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Defying The Odds: Exploring The Ways First-Generation College Students Enact Resilience, Paris Lauren Nelson
Defying The Odds: Exploring The Ways First-Generation College Students Enact Resilience, Paris Lauren Nelson
Theses and Dissertations--Communication
This thesis examined the experiences of first-generation college students in the context of higher education. This thesis was framed by the communication theory of resilience to discover how first-generation college students enact five processes of resilience: crafting normalcy, affirming identity anchors, maintaining and using communication networks, employing alternate logics, and foregrounding productive action. First-generation college students face academic preparation, financial, social capital, personal, and college completion adversities that may necessitate engagement in resilience processes. Participants (N = 8) participated in focus groups and interviews where they discussed messages from family, peers, and university faculty and staff involving reactive and proactive …