2019/08/12 by Rebecca Ridener, Sarah Kuehn, Paul Scott +1 · 3 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Higher Education Research Studies #Labor market dynamics and wage inequality #School Choice and Performance
paper · doi:10.1080/10511253.2019.1650085
openalex publication_date 2019/08/12 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/26
A truism concerning college attendance is that the knowledge and experiences gained from it have the ability to change one’s attitudes and beliefs. In regard to criminology and criminal justice (C&CJ) education, this has led researchers to assume that what separates the students majoring in this field from other majors is course work alone. Due to students self-selecting their major, however, any similarities found among C&CJ majors may simply be an artifact of them commencing college as a more homogenous group. The question then is whether or not C&CJ majors begin their college careers as a more likeminded group compared to their non-C&CJ counterparts. This paper addresses this question by surveying college freshmen from all academic fields. Specifically, it examines how C&CJ majors and non-majors differ at the start of their college careers in the areas of personality characteristics, parental demographics, TV show preferences, and reasons for selecting a major.