Support from extended family in higher education: a narrative literature review

ABSTRACT

Although the support provided by extended family members to university students has recently been more investigated, it is rarely considered as an element worthy of analysis in its own right. Situated in an international context, this literature review provides a map of research on the support of extended family members to university students and links research to university practitioners and policy makers as a way to promote diversity. The argument is that by facilitating students’ support networks, more effective diversity policies can be implemented at the institutional level. Employing the concepts of extended family, funds of knowledge and social support, the review identifies social support that achieves positive outcomes and support which outcomes are less effective. Selected articles (22) were classified, synthesised and analysed by the author. The paper discusses the role of extended families in relation to four sub-groups of students: traditional; non-traditional; international and dropout. The review shows that: a) social support is a cultural-based practice; b) research emphasises positive effects of social support; c) research tends to focus on ethnic minorities, and d) there is an unclear separation between parental and the support provided by extended family members. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for further research and practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Social support
• extended family
• diversity
• higher education

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere thanks to Joanna Apps, Tony Kelly, Jon P. Knudsen, Bruce Macfarlane and Melanie Nind for comments on earlier drafts as well as the anonymous reviewers who identified areas of my manuscript that needed modification.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marta Cristina Azaola

Dr Marta Cristina Azaola is a Lecturer in the Southampton Education School at the University of Southampton. Her work is concerned with educational inequalities, in particular, educational inclusion and exclusion in deprived areas and social participation in education.