Measuring social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion: confirmatory factor analysis
IntroductionThis study compares the 5-factor and 4-factor models of the Higher Education Success Factor (HESF) framework. Through this research, we aimed to identify the social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion rates. We analysed responses from 2,248 participants. T...
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| Format: | Article |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Education |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1568521/full |
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| author | Thu D. Pham Angela Baeza Penã Congcong Xing Levon E. Blue Peter J. Anderson Rhetta Chappell |
| author_facet | Thu D. Pham Angela Baeza Penã Congcong Xing Levon E. Blue Peter J. Anderson Rhetta Chappell |
| author_sort | Thu D. Pham |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionThis study compares the 5-factor and 4-factor models of the Higher Education Success Factor (HESF) framework. Through this research, we aimed to identify the social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion rates. We analysed responses from 2,248 participants. The social determinants we examined included the social environment, physical environment, economic conditions, health and wellbeing, and individual characteristics.MethodsConfirmatory factor analysis was used to validate both models. While both models demonstrated strong and consistent goodness-of-fit measures, the findings reveal that the 4-factor model outperforms the 5-factor model.ResultsOur findings suggest that the 4-factor model provides a good fit to the modified model and reduces the risk of redundancy and overfitting in evaluating the factors that impact student success.DiscussionBased on our findings, we advocate for academic institutions to adopt the HESF model to identify better where students need support, ultimately improving university completion rates in Australia. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-91cfe76e9d3248ed82335e2ca6015d26 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2504-284X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-04-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Education |
| spelling | doaj-art-91cfe76e9d3248ed82335e2ca6015d262025-08-20T03:10:38ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2025-04-011010.3389/feduc.2025.15685211568521Measuring social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion: confirmatory factor analysisThu D. Pham0Angela Baeza Penã1Congcong Xing2Levon E. Blue3Peter J. Anderson4Rhetta Chappell5Indigenous Research Unit, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaCarumba Institute, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaGraduate School, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaOffice of the Deputy-Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement), University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaIndigenous Research Unit, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaRelational Insights Data Lab, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaIntroductionThis study compares the 5-factor and 4-factor models of the Higher Education Success Factor (HESF) framework. Through this research, we aimed to identify the social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion rates. We analysed responses from 2,248 participants. The social determinants we examined included the social environment, physical environment, economic conditions, health and wellbeing, and individual characteristics.MethodsConfirmatory factor analysis was used to validate both models. While both models demonstrated strong and consistent goodness-of-fit measures, the findings reveal that the 4-factor model outperforms the 5-factor model.ResultsOur findings suggest that the 4-factor model provides a good fit to the modified model and reduces the risk of redundancy and overfitting in evaluating the factors that impact student success.DiscussionBased on our findings, we advocate for academic institutions to adopt the HESF model to identify better where students need support, ultimately improving university completion rates in Australia.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1568521/fullconfirmatory factor analysishigher education success factor modelHESF modelhigher educationsocial determinantsstudents’ completion |
| spellingShingle | Thu D. Pham Angela Baeza Penã Congcong Xing Levon E. Blue Peter J. Anderson Rhetta Chappell Measuring social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion: confirmatory factor analysis Frontiers in Education confirmatory factor analysis higher education success factor model HESF model higher education social determinants students’ completion |
| title | Measuring social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion: confirmatory factor analysis |
| title_full | Measuring social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion: confirmatory factor analysis |
| title_fullStr | Measuring social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion: confirmatory factor analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Measuring social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion: confirmatory factor analysis |
| title_short | Measuring social determinants influencing Australian university students’ completion: confirmatory factor analysis |
| title_sort | measuring social determinants influencing australian university students completion confirmatory factor analysis |
| topic | confirmatory factor analysis higher education success factor model HESF model higher education social determinants students’ completion |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2025.1568521/full |
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