Conceptualizing College-Going Volition: Investigating Relationships with Barriers and Self-Efficacy in Rural Appalachia

High school students in rural Appalachia typically face a high degree of obstacles to college going and, because a large number of adults in this region have no postsecondary education, many high school students are prospective first-generation college students (PFGCSs). Using the tenets of social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and psychology of working, I investigated college-going volition among a sample of 453 high school students in rural Appalachia. As predicted, PFGCSs reported significantly lower college-going volition than non-PFGCSs. I also investigated this construct in relation to other key SCCT variables. College-going volition was moderately negatively correlated with perceived educational barriers and it provided unique prediction of college-going self-efficacy when controlling for barriers. Contrary to my hypothesis, these two predictors did not interact in the prediction of college-going self-efficacy. Implications for an inclusive understanding of college-going are discussed.