Studying students

Dr. James D. A. Parker is taking advantage of Trent's size and unique close atmosphere to embark on a student-focused study with a student-focused goal: to identify factors that predict the kinds of students at risk of dropping out before completing their degrees, and to develop programs to help them.

"Prevention instead of just intervention" is how Parker refers to the Trent Academic Success and Wellness Project, which he started in the fall of 2000 (in collaboration with Drs. Scharfe and Summerfeldt in the Psychology Department) and expects to continue for three to five years.

Because of Trent's small size, Parker and his research team were able to get about 95 per cent of that year's in-coming first year students to participate, simply by approaching them in various common areas of the university and asking them to complete the series of psychological questions and instruments in the research package. Key variables such as emotional intelligence and other factors known to affect a person's adjustment to university are measured, and the students are then tracked throughout their university career. Their performance will be monitored, and this data used to fine-tune existing (or develop new) intervention programs.

As Parker explains, the goal of the project is to develop a profile of the type of student who is likely to encounter problems adjusting to the academic, social and/or personal challenges of university life, and to reach them before they start experiencing difficulties. A formula making it possible to identify those at risk as soon as they start in September and then steering them to specific programs and services designed to help them cope, he believes, will allow many who otherwise wouldn't have made it to be successful. He feels the information gained from the study will be especially useful over the next decade and beyond, as Ontario students enrolled during the "double cohort" period face the dual challenge of entering university at a younger age and dealing with even more peer competition due to increased numbers.

Parker, who was recently awarded a Premier's Research Excellence award (prea) for his work on emotional intelligence and health, is also involved in a number of other studies. Using grant money from the awards to employ graduate and undergraduate students to help with the research, as he is doing in the Academic Success and Wellness project, his other major focus is the Peterborough Family Study. Similar to a smaller-scale project completed two years ago, this one involves 400 voluntary participants: families with children between the ages of seven and 17. By asking the parents as well as the children to rate themselves in various aspects of emotional intelligence, it too is aimed at prevention. He hopes to be able to use the data collected to develop screening instruments that could identify children at risk of developing psychological problems before they actually start having trouble at home or in school.