The encouragement of the college freshman and/or participation of one's family in college appears to be an important factor in the student's success in college. Graduates of universities notes that their families "just assumed" they would graduate. Family expectations of success may be as important as student's own expectations (Hackman & Dysinger, 1970). College persisters are more likely to come from families who parents are more educated (Chase, 1970; Cope & Hewitt, 1970; and Spady, 1971). College persisters get more parental advice, praise, and expressed interest (Trent & Ryle, 1965).

Parental feelings that "getting and education is important," being proud when showing one's report card to parents," and "discussing future careers with one's family" are important factors in the equation of college success and persistence (Lunneborg & Lunneborg, 1976). The higher the father's level of occupation and mother's educational level the more likely is college student persistence (Metsker & Trent, 1968). The number of books in the home, sibling educational attainment, as well as parental expectations have shown to add to college success (Metsker & Trent, Scope Study, 1968).

• ASTIN, A. (1975b). Preventing students from dropping out. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• BAKER, D., & Stevenson, D. (1986). Mother?s strategies for school achievement: Managing the transition to high school. Sociology of Education, 59, 156-167.
• CHAPMAN, D. & Hutcheson, S. (1977). Attitudes of students, parents, and school personnel toward college courses: A discriminant analysis. Journal of College Student Personnel. 18, 496-500.
• COHEN, E.G. (1965). Parental factors in educational mobility. Sociology of Education, 38, 404-426.
• HALLBERG, E.C. & Hallberg, K.L. (1998). Holding Hands Again, Ombudsman Press, Inc.
• HIGBEE, J.L., & Dwineil, P.L. (1989, March). A counseling course for developmental studies freshmen. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the National Association for Developmental Education, Cincinnati, OH. (ERIC Reproduction Service No. ED305832).
• KANDEL, D.B. (1969). Parental and peer influences on educational plans of adolescents. American Sociological Review, 34, 213-223.
• LEUNG, J.J., Wright, B.W., & Stephen, F.F. (1987). Perceived parental influence and adolscent post-secondary career plans. The High School Journal, 70, (4), 173-179.
• MAJORIBANKS, K. (1979), Families and their learning environment. London: Routledge & Keagan Paul.
• MINS, G.L. (1978). Educational aspiration, parental influence, and academic success of opportunity-program students. Journal of nonwhite concerns in personal & guidance, 7(1), 34-40.
• MOORE, B. (1985). A longitudinal/panel study of persisting and nonpersisting rural minority college students. Part 1: freshman uninterrupted enrollees, transfers, and dropouts. Research Bulletin No. 47. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED282493).
• MOOS, R.H., & Moss, B.S. (1981). Family environment scale manual. Palo Alto, CA: Counsulting Psychologist Press.
• NICHOLSON, E. (1973). Predictors of graduation from college. ACT Research Report. 1973, 56. Iowa City, Iowa: American College Testing Program.
• REHBERG, R.A., & Westby, D.L. (1967). Parental encouragement, occupation, education and family size: Artifactual or independent determinants of adolscent educational expectations' Social Forces, 45, 362-374.
• REIFMAN, A., Dunkel-Schetter, C., (1990), Stress, structural social support, and well-being in university student. College Health, 38, 271-277.
• SEWELL, S.H., & Shan, V.P. (1968). Social class, parental encouragement, and educational aspirations. American Journal of Sociology, 73, 559-572.
• WINSTON, R.T., Jr., Miller, T.K., L. Prince, J.S. (1979). Assessing student developments. A preliminary manual for the Student Development Task Inventory (Rev. 2nd Ed.) and the Student Developmental Profile and Planning Record. Athens, GA: Student Developmental Associates.
  

Return to the 8 Factors page