First-Year College Students' Strengths Awareness: Building a Foundation for Student Engagement and Academic Excellence

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Author(s): Soria, K. M., & Stubblefield, R.

Citation: Soria, K. M., & Stubblefield, R. (2014). First-Year College Students' Strengths Awareness: Building a Foundation for Student Engagement and Academic Excellence. Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, 26(2), 69-88.

 

Abstract

As strengths-based approaches continue to gain steady momentum in colleges and universities, a distinct need for scholarship on the benefits of strengths-based practices has emerged. In fall 2011, all first-year students at a university in the Midwest were invited to discover their strengths by taking the Clifton StrengthsFinder. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between first-year students’ strengths awareness and two outcomes that influence students’ success in higher education: academic self-efficacy and engagement. The results of a midyear survey of the first-year class (n = 1, 397) suggest students’ strengths awareness is positively associated with academic self-efficacy and engagement when controlled by demographic variables, academic achievement, and strengths interactions.

 

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