Dissonance, detachment and college student identity: an exploration of identity gaps in the emerging majority student

As emerging majority students learn to adjust to academic life, they frequently confront feelings of inadequacy and face changing identities in relation to their home communities. These students often feel underprepared, experience both isolation and marginalization, and have difficulty navigating academic culture and expectations. Drawing on a qualitative data collected from 49 students using focus groups and open-ended interviews, this article uses the Communication Theory of Identity to examine disassociation and distancing in the form of personal-relational identity gaps that influence the emergence of the self-categorization of a college student identity among emerging majority students.