A New Pathway to University Retention? Identity Fusion With University Predicts Retention Independently of Grades
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21209652 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sanaz Talaifar (0000-0002-4918-9575, The University of Texas at Austin, corresponding author), Ashwini Ashokkumar (0000-0002-8672-5963, The University of Texas at Austin), James W Pennebaker (0000-0001-9091-214X, The University of Texas at Austin), Fortunato N Medrano (0000-0003-4499-5575, The University of Texas at Austin), David S Yeager (0000-0002-8522-9503, The University of Texas at Austin), William B Swann (0000-0002-8698-2994, The University of Texas at Austin) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 108-117 |
| Publication date | 2021-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Psychological and Personality Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1948-5506 • E-ISSN: 1948-5514 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/1948550619894995 |
| PMID | 33796211 |
| OpenAlex | W3007042609 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 28 |
Individuals who are “strongly fused” with a group view the group as self-defining. As such, they should be particularly reluctant to leave it. For the first time, we investigate the implications of identity fusion for university retention. We found that students who were strongly fused with their university (+1 SD) were 7–9% points more likely than weakly fused students (−1 SD) to remain in school up to a year later. Fusion with university predicted subsequent retention in four samples ( N = 3,193) and held while controlling for demographics, personality, prior academic performance, and belonging uncertainty. Interestingly, fusion with university was largely unrelated to grades, suggesting that identity fusion provides a novel pathway to retention independent of established pathways like academic performance. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings
Demographics · Fusion · Personality · Sociology · Demography · Grit, Self-Efficacy, and Motivation · Higher Education Research Studies · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
The Development of Identity Fusion
Relationship between university belonging and student outcomes
Using implicit psychological mechanisms to predict student success in digital higher education
Facilitating connection to enhance college student well‐being
Can identity fusion foster social harmony? Strongly fused individuals embrace familiar outgroup members unless threatened
Identity fusion and support for political authoritarianism
Brothers in arms
Dying for the group
Affective Forecasting
Mortality and Morbidity in the 21st Century
Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale
Resolving social conflicts and field theory in social science
The Problem of Units and the Circumstance for Pomp
Predicting school success
Improving the academic performance of college freshmen
On the nature of identity fusion
Deep Alignment with Country Shrinks the Moral Gap Between Conservatives and Liberals
A question of belonging
What makes a group worth dying for? Identity fusion fosters perception of familial ties, promoting self-sacrifice
When group membership gets personal
Improving Student Outcomes in Higher Education
Social-Psychological Interventions in Education
A threat in the air
The Enduring Association between Education and Mortality
Understanding Why Students Drop Out of High School, According to Their Own Reports
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,2 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 6 |