The purpose of this research was to propose and test a model of a psychological process of college student dropout that is adapted from a model of the psychological process of employee turnover presented by Hom, Caranikas-Walker, Prussia, and Griffeth (1992). In the proposed model, student satisfaction precedes withdrawal cognitions, which, in turn, precedes dropout behavior. A confirmatory factor analysis for the withdrawal cognitions construct confirmed the existence of this latent factor comprised of a student's thoughts of quitting, intentions to search for an alternative environment, and intentions to dropout. A test of the structural equations model for the psychological process of college student dropout revealed that this model provides a valid psychological explanation for college student dropout.
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