Personal, Behavioral, and Environmental Influences on Biology Student Persistence: A Person-Centered K-Medoids Clustering Approach

Reducing attrition among biology undergraduates requires a holistic understanding of students’ academic, motivational, and socioemotional experiences. Guided by Bandura’s model of triadic reciprocity, this study employed an unsupervised K-medoids clustering algorithm to examine patterns of personal, behavioral, and environmental influences among biology students who persisted in the major and those who switched out within one semester of declaring the major at a large Minority-Serving Institution in the United States. The analysis incorporated multidimensional data capturing personal influences (science identity, mathematics motivation, self-efficacy, and grit), behavioral influences (help-seeking behaviors and career goals), and environmental influences (mathematics anxiety and academic stress). Several models incorporating these three domains identified more students at risk of switching than models using traditional academic admissions indicators alone. Findings highlight the value of integrating student-reported experiences with institutional data to inform early, targeted interventions that support persistence in biology.