TY - JOUR
T1 - The role of social media in shaping first-generation high school students' college aspirations
T2 - A social capital lens
AU - Wohn, Donghee Yvette
AU - Ellison, Nicole B.
AU - Khan, M. Laeeq
AU - Fewins-Bliss, Ryan
AU - Gray, Rebecca
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank the staff, faculty, and students of the Muskegon schools and Muskegon Opportunity for their help with data collection. We would also like to thank our anonymous reviewers. This research was supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation .
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - Using survey data collected from a sample of high school students in the United States (N = 504), this study examined how different types of social capital associated with parents, close friends, and Facebook Friends were related to students' confidence about their knowledge of the college application process and their expectations about succeeding in college. We found that social media use plays a significant role only for first-generation students-students whose parents did not graduate from college. For first-generation students, finding information about college through social media was associated with higher levels of efficacy about college application procedures. Having access via social media to a broader network of people who could actively answer questions and provide informational support was positively related with first-generation students' expectations about their ability to be successful in college, but was not the case for non first-generations.
AB - Using survey data collected from a sample of high school students in the United States (N = 504), this study examined how different types of social capital associated with parents, close friends, and Facebook Friends were related to students' confidence about their knowledge of the college application process and their expectations about succeeding in college. We found that social media use plays a significant role only for first-generation students-students whose parents did not graduate from college. For first-generation students, finding information about college through social media was associated with higher levels of efficacy about college application procedures. Having access via social media to a broader network of people who could actively answer questions and provide informational support was positively related with first-generation students' expectations about their ability to be successful in college, but was not the case for non first-generations.
KW - Computer-mediated communication
KW - Cooperative/collaborative learning
KW - Media in education
KW - Post-secondary education
KW - Secondary education
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U2 - 10.1016/j.compedu.2013.01.004
DO - 10.1016/j.compedu.2013.01.004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84873884741
SN - 0360-1315
VL - 63
SP - 424
EP - 436
JO - Computers and Education
JF - Computers and Education
ER -