Affirming Both Independent and Interdependent Values Improves Achievement for All Students and Mitigates Cultural Mismatch for First‐generation College Students

Many first-generation college students-whose parents have not obtained a 4-year college degree-experience a "cultural mismatch" due to a lack of alignment between the independent values of their university (consistent with the culture of higher education) and their own interdependent values (consistent with working-class culture). We documented this mismatch at a 4-year university (n = 465), and then tested a values-affirmation intervention in a laboratory study (n = 220) that encouraged students to affirm both independent values and interdependent values. We compared this intervention, which had not previously been tested in a 4-year university, to a standard values-affirmation intervention and control. This intervention increased first-generation students' perceptions of cultural match and improved achievement on a math test for all students, on average, by increasing confidence and reducing distraction on the test. Encouraging students to integrate independent and interdependent values may improve first-generation college students' experiences in higher education.