An almost universal characteristic of highly educated professionals is their constant search for greater meaning and significance in their work. Those who work in higher education settings practicing specialties in such areas as student activities, student programming, student advising, and other student service agencies are no exception. In fact, such professionals probably experience greater hunger for meaning in their work than many other educators such as full-time instructors because their roles are often less clear than those of their academic colleagues (Rodgers, l980). In addition, many times they have so much to do that they often do not take the time to reflect on their work. The concept of student development has resulted from much needed efforts to reconceptualize the work of student service professionals in higher education. Student development is a term which focuses on one of the major purposes of higher education and emphasizes the ways in which professionals in the student services field contribute to the development of people through higher education. The concept, however, is often a vague one for many student service professionals as it is often difficult to operationalize the theoretical concepts of student development theories into day-to-day practice. In addition, there are a number of different theories and no one theory or set of theories provides a specific comprehensive model for student service professionals.
In order to study the various theories of student development, means must be developed to assess student status on these concepts. These measures must have the reliability and validity necessary if these instruments are to yield reliable and valid results. Such instruments must be able to reliably measure status on these concepts, they must be proven to actually measure the concepts in a meaningful and valid way, and, if they are to be of maximum use to student development researchers, must be sensitive enough to assess changes and hopefully growth on these dimensions. If student development professionals are to determine what types of experiences, curricula, and educational methods are related to growth on these dimensions, then the instruments must also be sensitive enough to measure these changes or growth. The purpose of this monograph is to present the current status of some of the instruments which have been developed primarily at The University of Iowa, to measure student development.
Chickering's Vectors of Development
One of the theories of college student development is that of Chickering (l969) which is built upon the work of Erikson (l959) who described a series of developmental phases through which an individual moves during the life cycle. Each developmental phase is created by the convergence of a particular growth phase and certain tasks. Development follows a chronological sequence, and at certain times of life particular facets of the person emerge as particular concerns which must be addressed. Chickering's theory of student development focuses on the college student and is an elaboration of Erickson's stages of identity and intimacy. In his book Education and Identity (Chickering, l969) he presents a model of student development derived from his research on undergraduates and the works of others such as White (l966) and the previously discussed work of Sanford (l962). Chickering has attempted to focus on the particular developmental concerns of students that are relevant to the social situation they find themselves in during their years in college. He has attempted to construct a framework of the developmental changes occurring in young adulthood in a more detailed way than psychosocial theorists such as Erikson and has presented it in a form which draws upon and gives coherence to the wealth of empirical data on student change reported by a variety of researchers who have studied college students.
He has postulated seven vectors or dimensions of development rather than the developmental tasks or developmental stages used by other theorists. The seven vectors along which development occurs in young adulthood are as follows:
l. Achieving Competency
There are three types of competency important for
college students: (a) intellectual competence, (b)
physical and manual skills, and (c) interpersonal
competence.
2. Managing Emotions
Aggression and sex represent two of the most important
emotions which must be harnessed during the college
years. Increased awareness of emotions and the
increased ability to manage them effectively are
developmental skills central to social concerns as well
as to a full and rich individual development.
3. Developing Autonomy
Autonomy begins to develop with disengagement from
parents. Reliance is then transferred to peers or to
occupational or institutional reference group. In time
there is less need for such support as to be emotionally
independent is to be free of continual and pressing needs
for reassurance, affection, or approval.
4. Establishing Identity
Identity refers to the self or the person one feels
oneself to be. The development of identity depends in
part upon the development of the three previous vectors
and once a student achieves a solid sense of identity,
changes then occur in the remaining three vectors.
5. Freeing of Interpersonal Relationships
In the development of this vector, relationships become
less anxious, less defensive, and less burdened by
inappropriate past reactions. They become more
friendly, more spontaneous, more warm and more
respectful. Development on this vector also includes
the development of a tolerance for a wider range of
persons.
6. Developing Purpose
Development on this vector requires formulating plans
and priorities that integrate avocational and
recreational interests, vocational plans, and lifestyle
considerations. For males this vector receives its
primary thrust from the relationships of increased
stability and deepening interests to vocational plans
and aspirations. For females, the salience of
vocational plans is often complicated by marriage plans
or by uncertainties regarding marriage.
7. Developing Integrity
The development of this vector involves the
clarification of a personally balanced set of beliefs
that are reasonably internally consistent and provide at
least a tentative guide for behavior. Such development
involves three overlapping stages; (a) the humanizing of
values, (b) the personalizing of values, and (c) the
development of congruence.
These concerns have existed all along in the person's life and Chickering does not postulate that vectors come into being specifically during the adolescent years. Instead, various of the vectors become more salient during the college years and students work on resolving different vectors at different points in time. The resolution can be positive or negative and either way will effect the resolution of future vectors. In addition, vectors can recycle in a person's life. The first three vectors however tend to ascend simultaneously and before the other four vectors.
Eight Developmental Inventories
Inventories designed to assess development on the first six of these vectors, along with pertinent information about them are presented in each of the first six chapters. Certain of the inventories were developed well before others and have been used in various studies to determine their validity and have been examined in longitudinal studies to assess development over time. Other inventories are in earlier stages of development and have had relatively little additional research conducted with them.
Efforts to develop an inventory to assess development on the seventh vector--that of developing integrity--were not successful at least as they were initially undertaken. It was difficult to determine what types of beliefs and values should be assessed and attempts to use some of these aspects such as political beliefs values regarding sex roles, or economics, and other such beliefs did not yield an inventory which could measure development on this vector reliably. In the meantime, two different instruments were developed to attempt to assess Perry's (l970) positions of intellectual and ethical development. Although Perry's theory is essentially one of cognitive development while Chickering is psycho-social in nature, the vector of developing integrity is obviously related to intellectual and ethical beliefs that are internally consistent and are related to patterns of behavior. These two inventories are therefore presented in Chapters 7 and 8 since they represent attempts to build measures that can be objectively scored and which have reasonable amounts of reliability and validity for Perry's positions and which assess domains which are at least related to the development of integrity.
Needed Studies
Research on how college students change during their
undergraduate years can contribute to the understanding of the
nature and causes of the development that occurs in students as a
result of their college experiences. With this improved
understanding, curricula and instruction, as well as student
activities and programs can be initiated and/or revised to be
maximally beneficial to students.
References
Chickering, A. W. (l972). Education and identity. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Erikson, E. Identity in the life cycle. Psychological Issues
Monograph, Vol. l. New York: International Universities
Press.
Rodgers, R. F. (l980). Theories underlying student development
in D. G. Creamer (Ed.) Student development in higher
education, Washington, DC: American College Personnel
Association.
Sanford, N. (l962). Developmental status of the entering
freshmen. N. Sanford (Ed.), The American college. New York:
Wiley