“If I were young…”Increased Dropout Risk of Older University Students

  1. Casanova, Joana R. 1
  2. Assis Gomes, Cristiano 2
  3. S. Almeida, Leandro 1
  4. Tuero, Ellián 3
  5. Bernardo, Ana B. 3
  1. 1 Universidade do Minho
    info

    Universidade do Minho

    Braga, Portugal

    ROR https://ror.org/037wpkx04

  2. 2 Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
    info

    Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

    Belo Horizonte, Brasil

    ROR https://ror.org/0176yjw32

  3. 3 Universidad de Oviedo
    info

    Universidad de Oviedo

    Oviedo, España

    ROR https://ror.org/006gksa02

Show affiliations +
Journal:
REDIE: Revista Electrónica de Investigación Educativa

ISSN: 1607-4041

Year of publication: 2023

Issue: 25

Type: Article

DOI: 10.24320/REDIE.2023.25.E27.5671 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openDialnet editor

More publications in: REDIE: Revista Electrónica de Investigación Educativa

Abstract

Dropout from higher education is a worldwide phenomenon with negative consequences for students, families, institutions, and society. As student numbers increase, students become more heterogeneous in terms of academic competencies, motivation, and trajectories, creating new challenges for promoting student persistence. Higher education can pose difficulties for students, increasing their vulnerability and risk of underachievement or dropout. This study involved 2843 first-year students of a Portuguese public university. The aim was to identify the variables that predict the decision to persist or drop out, using the regression tree method. The results show a good model that classifies students into four groups and reveals that the decision to drop out is different for traditional and non-traditional students, suggesting higher vulnerability of older students. Some reflections are offered about institutional practices.

Bibliographic References

  • Andrade, C., van Rhijn, T., & Coimbra, S. (2017). Gender differences in school-family conflict and school-family enrichment in nontraditional Portuguese students. The Journal of Continuing Higher Education, 65(1), 13-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/07377363.2017.1272439
  • Belloc, F., Maruotti, A., & Petrella, L. (2011). How individual characteristics affect university students drop-out: A semiparametric mixed-effects model for an Italian case study. Journal of Applied Statistics, 38(10), 2225-2239. https://doi.org/10.1080/02664763.2010.545373
  • Casanova, J. R., Gaspar de Matos, M., Pérez-Fuentes, M. del C., & Almeida, L. S. (2020). Positive perceptions of beer consumption among Portuguese university students. Health and Addictions, 20(2), 97-104. https://doi.org/10.21134/haaj.v20i2.534
  • Casanova, J. R., Cervero, A., Núñez, J. C., Almeida, L. S., & Bernardo, A. (2018). Factors that determine the persistence and dropout of university students. Psicothema, 30(4), 408-414. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2018.155
  • Crosling, G., Heagney, M., & Thomas, L. (2009). Improving student retention in higher education: Improving teaching and learning. Australian Universities’ Review, 51(2), 9-18.
  • Diseth, A. (2011). Self-efficacy, goal orientations and learning strategies as mediators between preceding and subsequent academic achievement. Learning and Individual Differences, 21(2), 191-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2011.01.003
  • Duarte, R., Ramos-Pires, A., & Gonçalves, H. (2014). Identifying at-risk students in higher education. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 25(7-8), 944-952. https://doi.org/10.1080/14783363.2014.906110
  • Ecclestone, K., Biesta, G., & Hughes, M. (2010). Transitions in the lifecourse: The role of identity, agency and structure. In K. Ecclestone, G. Biesta & M. Hughes (Eds.), Transitions and Learning through the Lifecourse (pp. 1-15). Routledge.
  • Fanelli, A.G., & Deane, C.A. (2015). Abandono de los estudios universitarios: Dimensión, factores asociados y desafíos para la politica pública [University dropout: Dimensions, determinants and challenges to public policy]. Revista Fuentes, 16, 85-106. https://doi.org/10.12795/revistafuentes.2015.i16.04
  • Figuera, P., Torrado, M., Dorio, I., & Freixa, M. (2015). Trayectorias de persistencia y abandono de estudiantes universitarios no convencionales: Implicaciones para la orientación [Non-traditional university student persistence and drop-out pathways: Implications for guidance]. Revista Electrónica Interuniversitaria de Formación del Profesorado, 18(2), 107-123. https://doi.org/10.6018/reifop.18.2.220101
  • Fleith, D., Almeida, L. S., Marinho-Araujo, C. M., Gomes, C. M., Bisinoto, C., & Rabelo, M. (2020). Validity evidence of a scale on academic expectations for higher education. Paidéia, 30, 1-11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/1982-4327e3010
  • Fragoso, A., Gonçalves, T., Ribeiro, C. M., Monteiro, R., Quintas, H., Bago, J., Fonseca, H., & Santos, L. (2013). The transition of mature students to higher education: Challenging traditional concepts? Studies in the Education of Adults, 45(1), 67–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2013.11661642
  • Freixa, M., Llanes, J., & Venceslao, M. (2018). El abandono en el recorrido formativo del estudiante de ADE de la Universidad de Barcelona [Dropout in students of business administration and management at the University of Barcelona]. Revista de Investigación Educativa, 36(1), 185-202. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.6018/rie.36.1.278971
  • García de Fanelli, A. (2014). Rendimiento académico y abandono universitario: Modelos, resultados y alcances de la producción académica en la Argentina [Academic performance and university dropout: Models, results and scope of academic production in Argentina]. Revista Argentina de Educación Superior, 6(6), 9-38.
  • Gomes, C. M. A., & Jelihovschi, E. (2019). Presenting the regression tree method and its application in a large-scale educational dataset. International Journal of Research & Method in Education 43(2), 201-221. https://doi.org/10.1080/1743727X.2019.1654992
  • Gomes, C. M. A., Lemos, G. C., & Jelihovschi, E. G. (2020). Comparing the predictive power of the CART and CTREE algorithms. Avaliação Psicológica, 19(1), 87-96. https://doi.org/10.15689/ap.2020.1901.17737.10
  • Gomes, C. M. A., Lemos, G. C., & Jelihovschi, E. G. (2021). A racionalidade do Método de Regressão em Árvore é mais apropriada do que o Modelo Linear Geral para analisar dados educacionais complexos [Why the regression tree method is more suitable than the general linear model to analyze complex educational datasets]. Revista Portuguesa de Educação, 34(2), 42-63. http://doi.org/10.21814/rpe.18044
  • González-Ramírez, T., & Pedraza-Navarro, I. (2017). Variables sociofamiliares asociadas al abandono de los estudios universitarios [Social and family variables associated with university drop-out]. Educatio Siglo XXI, 35(2), 365-388. https://doi.org/10.6018/j/298651
  • Harman, K. (2017). Democracy, emancipation and widening participation in the UK: Changing the “distribution of the sensible.” Studies in the Education of Adults, 49(1), 92-108. https://doi.org/10.1080/02660830.2017.1283757
  • Harrison, N., & Waller, R. (2018). Challenging discourses of aspiration: The role of expectations and attainment in access to higher education. British Educational Research Journal, 44(5), 914-938. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3475
  • Koshy, P., Dockery, A.M., & Seymour, R. (2017). Parental expectations for young people’s participation in higher education in Australia. Studies in Higher Education, 44(2), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1363730
  • Meyer, M., & Marx, S. (2014). Engineering dropouts: A qualitative examination of why undergraduates leave engineering. Journal of Engineering Education, 103(4), 525-548. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20054
  • Newlon, K., & Lovell, E. D. (2017). Community college student-researchers’ real life application: Stress, energy drinks, and career choices! Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 41(3), 217-221. https://doi.org/10.1080/10668926.2016.1172525
  • Postareff, L., Mattsson, M., Lindblom-Ylänne, S., & Hailikari, T. (2017). The complex relationship between emotions, approaches to learning, study success and study progress during the transition to university. Higher Education, 73(3), 441-457. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0096-7
  • Sánchez-Gelabert, A., & Elias, M. (2017). Los estudiantes universitarios no tradicionales y el abandono de los estudios [Non-traditional university students and dropout]. Estudios Sobre Educación, 32, 27-48. https://doi.org/10.15581/004.32.27-48
  • Severiens, S., & ten Dam, G. (2012). Leaving college: A gender comparison in male and female-dominated programs. Research in Higher Education, 53(4), 453-470. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-011-9237-0
  • Seymour, E., & Hewitt, N. M. (1997). Talking about leaving: Why undergraduates leave the sciences. Westview Press.
  • Sinval, J., Casanova, J. R., Marôco, J., & Almeida, L. S. (2021). University student engagement inventory (USEI): Psychometric properties. Current Psychology, 40(4), 1608-1620. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-0082-6
  • Stinebrickner, R., & Stinebrickner, T. (2014). Academic performance and college dropout: Using longitudinal expectations data to estimate a learning model. Journal of Labor Economics, 32(3), 601-644. https://doi.org/10.1086/675308
  • Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45, 89-125. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543045001089
  • Tinto, V. (2010). From theory to action: Exploring the institutional conditions for student retention. In Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (pp. 51-89). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-8598-6_2
  • Tuero, E., Cervero, A., Esteban, M., & Bernardo, A. (2018). ¿Por qué abandonan los alumnos universitarios? Variables de influencia en el planteamiento y consolidación del abandono [Why do university students drop out? Influencing variables in considering and completing dropout]. Educación XX1, 21(2), 131-154. https://doi.org/10.5944/educXX1.20066
  • Venegas-Muggli, J. I. (2019). Higher education dropout of non-traditional mature freshmen: The role of sociodemographic characteristics. Studies in Continuing Education, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2019.1652157
  • Yorke, M. (2016). The development and initial use of a survey of student ‘belongingness’, engagement and self-confidence in UK higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 41(1), 154-166. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2014.990415
Data source: Dialnet