Date of Award

1-1-2011

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Organizational Unit

Morgridge College of Education

First Advisor

Ruth Chao, Ph.D.

Second Advisor

Cynthia McRae

Third Advisor

Daniel Brisson

Keywords

First-generation college students, Psychological distress, Social class, Social class identity dissonance, Social dominance orientation

Abstract

The current study explored the differences in experiences of social class identity dissonance between first-generation college students and non-first-generation college students. Additionally, this study aimed to examine the effect of social class identity dissonance on psychological distress in first-generation college students, as well as, whether an anti-social dominance orientation partially buffers the relationship between social class identity dissonance and psychological distress.

A total of 1,109 college students from two local, four-year institutions participated in the study. The first research objective was to examine the differences between first-generation college students and non-first-generation college students on reported levels of social class identity dissonance. The next objective was to investigate whether social class identity dissonance mediates the relationship between generation status and psychological distress. The last objective was to explore whether having an anti-dominance orientation helps buffer the relationship between social class identity dissonance and psychological distress. An independent samples t-test and hierarchical regression analyses were used to examine the three hypotheses.

A number of important findings were revealed by the results of the study. There appeared to be a significant, positive relationship between social class identity dissonance and psychological distress. As social class identity dissonance increases in individuals, symptoms of psychological distress also increase. Additionally, social class identity dissonance was a significant predictor of psychological distress. No significant differences were seen between first-generation college students and their peers in this sample, and there did not appear to be a significant relationship between generation status and psychological distress, therefore, hypotheses one and two were rejected. Furthermore, social dominance orientation did not significantly moderate the relationship between social class identity dissonance and psychological distress; thus, the third hypothesis was also rejected.

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Rights Holder

Amber Nicole Olson

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Format

application/pdf

Language

en

File Size

125 p.

Discipline

Counseling psychology, Sociology, Education

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