First-Year College Students' Strengths Awareness: Building a Foundation for Student Engagement and Academic Excellence

As strengths-based approaches continue to gain steady momentum in colleges and universities, a distinct need for scholarship on the benefits of strengths-based practices has emerged. In fall 2011, all first-year students at a university in the Midwest were invited to discover their strengths by taking the Clifton StrengthsFinder. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between first-year students' strengths awareness and two outcomes that influence students' success in higher education: academic self-efficacy and engagement. The results of a midyear survey of the first-year class ( n = 1, 397) suggest students' strengths awareness is positively associated with academic self-efficacy and engagement when controlled by demographic variables, academic achievement, and strengths interactions.