Identification with Academics and Academic Success among Community College Students

Identification with academics has been theoretically and empirically linked to various measures of student academic performance. A questionnaire designed to assess the extent to which self esteem is connected with and dependent upon academic outcomes was administered to 169 freshmen enrolled in a community college. The author followed the sample for two years to track the students' GPAs, academic standing, and graduation status. Students' identification with academics was related to their academic standing and GPA at a community college after one semester and at a two-year follow-up. The results suggest that counselors could use an identification with academics scale to identify those incoming students most at risk for negative academic outcomes.