In past issues of the DATAWave, many aspects of student characteristics, achievement, and performance have been reported and discussed. These results have provided only a partial description of our student body.
To add to our understanding, this issue will examine incoming students as they influence the Eastern campus environment, thus, allowing an exploration of how incoming freshmen compare on ratings of intellectual self-esteem, permissiveness, altruism and social activism, and materialism and status. A more accurate comparison of ENMU students (year-to-year and between institutions) could be presented through a better understanding of the social environment. These data will be particularly insightful when, and if, in the future they can be compared with the responses of graduating students.
In his 1993 book, What Matters in College: Four Critical Years Revisited, Alexander W. Astin proposed the use of the Cooperative Institutional Research Project (CIRP) Freshman Survey as a means to measure several peer factors of incoming students (listed and summarized below). These factors are, in turn, thought to effect campus environment. A comparison to national norms are unavailable at this time; however, there remains the opportunity to investigate what, if any, change has occurred among Eastern's freshmen, and its assumed impact on the campus environment.
For the purposes of this report, the formula used to produce the results in Tables I and II is as follows: responses to the variables included were summed, divided by the number of variables, and where necessary, responses were weighted to promote comparison.
Intellectual Self-esteem: Students' responses on self-ratings of academic ability, public speaking ability, drive to achieve, leadership ability, intellectual self-confidence, writing ability, mathematical ability, and the extent to which the students intended to apply to an academic honor society were used.
Permissiveness: Students' responses on the abortion issue, marijuana legalization, and unmarried couples' sexual behavior were combined for this scale.
Altruism and Social Activism: This score is calculated by figuring students' desire to participate in a community action program, promote racial understanding, influence social values, help others in difficulty, and become involved in environmental clean up.
Materialism and Status: Students' responses on their desires to become very well off financially, attend a university in order to make more money, become successful in their own business, become an authority in their own field, obtain recognition from their colleagues, and have administrative responsibility for the work of others were used for this scale.
TABLE I: SUMMARY BY YEAR
| Mean | S.D. | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | sig.F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intellectual Self-Esteem | 3.25 | 0.62 | 3.23 | 3.27 | 3.27 | 3.24 | 3.26 | 3.31 | 3.22 | 0.44 |
| Permissiveness | 2.62 | 1.02 | 2.55 | 2.50 | 2.52 | 2.71 | 2.65 | 2.75 | 2.75 | 0.00 |
| Altruism & Social Activism | 3.08 | 0.81 | 2.95 | n/a | 3.07 | 3.16 | 3.08 | 3.14 | 3.13 | 0.00 |
| Materialism & Status | 2.95 | 0.63 | 2.95 | n/a | 2.95 | 2.95 | 2.88 | 2.92 | 3.01 | 0.08 |
TABLE II: SUMMARY BY GENDER AND ETHNIC MINORITY STATUS
| Mean | S.D. | all men | all women | sig.F | non ethnic minority | ethnic minority | sig.F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intellectual Self-Esteem | 3.25 | 0.62 | 3.31 | 3.21 | 0.00 | 3.32 | 3.13 | 0.00 |
| Permissiveness | 2.62 | 1.02 | 2.77 | 2.49 | 0.00 | 2.65 | 2.55 | 0.00 |
| Altruism & Social Activism | 3.08 | 0.81 | 3.02 | 3.13 | 0.00 | 3.02 | 3.19 | 0.00 |
| Materialism & Status | 2.95 | 0.63 | 3.01 | 2.89 | 0.00 | 2.91 | 3.00 | 0.00 |
Results.Students' intellectual self-esteem has been remarkably consistent over the seven years of the CIRP's administration; and not surpassingly, men and non-ethnic minorities are more confident than women and ethnic minorities. This writer suspects that these results are due to acculturation issues and not actual abilities. Permissiveness has shown an increase (not necessarily steady) over time, but it is unclear why dominant groups scored higher in this area. These results also suggest that the campus has become increasingly altruistic, and women and ethnic minorities assess as more altruistic than their counterparts. Materialism has shown a slight increase over time, but not at a statistically significant level. Men were more materialistic than women, and ethnic minorities more so than non-ethnic minorities.
Conclusion.As measured by the values, attitudes, and goals of incoming freshmen, the environment of ENMU has been very stable, with a slight increase in permissiveness and altruism. Women and men, and dominant versus ethnic minorities, represented statistically different populations when mean scores were compared.
