Managing the Transition to College: Family Functioning, Emotion Coping, and Adjustment in Emerging Adulthood

• Published in: Journal of college student development Vol. 51; no. 6; pp. 607 - 621
• Main Authors: Johnson, Vanessa Kahen, Gans, Susan E, Kerr, Sandra, LaValle, William
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Baltimore Johns Hopkins University Press 01.11.2010
• Subjects: Adolescents; Children & youth; College Freshmen; College students; Colleges & universities; Coping; Correlation; Elementary School Students; Emotional Adjustment; Emotional Intelligence; Emotions; Families & family life; Family Environment; Family Environment Scale; Family Relationship; Higher Education; Measures (Individuals); Prediction; Preschool Children; School Holding Power; Self evaluation; Social Adjustment; Student Adjustment; Student retention; Suicides & suicide attempts; System theory; Young Adults; United States > US; Chicago Illinois
• ISSN: 0897-5264; 1543-3382; 1543-3382
• DOI: 10.1353/csd.2010.0022

Using a self-reported assessment of 320 first-time college students, we tested the hypothesis that one's ability to manage emotion moderates the relationship between family environment and college adjustment. Results add to growing evidence that the way one views one's whole family environment during the emerging adulthood years is linked to one's adjustment during normative transition points, such as the college transition. Emotion coping variables also predicted college adjustment over and above the variance accounted for by family factors. The relationship between family expressiveness and social adjustment to college varies depending on emerging adults' emotion coping style. Participants from less expressive families who tend to avoid their emotions reported significantly more difficulty adjusting to college than their peers from more expressive family environments. (Contains 3 tables and 2 figures.)