Being Smart is not Enough: the role of psychlogical factors in study success of ethnic minority and ethnic majority students

In the past decade(s), many studies have been conducted on the differences in study success between ethnic minority students and ethnic majority students to identify explanations for the less successful academic careers of ethnic minority students. This dissertation aimed to explain the differences in study success between ethnic majority students and ethnic minority students from the perspective of psychosocial and academic-related skills in relation to academic success. The research reported in this dissertation has highlighted several issues related to the less successful academic careers of ethnic minority students. One important issue is the quality of interaction with faculty and peers as it are the formal interactions with teachers and fellow students that made ethnic minority students feel at home in their educational program. Furthermore, high quality formal relationships, as part of the quality of the education, prevent ethnic minority students from dropping out from higher education. Next to the learning environment, students’ families also play a role in obtaining study success. More specifically, the less successful academic careers of ethnic minority students can partly be explained by their higher levels of participation in activities with or for their family, and by the less effective family social support they receive in comparison with ethnic majority students. Finally, the results concerning academic-related skills (e.g., time management) do not seem to explain the less successful academic careers of ethnic minority students. These findings yield practical implications for improving the student success of ethnic minority students in particular, such as inviting students’ families to the academic domain and fostering high quality formal relationships with faculty and fellow students. More research is needed to further improve our understanding of the less successful academic performance and study progress of ethnic minority students, to ultimately reach the day that chances for success for both groups of students are the same.

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