Family Communication Patterns and the Mediating Effects of Support and Resilience on Students' Concerns About College

• Published in: Family relations Vol. 69; no. 2; pp. 276 - 291
• Main Authors: Dorrance Hall, Elizabeth, Scharp, Kristina M., Sanders, Matthew, Beaty, Loretta
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, USA Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-04-2020; National Council on Family Relations
• Subjects: Adjustment; Adults; Childhood; Children & youth; Citizen Participation; College students; Communication; Communication (Thought Transfer); Concerns; Conformity; Dropout Rate; Ethnic Groups; Families & family life; Family Environment; Family Involvement; Family Relationship; Family support; Graduation Rate; Higher education; Interpersonal communication; Interpersonal Competence; Interpersonal Relationship; Management Systems; Parents; Parents & parenting; Perceptions; Psychological Patterns; Resilience; Resilience (Psychology); Self esteem; Social Behavior; Social Environment; Social support; Student Adjustment; Student retention; Theory; transition to college; Undergraduate students; Verbal communication; United States > US
• DOI: 10.1111/fare.12386
• EISSN: 1741-3729; 0197-6664
• ISSN: 0197-6664

Objective
To identify first‐year undergraduate students' concerns about college and examine how family support and resilience influence the relationships between family communication patterns and adjustment to college.
Background
Nearly half of undergraduate college students in the United States do not graduate within 6 years. Low graduation rates come at high costs to students and universities. A deeper understanding of the family factors that contribute to adjustment concerns may provide retention‐focused intervention opportunities.
Method
Survey data collected from precollege students (N = 2,252) were used to test a moderated mediation model in which family communication patterns are associated with adjustment concerns through resilience and family support.
Results
Conversation orientation was related to higher family support, whereas conformity was related to lower resilience and family support. Interaction results indicate that the effects of conversation orientation on some adjustment concerns depended on conformity ratings. Resilience mediated the relationship between the orientations and adjustment concerns.
Conclusion
Conversation and conformity orientation play a role in perceptions of family support, student resilience, and an array of concerns held by students as they enter college.
Implications
Parents may play an important role in helping their child adjust to college through the family communication environments they create and reinforce from childhood and through the support they provide during the transition to college.