Hispanic male students: changing majors and predictors of graduation at St. Petersburg College
Date
2020
Authors
Davis, Rodrigo M., author
Makela, Carole, advisor
Quick, Don, committee member
Timpson, William, committee member
Miller, Jeffrey, committee member
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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to collect, examine, and analyze retrospective data from a cohort of Hispanic male students at St. Petersburg College (SPC) Florida, to understand how specific variables relate to the number of times Hispanic males change majors and the correlation between changing majors and graduation. The research primarily focused on the relationships among contributing variables (Crisp & Nora, 2010; Taggart & Crisp, 2011), which may influence the length of time Hispanic males take to graduate from SPC. This study was designed to answer the following two questions: whether there are factors associated with how students change majors, and how to identify patterns around changing of majors that may hinder graduation among Hispanic male students (N = 706) who had changed their majors one, two, or three times. Descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and survival analysis were used to examine and evaluate graduation as outcomes. The data collected yielded conclusions mirrored in other studies while taking into account that Hispanic students who enroll in college may be unprepared for it. Educators and researchers need to adopt the concept of acculturation for Hispanic males to focus on academic conscientiousness and ethnic identity (Ojeda et al., 2012). These appear to be factors for Hispanic males when selecting a college and/or the frequency with which they change majors, thus it may affect their likelihood of graduation.
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Subject
graduation
male students
Hispanic
changing majors