본 연구는 대학생들이 학업을 중도에 포기하지 않고 성공적으로 학업 완수를 하게 하는데 영향을 미치는 심리 사회적 요인들을 탐색하기 위하여 실시하였다. 대상은 대구의 K 대학 일 학년 학생이었고 연구 방법으로 혼합디자인을 채택하여 질적 연구와 양적 연구의 일련의 두 연구를 실시하였다. 질적 연구에서는 10명의 학생들을 인터뷰한 내용을 분석하여 학생들의 대학 생활과 관련한 세 가지 주제를 추출하였으며 질적 연구의 인터뷰내용을 바탕으로 개발한 설문지를 이용하여 567명을 대상으로 자료를 수집한 양적 연구에서는 요인분석과 다중회귀분석을 이용하여 결과를 얻었다. 이 일련의 두 연구의 결과를 보면 학문적 성취감요인, 인간관계요인 및 가족의 기대요인이 공통적으로 드러났으며 대학생들의 학교생활 만족과 상관이 있음으로 나타났다. 그러나 학업계속의지나 졸업의지를 설명하는 요인은 더 탐색 연구해 볼 필요가 있음을 보여주었다.

The purpose of the study was to explore psych-social factors that influence college students` successful achievements. This was a mixed design study in which qualitative and quantitative methodology were integrated. The qualitative research was followed by the quantitative one. Subjects of both research were freshmen of a college located in Taegu. For the qualitative research, 10 freshmen were recruited through a convenient sampling process. Data were collected from interviewing the 10 subjects. The interviews were recorded using a tape recorder, transcribed and analyzed. Three themes were emerged through analyzing the transcripts. 1) College students` academic achievements were associated with their high motivation at the early stage of campus life 2) Adjusting to a college life was related with a sense of connection with people on campus. 3) Unspoken family values were important for college students at a critical moment of a campus life. For the quantitative research, an instrument was developed based on the analysis of the interviews of the qualitative research to measure factors that influence campus lifes. Data were collected using the instrument from 567 freshmen who voluntarily participated in the study. Factor Analysis and Multiple Regression were conducted to analyze the data. Six factors were identified: academic achievements, faculty concern, relationships with faculty, peer relationship, intimate feelings toward school environment and family values. It was showed that academic achievement was the most important factor that influence campus life satisfaction while family value was the only factor that showed a significant relationship with students` decision for retention. It was concluded that further studies were needed to explore other factors.