Poster #54 - Thriving in University: The Role of Parental Attachment

• In Event: Poster Session 01

Abstract

Attachment theory suggests that parental support is critical to the successful development of young adults during early life transitions, such as engagement in post-secondary education. The transition to university can be multi-faceted and stressful for young adults. Further, failure to adapt to university has been attributed to poor psychosocial adjustment rather than intellectual inadequacy. To support such young adults, we propose a dynamic conference discussion of the roles of parental attachment and gender in successful transition to university.
At the end of September, 314 students (Mage = 18.7 years, range: 17-58; 62.4% female) participated in Term 1 of the study. At the end of Term 2, 104 of these students (Mage = 19 years, range: 18-58; 56.7% woman) participated in a follow-up survey. During both terms, participants completed the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA [Mother, Father, and Peer Versions]; Armsden & Greenberg, 1987) to measure attachments and the Student Adaptation to College Adjustment (SACQ; Baker & Siryk, 1984) to assess Academic, Social, and Personal-Emotional adjustments. With participant consent, GPA was employed to measure Academic Performance. Gender differences in parental support, and positive relationships between parental attachments and student outcomes were expected. Multiple regression analyses with Parental Attachment (Combined, Paternal, Maternal) were entered simultaneously. University Adjustment (Emotional, Academic, Social) and GPA were dependent variables. Terms 1 and 2 were analyzed separately.
Combined Parental Attachment accounted for 4.5% of the variance in Emotional Adjustment in Term 1 [F(2, 311)= 7.387, p= .001] and 6.0% in Term 2 [F(2, 101)= 3.227, p= .05]; 7.1% of the variance in Academic Adjustment in Term 1 [F(2, 311)= 11.924, p< .001] and 12.7% in Term 2 [F(2, 101)= 7.349, p= .001]; and 4.6% of the variance in Social Adjustment for Term 1 only [F(2, 311)= 7.434, p< .001]. Differentially, Maternal Attachment accounted for 2% of Academic adjustment, for Term 1 only [sr(313)= .16, p= .004], while Paternal Attachment accounted for 2.2% of Emotional Adjustment [sr (313) = .15, p = .009; sr (103) = .15, p = .009], 2.2%-4.8% of Academic adjustment [sr (313) = .14, p = .01; sr (103) = .22, p = .02], and 2.6% of Social Adjustment in Term 1 only [sr (313) = .16, p = .006].
These findings support the assumption that parents play important combined and distinct roles in supporting their youth emotionally, academically, and socially during this critical transitional period. Students supported by both maternal and paternal sources adjusted well among their social groups, were more emotionally stable, and thrived in academics in first term of post-secondary attendance, with emotional and academic adjustment continuing into second term. However, parental support did not significantly affect student GPA. Parental involvement during the first year of post-secondary served to increase student retention and overall academic success and can thus be used to inform parents and university student services on how well to support new students. Future research should explore roles of guardians in non-traditional families (e.g., same-sex parents, stepparents, multi-generational families).

Authors

• Elizabeth Lynn Gerhardt, Saint Mary’s University
  Presenting Author

• Kaitlyn Monica Wilson, University of New Brunswick

• Morgan Elizabeth Richard, University of New Brunswick

• Zexuan Mu

• Catherine Ann Cameron, University of British Columbia (UBC)