Students' decision to persist in college is influenced by their entering academic skills and motivation (i.e., hope). Researchers have shown positive relations between high-school academic performance and hope on college retention, independently. Hope emphasizes goal pursuit, focusing on one's motivation to pursue goals and ability to identify tenable routes for goal achievement. The present study extends existing research by examining the role of first-year, first-semester college hope as a moderator of the relation between high-school academic performance and college retention among 276 first-year college students (M_age = 18.67, 65% female). Findings supported the expected moderation for students with average and above-average but not low high school academic performance, such that students with high hope had increased, whereas students with low hope had decreased, odds of retention. Given that hope is malleable and teachable, implications for implementing hope skills training at both course and institution level are discussed.

学生继续上大学的决定受他们进入学术技能和动机（即希望）的影响。研究人员独立地表明，高中学习成绩与大学保留希望之间存在正相关关系。希望强调目标追求，注重个人追求目标的动机和确定目标实现途径的能力。本研究扩展了现有研究，考察了第一年、第一学期大学希望作为 276 名一年级大学生（M_岁）高中学习成绩和大学保留率之间关系的调节因子的作用。 = 18.67，65% 是女性）。调查结果支持平均和高于平均水平但不低的高中学习成绩的学生的预期缓和，因此希望高的学生增加了，而希望低的学生则下降了，保留的几率。鉴于希望具有可塑性和可教性，本文讨论了在课程和机构层面实施希望技能培训的意义。