Integrating Study Abroad Research and Practice: First-Generation Students in Focus

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Research focused on first-generation students' experiences studying abroad is nascent, with all five extant studies published since 2019 (Brunsting, Chiles, et al., 2023).There is strong overlap between first-generation, students of color, and community college students for study abroad participation, as participants in studies were first-generation students of color (Blake et al., 2020;Pai & Wilson, 2019;Wick et al., 2019;Willis et al., 2019) or first-generation community college students (Whatley & Canché, 2022).Taken as a whole, the findings are positive: first-generation students experience similar positive benefits of study abroad as other students, including in their academic performance (Whatley & Canché, 2022), intercultural competence (Pai & Wilson, 2019;Willis et al., 2019), and identity development (Blake et al., 2020;Wick et al., 2019).However, access to longer duration programs still appears to be a challenge for first-generation students (Brunsting, Dietrich, et al., 2023); all five studies focused on short-term (Blake et al., 2020;Pai & Wilson, 2019), summer programs (Wick et al., 2019;Willis et al., 2019), or both (Whatley & Canché, 2022).