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Conceptualizing Openness to Diversity and Challenge: Its Relation to College Experiences, Achievement, and Retention

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Abstract

Openness to diversity and challenge (ODC) constitutes an integral outcome of the undergraduate experience. However, ODC may also serve as a form of generalized openness to experience; if so, then it should be positively related to a host of college experiences as well as student success. The study reported here explored this possibility within a longitudinal sample of 8,475 first-year students at 46 institutions. Results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that ODC is positively and significantly related to several broad measures of college experiences and first-year GPA, and it is also a marginally significant predictor of first-to-second year retention.

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Acknowledgement

The research on which this study is based was supported by a generous grant from the Center of Inquiry at Wabash College to the Center for Research on Undergraduate Education at the University of Iowa.

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  1. Department of Higher Education and Student Affairs, Bowling Green State University, 330 Education Bldg., Bowling Green, OH, 43403, USA

    Nicholas A. Bowman

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Bowman, N.A. Conceptualizing Openness to Diversity and Challenge: Its Relation to College Experiences, Achievement, and Retention. Innov High Educ 39, 277–291 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-014-9281-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10755-014-9281-8

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