Journal of Education & Social Policy

Self-Efficacy of Generational College Students in Educational Doctoral Programs in Texas
Stephanie Yuma, Lori Kupczynski, Marie-Anne Mundy, Albert Ruiz

Abstract
Higher education institutions are faced with pressure to graduate more doctoral students, but universities are faced with an increasing population of doctoral students who identify themselves as first-generation; however, there is not much known about this specific population as well as other generational students (i.e., second and other generation) at the doctoral level. This study focuses on exploring student self-efficacy levels in terms of academic self-efficacy, research self-efficacy, and social self-efficacy. This study is a quantitative, survey design that explored the relationship between the generational status of education doctoral students and their levels of self-efficacy while also offering generalizations that will benefit these students, administrators, and higher education institutions. Analysis of the data concludes that the generational status of a doctoral student does not determine their self-efficacy.

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