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Student Development Theory refers to a body of scholarship that seeks to understand and explain the developmental processes of how students learn, grow, and develop in post-secondary education. Student development theory has been defined as a “collection of theories related to college students that explain how they grow and develop holistically, with increased complexity, while enrolled in a postsecondary educational environment”.

Early ideas about student development were informed by the larger disciplines of psychology and sociology. Some student development theories are informed by educational psychology that theorizes how students gain knowledge in post-secondary educational environments.

There are many theorists that make up early student development theories, such as Arthur Chickering’s 7-vectors of identity development, William Perry’s theory of intellectual development, Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, David A. Kolb’s theory of experiential learning, and Nevitt Sanford’s theory of challenge and support.

Student developmental theories are typically understood within theoretical categories of psychosocial, cognitive-structural, person-environment, typology, maturity, social identity, integrative theories, and critical theory frameworks.

Student development theories can be understood as evolving across 3 generational waves. First wave developmental theories, often cited as foundational, tended to view student development as universal for all students. First wave theories primarily focus on students’ psychosocial and cognitive-structural development, as well as examining the impact of the campus environment. Second wave theories advanced the developmental focus of the first wave, to examine more closely the diversity of student populations and students experiences of social identities across gender, sexuality, race, and ethnicity. Second wave theories brought attention to the socially constructed nature of social identities as well as to the historical exclusion of diverse groups of students from student development theories. Second wave theories may include, Marcia Baxter Magolda’s theory of self-authorship, Carol Gilligan’s theory of women’s moral development, in addition to other social identity and multidimensional identity theories.

Third wave theories re-examine student development theory through critical theory and post-structural perspectives. Critical frameworks are used to analyze structures of power, privilege, and oppression in order to call attention to systemic inequality, transformative practices, and social justice. Critical theoretical perspectives that have been used to re-examine student development theory have included, intersectionality, critical race theory, black feminist thought, feminist theory, queer theory, postcolonialism, and poststructuralism. Critical perspectives in the third wave also contribute to the ongoing growth and expansion of the body of student development theories themselves.

Student development theories may be used by post-secondary educators and student affairs professionals to better understand and address student needs as well as to guide student affairs practices and policies that impact student development.