Stratification in Study Abroad Participation After Accounting for Student Intent

Abstract

This study uses the Wabash National Study on Liberal Arts Education to understand student study abroad participation while holding a student’s prior intent to study abroad constant. The study augments previous use of the data set by (1) holding intent to study abroad constant across models and (2) focusing on study abroad participation and the socioeconomic construct of parental education. Consistent with theories of high-brow embodied cultural capital and effectively maintained inequality, students of advanced degree parents are more likely to study abroad after holding intent to study abroad and the various forms of capital constant. Intent to study abroad, gender, prior and current academic characteristics, university type, diverse coursework, orientation towards diversity, non-classroom faculty interactions, and co-curricular involvement have associations with study abroad participation. After controlling for intent to study abroad, individual analyses of student socioeconomic status indicate that intent to participate, academic achievement, and liberal arts institution attendance remain salient for increasing study abroad participation, and some other factors had heterogeneous associations among subgroups.