La persévérance en première année à l'université : sources et effets de l'intégration sociale

(eng) The transition from secondary school to university is a challenging period implying important changes in students’ social, academic, and emotional life. The present dissertation seeks to analyze the role played by social integration in first-year students’ persistence intentions during the early weeks at university. Social integration is one of the key factors in Tinto’s model of student departure (1975, 1993, 1997), but sources of influence of social integration remain largely unexplained according to several researchers (e.g. Braxton, Sullivan, & Johnson, 1997). Revisions of Tinto’s model (a) by the inclusion of theoretical concepts borrowed from other theoretical perspectives or (b) by highlighting the role of classroom social experiences (Tinto, 1997) allowed a better prediction of social integration as well as academic integration. However, most of these studies were carried out in the American educational context. Another reason for elaborating Tinto’s model stems from the absence of emotional variables in the process leading to students’ dropout decision. Or, emotional variables such as students’ emotional adjustment and coping with stress are seen as crucial during the transition to university qualified as a highly stressful period in student’s life. Consequently, the main objectives of the present dissertation are: (1) the validation of Tinto’s original model in the Belgian educational context, (2) the improvement of the prediction of social integration on a theoretical model inspired by Tinto's theory and completed by the inclusion of motivational attributes and the role of social classroom experiences, and (3) the analyses of the effects of social integration and emotional adjustment in the persistence process. Three correlational studies and one experimental design have been used to test our hypotheses. The correlational studies indicate that Tinto’s model can be validated in the Belgian educational context and that the inclusion of motivational attributes and social classroom experiences improves the prediction of social integration. Perceived social support from classmates, for example, seems to be one of the most important antecedents of social integration, while perceived teacher support and competition influence social integration rather indirectly. The inclusion of emotional adjustment in our studies indicates that emotional well-being strongly influences persistence intentions and academic engagement, and is influenced by social integration, perceived competition, and self-efficacy beliefs. The experimental design seek to determine under which conditions cooperative learning is the most effective regarding the improvement of social interactions and learning. In general, persistence intentions during the early weeks at university largely depend on students’ emotional and social adjustments rather than on academic issues. Future research perspectives and various practical implications are drawn from the present dissertation which may take place before or after the entry at university.