Course withdrawal patterns and some socio-personal factor correlates

• Main Author: Del Rosario, Angelina D.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1976
• Subjects: Dropout behavior (Prediction of); Students > Psychology; Counseling; Educational Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/410; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7248&context=etd_masteral
• Institution: De La Salle University

A student's persistence in college may be considered as a type of impact a college has on the student. This according to Feldman may be viewed as a function of the congruence: fit or match between the needs, interests and abilities of the student and the demand, constraints and rewards of the particular setting. Within this framework this study is conducted to establish the persistence rate of students and certain socio-personal factors that may contribute to the interaction between the students and their environment in order to be the basis for differentiated guidance activities. One-third of the graduating population were proportionally sampled from the three colleges: engineering, commerce and liberal arts. The guidance forms which students filled up during their freshmen year were the source of data on social variables. A standardized test, the IPAT 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire was used to isolate the personality variables studied. Some null hypotheses were tested in the statistical treatment of the problem, using Chi-square test. Corresponding tests of relationship were conducted using the Goodman-Kruskall Gamma Coefficient of Correlation formula.Findings of the study revealed some interesting facts. 1. The second and third years are the critical years among students in DLSU, where most withdrawals occurred. The top subjects from which students withdrew were either basic and/or major subjects. 2. Students generally have moderate self-expectation of their achievement and this was not significantly associated with their rate of withdrawal. However, there is a slight but positive correlation between expected achievement and the incidence of withdrawal. 3. Although the computed gamma coefficients between 16 personality factors and the incidence of course withdrawal are very low and almost negligible, certain 9 personality factors tend to show relationship in the opposite direction. These factors were: intelligence, emotional stability, dominance, conscientiousness, spontaneity, self-reliance, imaginativeness, radicalism, and compulsiveness. Seven personality factors showed very little or almost negligible positive correlation with the rate of attrition. These personality factors were : warm heartedness, sobriety, adaptability, shrewdness, confidence, self-sufficiency, and tranquility. 4. Students with withdrawal stood out in only one personality factor, L, with a very high sten score of 9.9. It seemed that they tend to be very doubtful, mistrusting and self-opinionated. In all the other 15 personality variables students with high and low number of withdrawals have average sten scores. Students without W's scored high in 3 personality factors, namely, L (Cautious), M (Imaginative), Q4 (Tense) with mean scores of 7.0, 6.5 and 7.3, respectively. 5. Very low but positive correlation is present between mothers' education, mothers' occupation, students' self-perception of their academic achievement and the incidence of course withdrawal. Very low but negative correlation existed between fathers' education, fathers' occupation, number of siblings, living arrangement, and the incidence of attrition.