The authors report on a large-scale study examining the effects of self-reported psychosocial factors on 1st-year college outcomes. Using a sample of 14,464 students from 48 institutions, the authors constructed hierarchical regression models to measure the predictive validity of the Student Readiness Inventory, a measure of psychosocial factors. Controlling for institutional effects and traditional predictors, the authors tested the effects of motivational and skill, social, and self-management measures on academic performance and retention. Academic Discipline was incrementally predictive of academic performance (grade-point average) and retention. Social Activity and Emotional Control also helped predict academic performance and retention, whereas Commitment to College and Social Connection offered incremental prediction of retention. This study elaborates recent meta-analytic findings (S. Robbins et al., 2004), demonstrating the salience of a subset of motivational, social, and self-management factors. Future research questions include how measures of psychosocial factors can be used to aid students, the salience of these measures over the entire college experience and for predicting job performance, and the need for testing theoretical models for explaining postsecondary educational outcomes incorporating traditional, motivational, self-management, and social engagement factors.With the scheduled revamping of the Higher Education Act, the accountability of postsecondary institutions for student academic performance and dropout has received much attention in professional reports as well as popular and research literatures (is concern that college students are ill prepared to meet the hurdles they face upon entry into college. To counter these problems, researchers have suggested the tying of federal (Stedman, 2003) and state (Hearn & Holdsworth, 2002) funding to outcomes of higher education.In practice, prediction of college success has largely centered on high-stakes testing. In many 4-year colleges and universities, there are many more applicants than spots, and high school academic performance and standardized achievement test scores are heavily weighted in admission decisions. A significant debate is occurring over how these indicators should be used. It has been argued that certain groups are disadvantaged by standardized test scores

No abstract

Sociopolitical control (SPC) is generally considered to be a vital element of the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment, despite contradictory findings concerning the dimensionality of the construct when applied to a youth population. This study tested the Sociopolitical Control Scale for Youth (SPCS-Y), which was designed to represent the two hypothesized dimensions of leadership competence and policy control, using data from a sample of urban youth (n 5 865) located in the northeastern United States. Results indicated that the hypothesized 2-factor model provided an adequate model-to-data fit, and that this model was a significantly better fit to the data than the 1-factor model. Further analysis showed that SPC profile groups differed significantly on measures of community and school participation, neighborhood attachment, perceived school importance, and drug use. Findings provide empirical support for the validity of the SPCS-Y and its underlying

A study of protective factors against substance use and sexual risk taking was conducted among 610 high-poverty urban youth. Higher levels of family attachment, social support, involvement, and self-esteem were associated with lower levels of risk behaviors.

No abstract