Date Created

5-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Psychological Sciences, SPS Student Work

First Advisor

Paek, Sue Hyeon

First Committee Member

Pugh, Kevin

Second Committee Member

Darling, Ryan

Third Committee Member

Vaughan, Angela

Abstract

First-year students struggle with attrition. Prevention of attrition has various interventions on such first-year seminars. Typically, these interventions use academic outcomes to measure effectiveness. Prior research supports that students enrolled in first-year seminar benefit academically from the intervention. However, these outcomes do not fully capture all the possible benefits of this intervention. This leaves room for research on other possible outcomes. Thriving as a construct incorporates both academic and social elements. Thriving is a possible outcome that could capture the benefits of first-year seminars. This study examined how much of the variance in thriving was explained by participation in first-year seminar. The purpose of this research was two-fold. First aim was to examine if participation in a first-year seminar (FYS) explains the variance in thriving for first-year students. The other aim was to explore if firstgeneration college students (FGCS) have better thriving than non-FGCS when participating in first-year seminar. To that end two questions were addressed. Does participation in first-year seminar explain the variance in thriving when controlling for race, gender, high school GPA, and credit hours taken in the first semester? Does the first-generation status further explain the relationship between participation in first-year seminar and thriving when controlling for race, gender, high school GPA, and credit hours taken in the first semester?

A survey of 81 first-year students was conducted. A hierarchical multiple regression was used to analyze the data collected. This method allowed for isolation of specific variables in the analysis. The results show participation in first-year seminar was significant. In step 2 of the model, first-year seminar participation was entered, and the total amount of variance explained by the model in step 2 was significant, F(5, 75) = 3.13, p = .01. It was significant above and beyond the model with the covariates ΔF(5, 75) = .69, p = .02). The model explained 17 % of the variance (R² = 0.17) with FYS explaining an additional 6% of the variance (ΔR² = 0.06). The implication of this study was that first-year seminar participation could benefit thriving in firstyear students. Thriving could be used in future research as an outcome tracked by those doing first-year interventions.

Abstract Format

html

Keywords

first-year college students; first-year seminar; thriving

Language

English

Extent

103 pages

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

Digital Origin

Born digital

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