Student Retention

The issue of student persistence and retention has garnered significant attention among institutions of higher education as they look at ways to increase student graduation rates and revenue. Freshman retention rates in the Midwest range from 89% to 55% (US News and World Reports, 2012). UIC’s first year retention rate hovers around 80%, but only about 50% of any cohort actually makes it to graduation (UIC Office of Degree Programs, 2009).

Students withdraw from college for a variety of reasons, but at the core of it is the inability to adjust, either emotionally, socially or academically or even a combination of the three. This inability to adjust can affect academic performance directly or indirectly, including through its effects on health

behavior.

Risky health behaviors are common among college students and can affect academic success and persistence or continuation to graduation.

For example, results from the 2010 National College Health Assessment (NCHA) survey revealed that 0.6% of students reported academic performance issues as a result of a sexually transmitted infection and 11%, 1.1% and 18.2% of students reported that relationship difficulties, pregnancy and anxiety, respectively, affected their academic performance (ACHA, 2010). Furthermore, DeBerard et al (2004) also found that health behaviors (such as smoking and binge drinking), physical and mental health quality of life, coping strategies and perceptions of social support among college freshmen were related to, and are in fact predictive of, academic performance. Persistence is, in turn, influenced by academic performance (Lotkowski, Robbins & Noeth, 2004).

While a myriad of retention interventions are being developed and tested for effectiveness in reducing college attrition rates, few explore the effect of wellness initiatives on student success and retention (Lotkowski, Robbins & Noeth, 2004). Health promotion in institutions of higher education is an integral part of the academic mission, as it supports student success by creating healthy learning environments. To be successful, health promotion models need to consider college based environments and design interventions that are developmentally appropriate and

cost-effective.

One promising intervention model is that of mentoring, which is gaining increasing popularity among institutions of higher education as a way to provide social support to students, especially first year students. Mentoring interventions have been shown to have positive effects on academic related outcomes, including academic success, socialization, satisfaction with university life, and stress and anxiety related to academic work (Allen, McManus and Russell,1999; Crisp and Cruz, 2009; Sanchez, Bauer and Paronto, 2006). However, there has been little to no systematic evaluation of the effect of mentoring relationships on the health behavior choices of college students, especially sexual behaviors. A recent literature review of Crisp and Cruz (2009) also found that most studies on the effects of mentoring on college students had major methodological limitations, including the lack of a theoretical framework, lack of operational definition of mentoring, reliance on self-report outcomes, lack of comparison/control groups in assessing intervention effects and a lack of external validity.