Not so different and not deficient: First- and continuing-generation students' selves and self-discrepancies.

ABSTRACT: Previous research has often portrayed first-generation college students - students whose parents do not have a four-year university degree - through a deficit lens, depicting them as lacking in skills, knowledge or potential compared to continuing-generation students. It, however, remains unknown how first-generation and continuing-generation students perceive themselves with respect to their own goals and obligations. Who do they want to be and to what extent do they think of themselves as meeting their own goals and obligations? To answer these questions, we assessed students' ideal and ought selves, as well as self-discrepancies, based on Higgins's theory (Higgins, 1987), in a relatively large sample of students in the US (N = 1244) across three waves. Overall, we found no significant d

SUBMITTER: Zhang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12783873 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature