The Role of Psychosocial Variables in Understanding the Achievement and Retention of Transfer Students at an Ethnically Diverse Urban University

A study of 1,130 transfer students (757 female, 373 male; 479 Latino/Hispanic, 267 Asian or Asian American, 125 European American, 73 African American, 58 Middle Eastern, and 66 "other") at a 4-year public university indicates that psychosocial variables are important in relation to the success of students who are diverse by many factors. Cluster analysis of academic self-efficacy, college commitment, support of peers, personal/career motivation for attending college combined with age and first-quarter GPA created 5 distinct student profile groups: a young achieving group, a mature achieving group, a low peer support group, a young low-achieving group, and a low confidence/commitment group. The groups differed significantly with regard to ethnic makeup and in subsequent trajectories of academic achievement and retention.