Impact of College on Students’ Altruism and Social

Responsibility

Ryan D. PadgettNASPA 2011 – Philadelphia, PA

March 15, 2011

PLEASE NOTE

These slides – made available prior to the conference – are subject to change. In preparation for the session, the presenter may edit the final presentation

Learning Outcomes of this Session

• Provide national, statistical evidence on the impacts of the first-year experience and participation in vetted good practices on first-year students’ development of ASR.

• Highlight which experiences and good practices can be applied to attendees’ first-year experience initiatives with practical and applicable evidence.

• Highlight the importance of incorporating good practices within the college milieu to increase the development of students’ ASR.

• How student affairs and academic professionals can support campus initiatives that develop students’ sense of social responsibility to others and self.

Brief Activity

What three college experiences, programs, or practices do you feel significantly contribute to first-year students’ development of altruism and socially-responsible behavior?

The Problem• Internal v. external benefits

– Public opinion for higher education

• Higher education needs to gain substantial public support and legitimacy

• Non-monetary public or external benefits that are empirically associated with public investment in higher education– Volunteerism, participation in public affairs and community

involvement, participation in civic organizations, development of personal attitudes towards public programs, openness to free speech for others, and charitable giving

(Baum & Payea, 2004; Bowen, 1977; Dee, 2004; Institute for Higher Education Policy, 1998; Leslie & Brinkman, 1988; McMahon, 2009; Paulsen, 2001b)

The Solution (?)

• Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) identified global and civic learning as two important outcomes of a college education in the twenty-first century (see Leskes & Miller, 2006).

• Education Advisory Board’s (EAB) top co-curricular learning goal?

Percentage of Student Affairs Outcomes that Include… (n = 85)

Community involvement 99%

Values and ethics 91%

Diversity 91%

Self-esteem 86%

Critical thinking 85%

Teamwork 84%

Communications 82%

Source: Advisory Board interviews and analysis

(2010 The Advisory Board Company)

Gaps in Literature

• Covariates within the analyses have been applied to only a limited range of college experience/engagement measure

• The effects of theoretically vetted good practices and kindred socialization experiences

• A substantial lack of research using a composite measure of ASR; use of single item dependent measures

• The extent to which college experiences influence ASR across unique sub-populations of students

Why It Is Important

• Level of education is considered one of the most powerful predictors of altruistic and socially responsible behavior (Putnam, 2000)– Individuals from middle and high SES and who are

highly educated are more likely to volunteer given their personal and financial resources

– For example, college graduates (71%) are twice more likely to volunteer compared to individuals with a high school degree or lower (36%)

Conceptual Framework• Human capital: An individual’s quantifiable productive

capacities, such as knowledge, skills, talents, competences, and attributes.

• Social capital: The norms, networks, relationships, and other social connections that serve as a reciprocal resource for individuals to reference and engage in.

• Cultural capital: The cultural resources and knowledge transmitted by individuals of high and middle socioeconomic status to their children as a means to supplement wealth and resources in maintaining their class status.

Research Questions

• What are the effects of student background and precollege characteristics on end-of-the-first-year ASR?

• What are the effects of college experiences and good practices on end-of-the-first-year ASR?

• Do the effects of college experiences and good practices on end-of-the-first-year ASR differ for first-generation and non-first-generation students?

Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education

• A longitudinal, pretest/posttest study investigating the effects of the liberal arts experience on a series of cognitive and psychosocial outcomes associated with undergraduate education– Student-level data from 48 college and universities

that participated in the WNS in 2006, 2007, and 2008

– First-year, full-time undergraduates

Data Collection

• Initial data collection in early fall (T1)– Precollege survey & cognitive, psychosocial, and

personal development instruments

• Follow-up collection in late spring (T2)– WNS Student Experiences Survey and the NSSE

student survey – Cognitive, psychosocial, and personal development

instruments

Dependent Measure: ASRSample Questions

• How important to respondent personally is volunteering in my community?

• How important to respondent personally is becoming a community leader?

• How important to respondent personally is improving respondent's understanding of other countries and cultures?

• How important to respondent personally is keeping up to date with political affairs?

• How important to respondent personally is helping to promote racial understanding?

α = 0.83.

Independent Measures

Background Characteristics / Precollege Experiences College Experiences Associated with Coursework

Received Federal Grant College Grades

Number of Siblings Courses Taken in Humanities, Social and Natural Sciences

Race – Black Live On-Campus

Race – Hispanic Greek Membership

Race – Asian/Pacific Islander Hours Worked per Week in College

Race – Other Extracurricular/Social Involvement

High School Race Composition Study Abroad

Openness to Diversity Held Leadership Position

English is Second Language Attended an Art Exhibit or Performance ArtMale

ACT Composite Score Good Practices

Academic Motivation Nonclassroom Interactions with Faculty

Volunteered in High School Prompt Feedback

Pretest Altruism/Social Responsibility Teaching Clarity and Organization

Degree of Positive Peer InteractionsInstitutional Characteristics Cooperative LearningInstitutional Type - Regional College Integrated Ideas, Information, and ExperiencesInstitutional Type - Research University Diversity Experiences

Course-Related Diversity Experiences

Analysis and Design Effect

• Series of ordinary least squares (OLS) regressions

• Follow-up data was weighted up to each institution’s first-year undergraduate population by sex, race, and ACT score

• Accounted for the nested nature of the data

Results – Background Characteristics

First-Generation Students

Non-First-Generation Students

Variables Precollege College   Precollege College

Received Federal Grant -0.14 -0.14* 0.01 0.03

Race - Black 0.41** 0.33** 0.24** 0.20*

Race - Hispanic 0.54* 0.31* 0.12 0.08

Race - Asian/Pacific Islander 0.33* 0.34** 0.04 0.09

* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

Results – College Experiences

First-Generation Students

Non-First-Generation Students

Variables College-Level   College-Level

Courses Taken in the Social Sciences -0.06* 0.02

Total Hours Worked in College 0.01 0.03*

Hours Relaxing/Socializing in College -0.04 -0.03*

Study Abroad 0.25** 0.11***

Held a Leadership Position on Campus 0.15 0.08*

* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

Results – College ExperiencesFirst-Generation

StudentsNon-First-Generation

Students

Variables College-Level   College-LevelQuality of Nonclassroom Interactions with Faculty 0.04 -0.02

Prompt Feedback -0.01 0.01

Teaching Clarity and Organization 0.12** 0.03

Degree of Positive Peer Interactions -0.09* -0.02

Cooperative Learning -0.08 0.06**Integrated Ideas, Information, and Experiences 0.18** 0.17***

Diversity Experiences 0.27*** 0.13***Course-Related Diversity Experiences -0.02 0.05*** p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001

Discussion

• Lack of financial resources AND parents who did not attend college

• Minority students development of significantly higher levels of ASR

• Importance of studying abroad

• Good practices!

What Can We Do on Campus?

• Moving beyond the first-year

• Aid for study abroad– Support underrepresented students

• Integrative learning

• Diversity experiences– One-time v. Extensive

Questions? Comments?

Ryan D. Padgett

Assistant Director of Research, Grants, and Assessment

E-mail: rpadgett@mailbox.sc.edu

www.sc.edu/fye