Analysis of Social, Psychological and Other Factors on College Dropout Rates among African American Students

Abstract

This study explored the African American college students’ retention behavior and identifies the effect of different social, psychological and other factors. Randomly selected students from predominant African American university completed the perceived stress scale, self-motivation scale, parental involvement, childhood economic situation, mentorship and drug and alcohol use questionnaire. Non-parametric analyses suggested that higher stress level, childhood poverty, lack of parental involvement or support, without a mentor support and lack of self-motivation increase the likelihood of dropping out from college. This study’s findings have important implications for college retention among African American students.