Closing the Social-Class Achievement Gap: A Difference-Education Intervention Improves First-Generation Students' Academic Performance and All Students' College Transition

• Published in: Psychological science Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 943 - 953
• Main Authors: Stephens, Nicole M., Hamedani, MarYam G., Destin, Mesmin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.04.2014; Sage Publications; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Academic achievement gaps; Academic grades; Achievement; Adolescent; Biological and medical sciences; Class; College students; Colleges; Culture; Education - methods; Educational psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grade point average; Higher education; Humans; Intervention; Interventionism; Male; Parents; Parents & parenting; Psychoeducational intervention; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Pupil and student. Academic achievement and failure; Social Adjustment; Social Class; Social classes; Social Mobility; Socioeconomic Factors; Student diversity; Students; Universities; higher education; sociocultural factors; intervention; culture; social class; Social environment; Human; University environment; Social class; Educational schedule; Sociocultural environment; Student; College academic achievement; Higher education; Sociodemographic factor; Performance
• ISSN: 0956-7976; 1467-9280
• DOI: 10.1177/0956797613518349

College students who do not have parents with 4-year degrees (first-generation students) earn lower grades and encounter more obstacles to success than do students who have at least one parent with a 4-year degree (continuing-generation students). In the study reported here, we tested a novel intervention designed to reduce this social-class achievement gap with a randomized controlled trial (N = 168). Using senior college students' real-life stories, we conducted a difference-education intervention with incoming students about how their diverse backgrounds can shape what they experience in college. Compared with a standard intervention that provided similar stories of college adjustment without highlighting students' different backgrounds, the difference-education intervention eliminated the social-class achievement gap by increasing first-generation students' tendency to seek out college resources (e.g., meeting with professors) and, in turn, improving their end-of-year grade point averages. The difference-education intervention also improved the college transition for all students on numerous psychosocial outcomes (e.g., mental health and engagement).