The goal of this study was to describe what motivates adult women enrolled in a community college to pursue higher education. Utilizing profile analysis and multiple regression analyses, this study investigated the extent to which gender, English as a first language, and age predicted the seven factors of the Education Participation Scale (A- form) comprised of (1) Communication Improvement, (2) Social Contact, (3) Educational Preparation, (4) Professional Advancement, (5) Family Togetherness, (6) Social Stimulation, and (7) Cognitive Interest (Boshier, 1991).
Data collection involved administering an online survey to 367 students enrolled in a large urban community college in the Southeastern United States. Twenty-eight percent were males and 72% were females. The majority of students were in their early 30s (M=33.7, SD=12.1). Ethnicity of the group varied with 47% White/Caucasian (N=173), 36% African-American/Black (N=133), 10% Latino/Hispanic (N=38), 6% Asian-American/Asian (N=21), and 1% Native American/ Alaskan (N=2). Fifteen percent of the participants indicated they speak a language other than English as their first language.
The results indicated that females were most motivated by Professional Advancement, followed by Cognitive Interest, Educational Preparation, Communication Improvement, Family Togetherness, Social Contact, and finally Social Stimulation. In short, females seem to be less motivated by social reasons (i.e. Social Contact, Social Stimulation, Family Togetherness), and more motivated by practical reasons (i.e. Professional Advancement, Cognitive Interest, Educational Preparation). A profile analysis demonstrated that the motivational profiles for males and females can be considered coincident with similar profiles for the genders.
Multiple regression results indicated that gender was not a significant predictor of motivation, but age of respondent and students who spoke English as their first language were predictors of several motivational factors. In general, older students place less importance on social reasons to attend school, such as Communication Improvement, Social Contact, and Social Stimulation. Students who speak English as a second language are more likely to value Communication Improvement, Social Contact, Family Togetherness, Social Stimulation and Cognitive Interest than students who speak English as their first language.
The current findings seem to indicate that most females (and males) value attending college in order to obtain better employment options and to prepare to take even higher level classes later. The research implies incorporating course content related to a student’s career goals would assist with student motivation, such as using examples related to career interests in developmental classes. This strategy would also tap into Cognitive Interest, which is the second most important motivator for females
