Culture and Coping: First-Generation College Students' Use of Indirect Coping Strategies

Background 

Many current efforts to reduce income inequality focus on expanding access to higher education for students who have traditionally been marginalized from universities, such as first-generation college students (FGs, students from working-class backgrounds whose parents do not have a four-year degree). Some of these efforts have succeeded in bringing more FGs into universities. However, FGs often struggle at universities, earning lower GPAs and dropping out at higher rates than traditional college students. Although the causes of FGs’ struggles are multifaceted, explanations for this achievement gap often focus on FGs’ inability to cope with adversity. Universities expect students to take direct action when faced with adversity (e.g., seek help or talk to a professor when they receive a failing grade). FGs, however, may use more indirect coping strategies, because their interdependent working-class background promotes adjusting to circumstances and working to fit in rather than stick out rather than taking action to change circumstances or draw attention to oneself. Despite growing awareness of FGs’ struggles in college, there is very little research exploring how FGs cope with college adversities. While it is important to understand ways to change FGs’ behaviors to help them succeed in universities, it is equally important to understand the cultural roots of their behaviors and consider the ways that universities can validate FGs and build upon FGs’ current ways of coping.

Research Question

How do FGs cope with college adversities?

Method

Seven hundred eighty-three undergraduate students were recruited through the University of Washington’s Psychology Subject Pool. Participants completed an online survey in which they read a series of vignettes describing social, academic, and financial adversity. Following each vignette, participants predicted how they would respond to these adversities using the Brief COPE Scale, which presented 14 domains of coping each represented by two items on a 1-4 scale (1 = I would not do this at all, 4 = I would do this a lot).

Results

To test our hypothesis, we created a dichotomous variable distinguishing high versus low engagement in denial-based coping. We fitted a logistic regression model predicting use of denial from college generation status. Covariates included race, gender, household income, year in school, and scholarship status. Results indicated that being a first-generation college student was associated with 73% greater odds of using denial as a coping mechanism compared to continuing-generation college students (z=2.77; p<.01).

 

Conclusion and Implications

FGs’ greater likelihood of using indirect based coping strategies such as denial aligns with their working-class interdependent model of self, which discourages exercising agency. Furthermore, as our model controls for income, another indicator of SES, the effect remains strong, which reiterates the fact that this tendency may be culturally bound. As universities across America continue to recruit larger numbers of FGs it is imperative to understand the nuances of FGs’ coping strategies. With this knowledge universities could better equip themselves to serve the FG population and aid in creating culturally appropriate interventions if and when FGs are faced with adversity in college.