Motivation,Academic and Social Integration,and the Early Dropout

Abstract

This study employed a measure of Motivational Orientation as a blocking factor in an analysis of college withdrawal within the Tinto framework. To identify early dropouts, college records and surveys completed by first-year university students at the beginning of and 10 weeks into, the semester were used to operationalize key constructs within the Tinto model. The sample of 316 students was divided into three Motivational Orientation subgroups. The three largest, Certification, Cognitive, and Community Service, were used for analysis. Significant influential factors within the final empirical models differed among the three subgroups providing “persistencepatterns” that varied by motivational type.