Social Integration in a Community College Environment

Among current retention models, Tinto's Interactionalist Model has reached near paradigmatic status. When his model has been applied to two-year college settings, the social integration results have been inconsistent. This has led Maxwell (2000) and Deil-Amen (2011) to suggest that a different construct of social integration exists in community colleges; one that focuses less on purely social activities and more on peer groups centered on academically-related activities, and interactions with faculty and students inside the classroom. But are these two constructs really different? The current study sought to ascertain whether this alternative construct of social integration is, in fact, related to Tinto's construct. It also was designed to investigate the impact of additional variables including gender, race, age, and program of study (i. e., occupational vs. transfer) have on both constructs. After conducting the analysis, it was found that the two social integration constructs were highly related. Additionally, it was found that social integration, using Tinto's construct, significantly varied by gender. Future research strategies including longitudinal analysis, regression analysis, and qualitative techniques are all recommended.