the racial achievement gap: A social-psychological intervention. Science, 313, 1307–1310.
5.
DensonN. (2009). Do curricular and cocurricular diversity activities influence racial bias? A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 79, 805–838.
6.
DestinM.OysermanD. (2009). From assets to school outcomes: How finances shape children’s perceived possibilities and intentions. Psychological Science, 20, 414–418.
7.
DuncanG. J.MurnaneR. J. (2011). Whither opportunity? Rising inequality, schools, and children’s life chances. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
8.
EngleJ.BermeoA.O’BrienC. (2006). Straight from the source: What works for first-generation college students. Washington, DC: Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education.
9.
FiskeS. T.MarkusH. R. (2012). A wide-angle lens on the psychology of social class. In FiskeS. T.MarkusH. R. (Eds.), Facing social class: Social psychology of social class (pp. 1–12). New York, NY: Russell Sage.
10.
FrybergS. A.MarkusH. R. (2007). Cultural models of education in American Indian, Asian American, and European American contexts. Social Psychology of Education, 10, 213–246. doi:10.1007/s11218-007-9017-z
11.
GurinP.NagdaB. (2006). Getting to the what, how, and why of diversity on campus. Educational Research, 35, 20–24.
12.
GurinP.NagdaB. A.ZunigaX. (2013). Dialogue across difference: Practice, theory, and research on intergroup dialogue. New York, NY: Russell Sage.
13.
HarackiewiczJ. M.CanningE. A.TibbettsY.GiffenC. J.BlairS. S.RouseD. I.HydeJ. S. (2013). Closing the social class achievement gap for first-generation students in undergraduate biology. Journal of Educational Psychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/a0034679
14.
HouselT. H.HarveyV. L. (2009). The invisibility factor: Administrators and faculty reach out to first-generation college students. Boca Raton, FL: Brown Walker Press.
15.
InkelasK. K.DaverZ. E.VogtK. E.LeonardJ. B. (2007). Living–learning programs and first-generation college students’ academic and social transition to college. Research in Higher Education, 48, 403–434.
16.
JohnsM.SchmaderT.MartensA. (2005). Knowing is half the battle: Teaching stereotype threat as a means of improving women’s math performance. Psychological Science, 16, 175–179.
17.
JohnsonS. E.RichesonJ. A.FinkelE. J. (2011). Middle class and marginal? Socioeconomic status, stigma, and self-regulation at an elite university. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100, 838–852.
18.
KaoG. (1995). Asian Americans as model minorities? A look at their academic performance. American Journal of Education, 103, 121–159.
19.
KimY. K.SaxL. J. (2009). Student-faculty interactions in research universities: Differences by student gender, race, social class, and first-generation status. Research in Higher Education, 50, 437–459.
20.
KingstonP. W. (2000). The classless society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
21.
LandisJ. R.KochG. G. (1977). The measurement of observer agreement for categorical data. Biometrics, 33, 159–174.
22.
MantsiosG. (2006). Class in America: Myths and realities. In RothenbergP. S. (Ed.), Race, class and gender in the United States: An integrated study (7th ed., pp. 182–197). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.
23.
MarkusH. R.SteeleC. M.SteeleD. M. (2000). Colorblindness as a barrier to inclusion: Assimilation and nonimmigrant minorities. Daedalus, 129, 233–259.
24.
MilemJ. F.ChangM. J.AntonioA. L. (2005). Making diversity work on campus: A research-based perspective. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
25.
OstroveJ. M.LongS. M. (2007). Social class and belonging: Implications for college adjustment. Review of Higher Education, 30, 363–389.
26.
OysermanD.DestinM. (2010). Identity-based motivation: Implications for intervention. The Counseling Psychologist, 38, 1001–1043.
27.
PascarellaE.PiersonC.WolniakG.TerenziniP. (2004). First-generation college students: Additional evidence on college experiences and outcomes. Journal of Higher Education, 75, 249–284.
28.
PreacherK. J.HayesA. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40, 879–891.
29.
ReayD.CrozierG.ClaytonJ. (2009). “Strangers in paradise”? Working-class students in elite universities. Sociology, 43, 1103–1121.
30.
ShermanD. K.HartsonK. A.BinningK.Purdie-VaughnsV.GarciaJ.Taborsky-BarbaS.. . . CohenG. (2013). Deflecting the trajectory and changing the narrative: How self-affirmation affects academic performance and motivation under identity threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 104, 591–618.
31.
SirinS. R. (2005). Socioeconomic status and academic achievement: A meta-analytic review of research. Review of Educational Research, 75, 417–453.
32.
SteeleC. M. (2010). Whistling Vivaldi and other clues to how stereotypes affect us. New York, NY: W. W. Norton.
StephensN. M.FrybergS. A.MarkusH. R.JohnsonC.CovarrubiasR. (2012). Unseen disadvantage: How American universities’ focus on independence undermines the academic performance of first-generation college students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102, 1178–1197.
35.
StephensN. M.MarkusH. R.FrybergS. A. (2012). Social class disparities in health and education: Reducing inequality by applying a sociocultural self model of behavior. Psychological Review, 119, 723–744.
36.
StephensN. M.TownsendS. S. M.MarkusH. R.PhillipsT. (2012). A cultural mismatch: Independent cultural norms produce greater increases in cortisol and more negative emotions among first-generation college students. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48, 1389–1393.
37.
WaltonG. M.CohenG. L. (2007). A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92, 82–96.
38.
WaltonG. M.CohenG. L. (2011). A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students. Science, 331, 1447–1451.
39.
WilsonT. D. (2011). Redirect: The surprising new science of psychological change. New York, NY: Little, Brown.
40.
YeagerD. S.Purdie-VaughnsV.GarciaJ.ApfelN.BrzustoskiP.MasterA.. . . CohenG. L. (2013). Breaking the cycle of mistrust: Wise interventions to provide critical feedback across the racial divide. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/a0033906
41.
YeagerD. S.WaltonG. M. (2011). Social-psychological interventions in education: They’re not magic. Review of Educational Research, 81, 267–301.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
