Dissonance, Detachment and College Student Identity: An Exploration of Identity Gaps in the Emerging Majority Student

Dissonance, Detachment and College Student Identity: An Exploration of Identity Gaps in the Emerging Majority Student

Academic Unit

College of Education and Human Development

Publication Date

2021

Document Type

Article

Abstract

As emerging majority students learn to adjust to academic life, they frequently confront feelings of inadequacy and face changing identities in relation to their home communities. These students often feel underprepared, experience both isolation and marginalization, and have difficulty navigating academic culture and expectations. Drawing on a qualitative data collected from 49 students using focus groups and open-ended interviews, this article uses the Communication Theory of Identity to examine disassociation and distancing in the form of personal-relational identity gaps that influence the emergence of the self-categorization of a college student identity among emerging majority students.

Journal Title

Qualitative Research Reports in Communication

Volume

22

Issue

1

ISSN

1745-9443

Beginning Page Number

80

Last Page Number

88

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1080/17459435.2020.1853205

Dissonance, Detachment and College Student Identity: An Exploration of Identity Gaps in the Emerging Majority Student

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