Chapter 5 The Influence of Socioeconomic Status on Perceptions of Persistence among African American Students at Major US Universities

Abstract The study investigated the relevance of psychosocial variables and how they interact with socio economic status (SES) as it relates to the persistence of African-American students at the major US public universities. The study analyzed the responses of 327 web survey participants attending a major public university in the eastern region of the United States. The results suggest that students from higher SES backgrounds, more than likely, have already acquired or are more easily able to adopt characteristics that are ideal for persistence (e.g., commitment to personal goals, and biculturalism) than students from lower SES backgrounds. Previous studies have shown that – even after controlling for precollege performance – students who come from families with higher-income levels and parental education persist to graduate at higher rates and earn higher-grade point averages (Bowen & Bok, 1998; Pascarella, 1985). This study purports to provide the context for reflecting on the ways in which current student persistence theories might be modified to account more directly for how SES may influence psychosocial variables that contribute to the process of African-American student persistence in major US universities.