An exploration of cultural, institutional, and psychological influences on undergraduate students' academic achievement

This study explored the influences of various cultural, institutional, and psychological factors on different measures of postsecondary students' academic achievement. The cultural factors were ethnicity and years living in Canada. The institutional factors included course type, semester course load, campus, and postsecondary experience. The psychological factors related to culture (perceived family orientation, individualism-collectivism, and strength of ethnic affiliation), institution (goal and institutional commitment, and classroom goal structures), and motivation (achievement motivation). A few background factors were considered, including demographic variables such as age and sex, and high school achievement. The study further investigated academic performance for students of different ethnicity in light of these cultural, institutional, psychological, and background influences. Unlike the majority of research regarding postsecondary achievement, this study was conducted at a large, Canadian commuter institution with open admission policies. Results suggested that particular cultural, institutional, and culturally-related psychological factors may influence students' achievement. For example, along with high school grades, approximately 36 percent of variance in course performance was accounted for through cultural, institutional, and culturally-related psychological variables. A slightly different combination of variables helped to explain approximately 57 percent of variance in overall grade-point-average (GPA). The institutionally-related and motivationally-related psychological factors appeared to contribute little to explaining students' performance. Findings also suggested that students of different ethnicity may achieve at different levels. In particular, students who indicated Anglo-Caucasian ethnicity scored higher in course performance and overall GPA compared to East Asian, South Asian (Indo-Canadian), and students who reported another ethnicity. Further investigation revealed that these ethnic group differences may be associated with culturally-related psychological factors such as perceived family orientation. For institutional persistence, an attempt was made to differentiate those students who dropped out for academic reasons compared to those who departed due to voluntary withdrawal. Results suggested that three factors (semester course load, sex, and overall GPA) may predict student dropout for academic reasons. Although not as tenable a model, the factors of semester course load, sex, and perceived institutional commitment may help to explain student dropout due to voluntary departure. Implications for future research and limitations to the study are discussed.