Chapter 1: An Explanatory Model of Southeast Asian American College Student Success: A Grounded Theory Analysis

In this chapter, the authors examine the factors that contribute to the success of Southeast Asian American college students. Using a grounded theory approach, the authors conducted individual, face-to-face interviews with 34 Southeast Asian American undergraduates and developed an explanatory model of Southeast Asian American student success. The model demonstrates that four main factors influenced the academic success of the participants. First, students’ academic dispositions, or the dominant academic qualities of the individual student, shaped the success of Southeast Asian students. Second, cultural validation, or the affirmation of students’ cultural identities and backgrounds, emerged as the sole intervening condition in our model. In addition, participants’ connections to cultural heritage and connections to campus cultural agents were two primary causal factors of success. Overall, the findings of this examination add to the literature on Southeast Asian American undergraduates by offering the first explanatory model of Southeast Asian American college students’ success. The authors also situate the grounded theory model within the context of existing theory and research to demonstrate its contribution to the knowledge base and provide an additional layer of support for the findings. Finally, limitations of the study and implications for higher education research, policy, and practice are discussed.