American Community College Students Research Articles

Feature: “Be careful of what you’re holding with students’ hearts”: Native American Community College Students’ Perceptions of Self-Disclosure in Writing Assignments

This critical phenomenological study sought Native American student perspectives on intention and desired faculty response following self-disclosure of personal challenges in college writing assignments and discusses implications for faculty and for implementing trauma-informed writing pedagogy with students who are historically marginalized.

“I’m here, I can help”: Supporting Southeast Asian American Community College Students

“I’m here, I can help”: Supporting Southeast Asian American Community College Students

Challenges in virtual team communication in the context of virtual exchange experience

Abstract As technology has enabled people across the world to collaborate and create virtual communities, the ability to interact in computer-mediated, cross-cultural environments in a meaningful way has become a necessity. This is particularly true for younger adults who operate in virtual teams during their studies, for instance in virtual exchange projects, and later in their professional life. In this qualitative study, we examined the features and functionality of cross-cultural communication in virtual exchange teams. By analysing three datasets produced by Finnish university and American community college students (n=38) who participated in a virtual exchange, we examined what kinds of challenges emerge in the communication of virtual teams and how students use theories of computer-mediated communication when trying to make sense of those challenges. The results of the reflexive thematic analysis indicated that the challenges in communication of virtual teams stem from cultural and motivational differences. These challenges could be alleviated by increasing the shared work time allocated for social information sharing and for constructing appropriate, team-specific ways to express online social presence and propinquity. The findings highlight the meaningfulness and relationality of virtual team communication and provide insight into motivational factors and the sense of belonging when communication challenges arise.

“They Are Coming to Get Something”: A Qualitative Study of African American Male Community College Students’ Education Abroad Experience in Senegal, West Africa

This paper is a critical qualitative study of African American male community college students’ education abroad experience in Senegal, West Africa. Currently, there is a lack of research that focuses directly on Black men who are studying abroad. Using African American male theory as the framework, four major themes emerged: men to boys, challenging the notion of counternarratives, identity, and not-so-distant cousins. These themes point collectively to a transformative experience for the participants. Notably, the educational experience transformed the participants’ cultural, social, and racial identities, as the trip fostered a combination of vulnerability and safety that created the conditions for Black men to grow and transform.

Building a Curriculum to Foster Global Competence and Promote the Public Interest: Social Entrepreneurship and Digital Skills for American Community College Students

ABSTRACT This paper proposes a new approach for combining top-down and bottom-up approaches intended to lead to a curriculum for action in the public interest that builds on social entrepreneurship and digital skills for students at community colleges. This integrated approach requires a collaborative, participatory approach and aims to provide relevant content for students with different cultures and backgrounds, personal values, and sense of identity. The objective is for all participants to engage in the learning process, become more confident, and develop contemporary skills that inspire and enable them to take initiatives to tackle global challenges and to thrive in a multicultural world. A relevant curriculum must enable students to understand the global and local situations in different geographies and, with the increasing demand for digital skills, to access and share information over networks, to develop possible solutions, and to make them happen. This paper proposes ideas for stimulating students to think about what they can do for the public good, starting with local issues, and to generate outcomes valued by the community. The ideas proposed for specific local communities in Maryland can be generalized for understanding and addressing problems for different communities in the United States as well.

The AANAPISI-funded STEM Program: An Institutional Response to the Needs of Asian American Community College Students

ABSTRACT This study examined the unique needs of Asian American students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors and the extent to which institutional agents responded to their needs. This qualitative study focused on Asian American STEM students enrolled at Shasta Fair Community College (SFCC), a federally designated and grant-funded Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI). Results demonstrate that both students and institutional agents reported that the AANAPISI-funded STEM program, which provides a one-stop service for counseling, tutoring, and various other support services, allowed institutional agents to support the unique needs of Asian American community college students in STEM majors.

Impact of a Student-Led Food Insecurity Intervention on Diverse Community College Students

ABSTRACT As many as two-thirds of American community college students may experience food insecurity. Their struggles are linked to health and academic difficulties and relate to several socioeconomic factors, including stigma regarding food programs. To support students’ understanding of and activism regarding food insecurity, student leaders co-created the Playing with Our Food intervention, which reviewed research and played games with students about stigmatized food-related topics. A survey utilizing writing prompts revealed that attendees learned new information, were more likely to use campus programs, and became interested in activism. Other campuses may stage similar interventions to develop students’ awareness of food insecurity.

Associations between lifestyle factors and body mass index in African-American community college students

Objective The goal was to examine associations between body mass index (BMI) and lifestyle factors in African American community college students. Methods: Young adults, 18–25, who identified as African American were eligible to participate from 3/17 to 11/17. BMI, body image, discrimination, social roles, emotional and informational support, nutrition knowledge, and physical activity were assessed. Results: Data from 323 students were analyzed. The mean age was 20.1 ± 2.0 years. There were no significant differences between individuals with BMI ≥ 25 and BMI < 25 on social role satisfaction, discrimination, and emotional or informational support. Overweight/obese individuals rated themselves higher on body image than normal weight individuals. The association between ideal body image and BMI sustained after adjusting for various factors. Conclusions: This is a unique population and they have unique needs in weight loss interventions. The strong relationship between body image and BMI suggests that incorporating body image into intervention design may assist in weight loss.

Low rates of alcohol and tobacco use, strong cultural ties for Native American college students in the Southwest

IntroductionCollege attendance is associated with an increased risk for substance use yet we know little about substance use among Native American college students and its regional variation. This study examined alcohol, tobacco, and drug use and their relation to gender, institution, age, and cultural involvement among Native American college students in the Southwest. MethodsNative American community college and university students in a large Southwest city (N = 347) completed an online survey about past-month and lifetime substance use and involvement in cultural activities. ResultsCultural involvement was related to less past-month substance use. In the past month, 43% drank alcohol, 27% binge drank, 20% used drugs, and 13% were current smokers. Males, community college students, and older individuals were more likely to have a positive CAGE-AID and have used drugs more than 100 times. Younger individuals were more likely to use marijuana in the past month. ConclusionsThese findings highlight cultural strengths and comparatively low rates of tobacco and alcohol use among Native American college students in the Southwest.

African American Students in the Community College Classroom with White Teachers

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine African American student pedagogical experiences in classrooms with White teachers at a community college in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The intent of the study was two-fold: (a) to search for evidence of how culture shapes African American students’ view of themselves, and (b) to explore how African American student pedagogical experiences with White teachers shape their attitude about school. The results of this study revealed that many of the White teachers experienced by the research participants demonstrated some aspect of colorblindness in their pedagogical practices. The results also found that the African American community college students in this study valued the use of culturally responsive pedagogy in the classroom.

Understanding the Influence of Model Minority Stereotypes on Asian American Community College Students

ABSTRACTContrary to the model minority myth that portrays Asian Americans as academic all-stars overrepresented in elite 4-year institutions, nearly half of all Asian American college students do, in fact, attend community colleges, and many experience myriad challenges. This exploratory study utilized a qualitative analysis and investigated how model minority stereotypes influenced the educational experiences and perceptions of Asian American community college students. Purposeful sampling was used to gather a sample of 28 students who self-identified as Asian American and attended one of the three largest community college districts located in North Texas. Data collection involved a demographic questionnaire and semistructured individual interviews. Qualitative data provided description-rich information that shed light on the experiences and views of Asian American community college students, a virtually unstudied population. The participants in this study shared unique experiences and different views on model minority stereotypes. The findings suggested many Asian American community college students experience racial microaggressions related to model minority stereotypes that they perceived their peers and instructors to have held. Implications for practice and recommendations for future research designed to improve educational outcomes for Asian American community college students are addressed.

Life after Hurricane Katrina: The Resilience in Survivors of Katrina (RISK) Project.

This article presents an overview of the findings to date of the Resilience in Survivors of Katrina (RISK) Project, a longitudinal study of 1,019 young, predominantly female and African American community college students who were surveyed a year before Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and then two to three times afterward. This study combines a multidisciplinary, multimethod approach to understanding the immediate and long-term effects of the Katrina disaster on physical and mental health, economic and social functioning, and neighborhood attainment. I discuss what we can learn from the rare inclusion of predisaster data and our unusual ability to follow participants for years after the disaster. I argue that it is important to follow the recovery of individuals and communities as well as the recovery of the city, as these are often not the same, especially in Katrina where a large proportion of the city never returned.

Underreporting Discrimination Among Arab American and Muslim American Community College Students

Using a mixed methods approach, the researcher gathered a set of narrative responses from focus groups that supported the claim of underreporting campus discrimination on a survey. Multiple studies have shown that underrepresented minority students are likely to bond with same-ethnic peers in a racially tense campus climate. This mixed method is a follow-up investigation into, why, in a post-9/11 environment, Arab and Muslim American community college students demonstrated less variation in the level of perceived discrimination in relationship to the percentage of same-ethnic and/or same-faith campus friendship groups. Post hoc comparisons revealed that Arab and Muslim students exhibited significantly higher mean scores on a perceived discrimination scale than other ethnic groups.

Unequal egalitarianism

Purpose– This paper aims to investigate how organizational structure (i.e. centralized hierarchical vs decentralized egalitarian decision-making) can color leadership evaluations of equivalently positioned men and women independent of their actual leadership style. This study addresses three questions: Are men’s leadership abilities, in terms of competence, dominance and interpersonal skills, evaluated more positively than women when they lead a hierarchical company? Are men and women’s leadership abilities evaluated similarly when they lead an egalitarian company? Do organizational outcomes change these effects?Design/methodology/approach– The research performs an eight-condition online vignette experiment on American community college students.Findings– The findings suggest that organizational structure and outcomes influence how male versus female leaders are perceived. When leading a hierarchical company, male leaders not only gain more in perceived leadership ability when their company succeeds but are also less likely to lose legitimacy when their company fails. When leading successful egalitarian organizations, men and women’s leadership skills are thought to gain similar legitimacy, but when an egalitarian organization fails, perceptions of female leaders’ competence, status dominance and interpersonal skills drop more than those of men.Research limitations/implications– This study’s generalizablity is limited given the sample of participants and the context of the industry utilized in the vignette.Practical implications– This study suggests that women’s promotion into leadership can be impeded by the decision-making structure of the organizations they lead independent of their individual choice in management style. Women leaders face not only disadvantaged evaluations of their leadership abilities in hierarchical organizations but are also not unilaterally advantaged in egalitarian organizations.Originality/value– This paper highlights the need to theoretically examine how organizational structures fundamentally embed gender stereotypes.

Editor's Note

Editor's Note

Mental Health Help-Seeking Behaviors Among Asian American Community College Students: The Effect of Stigma, Cultural Barriers, and Acculturation

According to the 2008 U.S. Census, there are 15.5 million Asian Americans in the United States, and 17% are students enrolled in a university (Shea &amp; Yeh, 2008). Asian American college students in higher education are oftentimes perceived as the “model minority” with high academic achievements and few mental and/or behavioral problems (Park, 2010). In contrast to this general assumption, studies have shown that many Asian American college students suffer from psychological distress (Abe-Kim et al., 2007; Breaux, Matsuoka, &amp; Ryujin, 1997; Lee et al., 2009; Mallinckrodt, Shigeoka, &amp; Suzuki, 2005; Nguyen &amp; Anderson, 2005). In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2008) highlighted considerable disparities in mental health among racial/ethnic groups, including the fact that Asian Americans 15–24 years old have significantly higher suicidal rates than do other racial/ethnic groups of the same age range. Researchers have attributed this mental health disparity to Asian students’ underutilization of professional services. Consequently, a growing number of empirical studies have been conducted to identify the contributors to low mental health service utilization (Abe-Kim et al., 2007; Kim &amp; Park, 2009; Lee et al., 2009; Nguyen &amp; Anderson, 2005; Umemoto, 2004). These studies have found that acculturation, cultural barriers, and stigma attached to mental health problems are common factors that significantly contribute to Asian American college students’ low mental-health-seeking behaviors. However, based on the authors’ knowledge, these studies have focused on Asian American students who attend 4-year colleges. There is very little known about Asian American students attending 2-year community colleges, who comprise over 40% of Asian American undergraduates enrolled in higher education (Park, 2010).

Race, Class, Gender and Community College Persistence Among African American Women

This inquiry is an exploration of the educational trajectories of African American women community college students. We compare the persistence of African American women to African American men and to all women college students using the 1996/2001 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Survey and the 1993/2003 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Survey. We find that the propensity of African American women to enroll notwithstanding, African American women attending community colleges are less likely to graduate than their African American male peers and than their female peers. However, we also find that African American women who start at community colleges and complete a Bachelor degree are similar to African American men and all women who pursue graduate degrees. This implies that greater attention to the trajectories of African American women through the community college is warranted as the majority of those entering postsecondary education do so at the community college. Assisting these women in succeeding in community colleges and in transferring is critical because Bachelor degree attainment is key to ensuring equitable outcomes.

Cultivating Critical Resilience among Mexican American Community College Students through a Three-Way Learning Community

This qualitative case study used a critical resilience framework to explore how a three-way learning communitycomposed of a student success course and ESL reading and writing courses aided in the transition of a group ofMexican American ESL students to mainstream college courses. The findings illustrate that this transitioninvolved helping the participants twist fibers of struggle into resilient yarn in order to improve their lives andthose of their families. The author describes many of the students’ life experiences and the strategies supportedby the three-way learning community that facilitated the students’ transition. The strategies of validation,challenging gender and racial oppression, and building cultural capital were situated within a social culturalcontext and therefore helped to cultivate the participants’ critical resilience.

Traits, Commitments, and College Satisfaction Among Black American Community College Students

Prior research has largely examined determinants of student satisfaction in four-year institutions and faculty job satisfaction in two-year institutions. The present study investigated the relationship between background traits, initial commitments, and satisfaction among African Americans attending two-year community colleges. Findings reveal that age is positively associated with satisfaction, while family responsibilities are inversely related to students' subjective evaluation of college. Regression results account for 13% of the variance in student satisfaction. Important implications for future research and practice are highlighted.

Hispanic Community College Students: Acculturation, Family Support, Perceived Educational Barriers, and Vocational Planning

A multiple logistic regression model was used to determine the associations between the role of acculturation, perception of educational barriers, need for family kin support, vocational planning, and expectations for attaining future vocational goals against the demographic variables (gender, age, being the oldest child, the first to attend college, and generational status) of 219 Hispanic American community college students in precollegiate classes. The results indicate that students who are the first in their family to attend college will be less acculturated, seek out kinship support less, and have fewer positive outcome expectations. First-generation students have lower levels of acculturation, but have conducted more vocational planning and have higher expectations for the future. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.