Education Commons^™

The Hero Within: Developing The Psychological Capital Of First-Generation Students, Mary Elizabeth Sewell

Theses and Dissertations

Psychological capital (PsyCap) is a higher-order construct comprised of four psychological resources: hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism (HERO), and has been linked to academic achievement and engagement (Hazan Liran & Miller, 2019; Luthans, et al., 2012). Interventions designed to build PsyCap may be particularly helpful for firstgeneration (FG) students who face additional challenges in higher education. This study aimed to: (1) explore differences in PsyCap among FG and continuing generation (CG) students; (2) investigate relationships between PsyCap, GPA, and persistence; and (3) examine the impact of a 2-hour PsyCap micro-intervention (PCI) on FG students’ academic PsyCap, academic achievement (GPA), and …

"Makin' It": A Study Of First Generation College Graduates Lives Out Of Poverty, Sharla Benson-Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Scholars across various disciplines concur that poverty , especially when experienced generationally, is difficult to escape (MacLeod, 2009; Bowles & Gintis, 2002; Nieto, 2005; Corak, 2006; Sawhill & Haskins, 2008). Yet, while much is known about the existence and persistence of poverty, we know less about how and why those individuals who successfully escape poverty are able to do so (Hardaway & McLoyd, 2009).

Guided by critical social and institutional theory this qualitative study, examined the experiences of individuals who grew up in generational poverty (with parents who had no high school diploma), yet became first-generation college graduates, and entered …