What Sets College Thrivers and Divers Apart? A Contrast in Study Habits, Attitudes, and Mental Health

Graham Beattie (), Jean-William Laliberté, Catherine Michaud-Leclerc and Philip Oreopoulos
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Catherine Michaud Leclerc

No 23588, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Students from 4-year colleges often arrive having already done very well in high school, but by the end of first term, a wide dispersion of performance emerges, with an especially large lower tail. Students that do well in first year (we call the top 10 percent Thrivers) tend to continue to do well throughout the rest of their time in university. Students that do poorly (we call the bottom 10 percent Divers) greatly struggle and are at risk of not completing their degree. In this paper we use a mandatory survey with open ended questions asking students about their first-year experience. This allows us to explore more closely what sets Thrivers and Divers apart, in terms of study habits, attitudes, and personal experiences. We find that poor time management and lack of study hours are most associated with poor academic performance, and that those who struggle recognize these weaknesses. Divers also report feeling more depressed and unhappy with their lives. We posit an 'academic trap', whereby initial poor performance is related to poor time management which in turn lowers expectations, which in turn leads to lower study time, and so on. Thrivers, in contrast, study significantly more and meet with course instructors.

JEL-codes: I20 I23 I26 J20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu and nep-hea
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published as Graham Beattie & Jean-William P. Laliberté & Catherine Michaud-Leclerc & Philip Oreopoulos, 2019. "What sets college thrivers and divers apart? A contrast in study habits, attitudes, and mental health," Economics Letters, .

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