Same Me, Different View: Exploring Family Achievement Guilt in Post-Graduate First-Gen College Students

This article will review family achievement guilt in post-graduate first-generation college students using an ambiguous loss theoretical framework. Those who have experienced this phenomenon may straddle two worlds because of their dual identities, and for all the accolades earned by achieving academic and economic success, there may be a sense of unaccounted loss. Three central themes were found: 1) A lack of support from family members; 2) Disconnect with family and development of new identity; and 3) Ambivalence between loyalty to family and sense of independence.

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