The effect of contextual support in the first year on self-efficacy in undergraduate engineering programs

Abstract

This study examines the effect of contextual support in the first year, controlling for demographic characteristics, on three dimensions of self-efficacy: work, career, and academic. Contextual support is defined as the encouragement provided to students in their first year through both institutional means, such as financial aid, mentorship, and participation in a livinglearning community, and through modeling and conversation. The latter instance represents the messages that parents, faculty, role models, and peers convey to students about their efficacy at different tasks or in the career choice encouragement (or discouragement) that students obtain from influential significant others. The data pool for this study was constituted of all sophomores in the colleges of engineering from four participating universities. Student respondents filled out a 20-minute survey, among which were assessments of the three forms of self-efficacy. The analysis of the data revealed that social support in the first year from friends, family, college support services, and faculty furnishes a powerful and independent impact on efficacy over and above demographic qualities. The only demographic characteristic that preceded social support as an explanation of selfefficacy was the impact of academic performance on academic self-efficacy. Otherwise, social support furnished the most significant explanation of work, career, and academic self-efficacy upon completing the first year in undergraduate engineering programs. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.