Exploring the theoretical social capital ‘‘deficit’’ of first generation college students: Implications for engineering education

Abstract

This paper investigates social capital, that is, resources accrued through relationships, of engineering students based on theirgenerational status in college. We administered a ‘‘Name and Resource Generator’’ instrument adapted from the field of sociologyto a sample of 1,410 engineering undergraduates from five U.S. universities. Quantitative analysis of results revealed manystatistically significant differences in the social capital characteristics and accessed resources for First Generation College students(FGC) compared to Continuing Generation College (CGC) students. While some of these results were theoretically anticipated, wealso present unique findings regarding (1) the prevalence of available and accessed resources for FGC students, and (2) the type ofindividual (known as an ‘‘alter’’) providing the engineering-related resources. The retrospective nature of the study allowed us todraw conclusions about the nature of these resources and alter types both during and before undergraduate engineering studies.These results represent a significant theoretical contribution that engineering education stakeholders can use to enhance outreach,recruitment and retention efforts to help grow and diversify the field.

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