The number of racial/ethnic minority students enrolled in four year colleges and universities has been steadily increasing since the 1970’s (Snyder & Hoffman, 1991; Snyder et al, 2007). However, despite the larger numbers of diverse students enrolling in college, the percentage of these students actually graduating showed limited growth (Girves et al., 2005) posing a significant problem to higher education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (2011), only 58% of first time, full-time students who started a bachelor’s degree in a four year institution in 2004 completed it within 6 years. For students of racial and cultural diverse backgrounds, these percentages were even lower: 40.5% for Blacks, 41.4% for Hispanics and 39.3% for American Indians while for White students, the rate of completion was 62.6%. Persistence, graduation, and pursuit of graduate education continue to be areas in which racially and culturally diverse students encounter significant problems (Girves et al, 2005).
Astin(1984) and Tinto (1993) identified several factors that contribute to student attrition. According to Tinto (1993), academic and social integration influence students’ decisions to persist or to depart from school. Research has shown that promoting the engagement of “first generation” culturally and racially diverse students in peer and faculty mentoring makes it twice as likely that they will remain in college as opposed to their peers of same background who do not receive those services (Nuby & Doebler, 2000). Effective mentoring and mentoring programs in higher education are, thus, important factors to help minimize the problem of attrition and departure of racially and culturally diverse students (Girves et al., 2005; Hayes, 2006).
Some authors see mentoring as a process of counseling that promotes change and personal growth (Boyatzis, 2007) which include the ability to develop and maintain relationships and attain a strong sense of identity and self-confidence. In Higher Education, although students are the ones who must drive the change process, it is clear from research (Boyatzis, 2006) that they may have difficulty engaging in the process alone. Rodriguez (1995) argues that sponsored mentoring programs are vehicles to enhance personal growth, helping students to make sustainable and important changes in behaviors, feelings and perceptions that may negatively impact their academic and professional success.
According to Rodriguez (1995) issues faced by racially and culturally diverse students include different cognitive perspectives and styles, different personal and professional values and goals than those of the academic institutions, and diverse worldviews. Those discrepancies may discourage racially and culturally diverse students to continue their academic progress. In addition, Sedlacek et al. (1976,1987) have indicated that several cognitive and non-cognitive variables are significant predictors of college success for racially and culturally diverse students, such as, having positive self-concept and confidence; being able to conduct realistic self-appraisals; understanding and dealing effectively with racism; being able to develop long-term goals rather than relying on short-term ones and having the help of a support person. Thus, as Baron has put it, “the road to graduation … is often a difficult one [for racially and culturally diverse students], which demands not only academic skills, but also sociopsychological tools to traverse it” (Baron, 1991, p.172).
Cognitive Therapy and Mentoring
According to Leahy (1996), the foundations of cognitive therapy exist since the ancient Greeks and it is based on the idea that our perceptions determine the reality that we experience. Cognitive therapy (CT) focuses on changing irrational or maladaptive thinking, perceptions and beliefs that may be dysfunctional to the individual. Thus, the therapist works with clients to help them understand problem situations, establish goals, gain insight into their own thoughts and feelings, and change their beliefs and thinking about problem situations. Although CT is a therapeutic approach that is and should be used mainly by mental health professionals for treatment of clients with mental/emotional problems, it also comprises a philosophy of how problems develop and a practical set of tools that can be used by diverse professionals such as, for example, those working with clients trying to lose weight (Beck , 2007), or those helping cardiac patients to better engage in treatment when recovering from heart surgery (Gulliksson et al., 2011). Many books also have been written to teach CT techniques to individuals to personally assist them in overcoming a vast array of problems such as relationship problems, self-esteem problems, and lack of confidence (Greenberger & Padesky, 1995; Beck, 2007).
CT tools and principles have also been used with success in mentoring programs for at-risk youth. One example is a program developed at the University of Chicago Crime Lab using a group mentoring approach. The results included decrease in youth arrests, improved school engagement, and better adherence to the program. Even though, presently, there is virtually no research in the area, the above mentioned examples point out to the fact that CT tools can be used successfully by mentors working with racially and culturally diverse students who may be struggling to remain in school and succeed in higher education contexts. Two of those cognitive therapy tools are problem solving and cognitive restructuring and those will be discussed next.
Problem Solving
Cognitive Therapy is focused on the here and now and it is important for the mentor to help the student to identify specific problems that he/she may be facing in the college or university environment. Those problems may be in different areas such as, for example, the social/relational area or academic/learning area.
Once the problems are objectively identified, the student will also identify what are his/her goals related to each of those problems. From that point forward, the interactions between mentor and student will be focused on solving and overcoming those specific problems.
In collaboration with his/her mentor, the student will engage in the process of problem solving and will identify steps, or sub-goals necessary to reach his/her final goals. Thus, for example, if one identified problem is in the academic area, and the student’s goal is to pass a certain class, the sub-goals could include: a) determine a specific time to study every day; b) choose an appropriate place to study while at school; c) set a quiet place to study at home.
As the mentor assists the student to develop strategies to implement those plans and discusses the obstacles to implementing them, student’s cognitive distortions, perceptions and beliefs that are roadblocks for him/her to reach the goals will start to surface and can be identified and disputed.
Cognitive Restructuring
The cognitive therapy model is based on the assumption that problems are often maintained or exacerbated by biased or maladaptive ways of thinking (Leahy, 2003). In the case illustrated above, the racially and culturally diverse student who is having problems in a class, may have thoughts such as “This class is too difficult for me” or “The professor is discriminating against me”, which may interfere with his/her ability to succeed in the class. In the case of the first thought/belief, the mentor and the student will look together for evidence in favor and/or against the assumption that the class is too difficult for him/her (thought disputing). Based on the evidence, the student may find that he/she has, in fact, succeeded in other classes as difficult as this particular one. The student and mentor may also review the students’ educational history and the student may realize that he/she has a list of past successes. Thus, at the end of the process, the student might arrive at the conclusion that this thought is maladaptive because it is not based on evidence. Thus, helping the student dispute this belief that the class is too difficult will ultimately help the student become more engaged and successful in the class. This process is called cognitive restructuring.
Likewise, the second thought/belief, should also be examined. The mentor will help the student find evidences in favor and/or against the assumption that the professor is, in fact, discriminating against him/her. If after examining the evidences the student concludes that he/she has misinterpreted the professor’s behaviors due to his/her own cognitive distortions, the student may have the opportunity to change his/her assumptions about the professor, substituting that belief to one based on evidence and more adaptive to the situation. This will help him/her to be more positive and engaged in the class. On the other hand, if after examining the evidences the student concludes that in fact the professor is discriminating against him/her, then the mentor will engage the student in problem solving, helping him/her to define the problem in objective terms and determine the next steps to solve the problem. Thus, cognitive restructuring and problem solving will be constantly interacting in the mentoring process, complementing each other.
Cognitive Distortions
Beck (1976) was the one who first proposed the theory behind cognitive distortions. The most common cognitive distortions are: Negative filtering; Polarized thinking; Overgeneralization; Jumping to conclusions; Catastrophizing; Personalization; Dichotomous thinking; Discounting the positive; Shoulds; Blaming; Emotional Reasoning; Fortune telling; Global labeling and; Mind reading. For a complete description of each one may consult Beck (1976), Burns (1980) and Leahy (2003).
Not many studies have been conducted that examine cognitive distortions in members of specific racial and cultural groups. One study, for example, looked at common cognitive distortion of Chinese individuals (Lin, 2001). According to this study, Chinese worldview include: 1) external locus of control (forces such as luck or chance are in control) and b) external locus of responsibility. Another paper examined differences between Asian American and Caucasian college students and found that Asian American tend to have more pessimistic thoughts (discounting the positive and/or negative filtering) and to use more problem avoidance and social withdrawal as coping strategies as compared to Caucasian students (Chang, 1996).
No specific studies were found that addressed cognitive distortions among other ethnicities in the United States, however, knowledge of key cultural concepts such as level of acculturation, ethnic identity development and machismo (Baron,1991) for example, may help mentors to identify common cognitive distortions among students of different racial and cultural backgrounds.
It is out of the scope of this paper to analyze the strengths and weakness of applying cognitive therapy principles and techniques to individuals of diverse racially and culturally groups. For a review of those issues one is referred to Hays (1995).
Conclusion
Racially and culturally diverse students’ departure from higher education continues to be a problem. On the other hand, research has shown that cognitive therapy (CT) principles and techniques are being successfully used to address a wide range of problems. This paper argues that structured mentoring programs that use CT principles and techniques, such as problem solving and cognitive restructuring, have the potential to decrease departure rates, increase academic success and improve social integration of racially and culturally diverse students in colleges and universities.
This paper is not based, however, in specific empirical evidence and only points towards the possibility of implementing successful higher education mentoring programs using CT techniques. In addition it points out to the need of collecting and analyzing future data that can demonstrate the impact of such programs in decreasing departure rate and increasing academic success and social integration of culturally and racially diverse students.
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