Abstract
This research followed students over their first 2 years of college. During this time, many students lose sight of their goals, leading to poor academic performance and leaving STEM and business majors. This research was the first to examine longitudinal changes in future vividness, how those changes impact academic success, and identify sex differences in those relationships. Students who started college with clear pictures of graduation and life after graduation, and those who gained clarity, were more likely to believe in their academic abilities, and, in turn, earn a higher cumulative GPA, and persist in STEM and business. Compared to men, women reported greater initial vividness in both domains. In vividness of graduation, women maintained their advantage with no sex differences in how vividness changed. However, men grew in vividness of life after graduation while women remained stagnant. These findings have implications for interventions to increase academic performance and persistence.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 478-492 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin |
Volume | 48 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 2022 |
Keywords
- STEM & business persistence
- academic achievement
- academic self-efficacy
- sex differences
- vividness of the future
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
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sj-docx-1-psp-10.1177_01461672211015888 – Supplemental material for Is Seeing Believing? A Longitudinal Study of Vividness of the Future and Its Effects on Academic Self-Efficacy and Success in College
McMichael, S. L. (Creator), Bixter, M. T. (Creator), Okun, M. A. (Creator), Bunker, C. J. (Creator), Graudejus, O. (Creator), Grimm, K. (Creator) & Kwan, S. (Creator), SAGE Journals, 2021
DOI: 10.25384/sage.14646074.v1, https://doi.org/10.25384%2Fsage.14646074.v1
Dataset
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Is Seeing Believing? A Longitudinal Study of Vividness of the Future and Its Effects on Academic Self-Efficacy and Success in College
McMichael, S. L. (Creator), Bixter, M. T. (Creator), Okun, M. A. (Creator), Bunker, C. J. (Creator), Graudejus, O. (Creator), Grimm, K. (Creator), Kwan, S. (Creator) & Okun, M. A. (Creator), SAGE Journals, 2021
DOI: 10.25384/sage.c.5434322.v1, https://sage.figshare.com/collections/Is_Seeing_Believing_A_Longitudinal_Study_of_Vividness_of_the_Future_and_Its_Effects_on_Academic_Self-Efficacy_and_Success_in_College/5434322/1
Dataset
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Is Seeing Believing? A Longitudinal Study of Vividness of the Future and Its Effects on Academic Self-Efficacy and Success in College
McMichael, S. L. (Creator), Bixter, M. T. (Creator), Okun, M. A. (Creator), Bunker, C. J. (Creator), Graudejus, O. (Creator), Grimm, K. (Creator), Kwan, S. (Creator) & Okun, M. A. (Creator), SAGE Journals, 2021
DOI: 10.25384/sage.c.5434322, https://sage.figshare.com/collections/Is_Seeing_Believing_A_Longitudinal_Study_of_Vividness_of_the_Future_and_Its_Effects_on_Academic_Self-Efficacy_and_Success_in_College/5434322
Dataset