Of the five stressor domains identified by factor analysis (i.e., Homesickness, Cultural Difference, Social Isolation, Academics, and Unfamiliar Climate), Academic challenges posed the greatest difficulty.
These strategies require tremendous amounts of energy and place additional emotional and mental strain on the students, often resulting in academic and social isolation, making "engineering school a hostile place for many LGB identifying students," according to Cech.
Reviewing the literature, Summers and Hrabowski wrote that factors such as academic and cultural isolation, low expectations that erode motivation and performance, unsupportive peers, and discrimination can all cause undergraduate students to drop out or transfer out of STEM fields.
Carr et al observed that "The greatest danger for junior faculty in academic medicine is isolation".
In the US, one might not even remark on such a thing, but here a minority presenter and a minority academic are unusual in isolation.
Iyal Winokur was intellectually impaired and at high risk for a range of secondary disabilities, including poor judgment, impulsive behavior, social isolation, limited academic achievement, unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse, imprisonment, mental-health problems including suicidal ideation, inability to live independently and inappropriate sexual behavior.
The model components included strategic skill building, reducing isolation, professional academic career coaching, and development of a career plan beyond tenure.
As a teenager growing up in Louisville, Ky., Edwin Rip Smithth rode multiple city buses each day, leaving his largely black neighborhood for the social isolation and academic rigor of a school in a white neighborhood.
Absenteeism was associated with social isolation and academic failure in many cases.
