Abstract
The literatures on the social influence of referent others suggest four questions that need to be answered: (1) Who are the influential persons? (2) What types of influence are used? (3) What is the nature of the influence process? and (4) Are the effects of social influence substantial and independent of other forces? Data from a longitudinal study of the persistence in college of first-year undergraduates at a large, midwestern state university were analyzed to determine answers to these questions. With ability levels, grades, academic majors, and many other characteristics of students controlled, effects of social influences on students' persistence remained significant. Parents and peers were found to have stronger influences than were the faculty on the persistence of students. Normative influences were found to have stronger effects than were modeling influences, and these two types of influence had both direct effects on persistence and indirect, internalized effects through students' behavioral intentions.
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