Student Development in the First College Year

Abstract

Historically, the holistic development of students has been a major objective of American higher education (Stanford, 1992). As both a theory model and philosophy, the notion of student development offers higher education a path for impacting students. A command of student development theory has been seen as paramount for professionals within higher education. An operational knowledge of student development theory enables not only student affairs practitioners, but all employees in an academic environment to better respond to and understand the needs of the student population. Understanding students-their experiences and the challenges they will face in college-also facilitates the design of interventions to ensure success.Student Development in the First College Year provides a basic understanding of the families of theories within student development theory. The text begins with a review of the critical connection between student development theory and the first year of college. This includes a review of pertinent research, an address of development both inside and outside of the classroom, and a discussion of the families of student development theory. The families of theories presented are psychosocial, cognitive-structural, typological, and person-environment interaction theories. The chapter concludes with an overview of the theories that will be discussed in subsequent chapters.Chapter Two focuses on psychosocial theories and opens with an in-depth analysis of Chickering and Reisser's (1993) seven vectors of psychosocial development. In addition to the explanation of the theory, a visual representation is provided. It moves next to the areas of racial identity of college students, including Cross's (1971Cross's ( , 1991 model of African American identity development and Helms' (1990) model of white racial identity. Sexual identity development is briefly highlighted. Development across multiple dimensions of identity illustrates the fluidity of development and that students can exist in multiple places. The chapter concludes with a summary of the research on college's impact on development.Chapter Three addresses the cognitive development of college students, providing background on several prominent cognitive theories. Cognitive development affects the way students relate to others and define themselves. Theories covered include Perry's (1970Perry's ( , 1981 scheme of intellectual and ethical development; Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, & Tarule's (1986) theory of women 's development; and Kohlberg's (1976) development of moral reasoning, to name a few. The chapter closes on a brief discussion