Testing a longitudinal social cognitive model of intended persistence with engineering students across gender and race/ethnicity

• Published in: Journal of vocational behavior Vol. 85; no. 1; pp. 146 - 155
• Main Authors: Navarro, Rachel L., Flores, Lisa Y., Lee, Hang-Shim, Gonzalez, Rebecca
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Philadelphia Elsevier Inc 01.08.2014; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Academic satisfaction; Cognition; Cognitive models; College students; Empowerment; Engineering; Ethnicity; Expectations; Hispanic Americans; Hispanic students; Instrumentality; Intended persistence; Race; Satisfaction; Sex; Social cognitive career theory; Student behavior; Students; Studies; Supports; Latin America; Instrumentality; Engineering; Academic satisfaction; Intended persistence; Supports; Social cognitive career theory
• ISSN: 0001-8791; 1095-9084
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jvb.2014.05.007

We examined the temporal relations within Lent et al.'s (2013) integrative SCCT model of academic satisfaction and intended persistence in a sample of 551 engineering undergraduates from a Hispanic serving institution. They completed measures of instrumentality, support, self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, academic satisfaction, and intended persistence at two time points approximately 12months apart. Using longitudinal cross-panel design, the findings supported a model where: (a) instrumentality predicted self-efficacy, (b) self-efficacy was a temporal precursor for both interests and academic satisfaction, (c) support was a temporal precursor for outcome expectations, while also predicting academic satisfaction, (d) academic satisfaction and intended persistence had a reciprocal relation with one another, and (e) relations in the model did not differ by gender or race/ethnicity. Implications for future research and practice are discussed. •Tested temporal relations in an integrative social cognitive model with engineering students.•A bidirectional model fit the data well in a longitudinal study.•Findings suggested gender and racial–ethnic model invariance.•A reciprocal relation among academic satisfaction and intended persistence emerged.