Maxine Gallander Wintre

First-Year Students’ Adjustment to University Life as a Function of Relationships with Parents

One understudied aspect of first-year students’transition to university is their relationship with parents. This study investigates the contributions that perceived parenting style, current relationships with parents, and psychological well-being variables make toward perceived overall adjustment to university, from both socio/emotional adaptation perspectives and actual academic achievement. Data were collected from a sample of 408 (116 males and 292 females) first-year students attending university in a large metropolitan Canadian city. Results indicated that mutual reciprocity and discussion with parents, as well as the psychological well-being variables, have direct links to adjustment to university. There was an indirect, positive relationship between authoritative parenting and adaptation variables. Furthermore, the predictor variables differed by both gender and outcome measures. Interpretation of these results, their congruence within the context of the theoretical frameworks, and practical implications are discussed.

Who gains or who loses weight? Psychosocial factors among first-year university students.

Self-reported weight changes over 7 months and their relation to psychosocial characteristics (self-esteem, depression, social support, perceived stress and transition perception) and eating attitudes and behaviors (restrained eating and Eating Disorder Inventory subscales [EDI]) were assessed in first-year male and female students at six Canadian universities (N=2753). Results showed small but significant weight increases over time in males and females (M=1.5 kg). Males who lost weight versus those who gained reported greater negative well-being and more negative feelings about university transition. Females who either lost or gained weight had higher initial restraint and EDI scores than did weight maintainers. At 3 months, total EDI and body dissatisfaction increased in female weight gainers compared to weight losers, plus greater drive for thinness compared to weight maintainers. Thus, males distressed at the transition from high school to university appear more likely to lose weight while well-adjusted males are more likely to gain weight. For females, however, weight gain is associated with more negative well-being and preoccupations with weight and eating.

Re-Evaluating the University Attrition Statistic: A Longitudinal Follow-Up Study

Following up on the transition to university and university persistence, 119 (44 males; 75 females) students who had not graduated (within seven years) from a large, commuter Canadian university were interviewed. ‘Leavers’ were nota homogenous group but could be divided into categories of departure: transferred to another university (29.4%), transferred to college (29.4%), took temporary leave (11.8%), dropped out (20.2%), and put on academic probation (9.2%). Quantitative analyses indicated that transfer and noncontinuing students differed on previously collected measures of achievement and parental reciprocity (Wintre & Yaffe, 2000). Interview data demonstrated that reasons for leaving were more related to mobility, exploration and career paths, characteristics of emerging adulthood, than to negative university experiences. Furthermore, many former students completed their degrees elsewhere, decreasing the previously reported attrition rate from 42.1% to 22.5%.

It’s Not Academic, You’re in the Army Now Adjustment to the Army as a Comparative Context for Adjustment to University

The presumed efficacy of authoritative parenting, supported by a consensus in previous research conducted in authoritative institutions, is tested empirically by investigating the transition to a more authoritarian environment—the Israeli army. Employing a model developed to investigate the transition to university, the present study examines how perceptions of parents’rearing styles and aspects of current relationships with parents affect adjustment to the army as measured by psychological well-being variables, as well as scores on the four facets of the Soldiers’Adaptation to the Army Scale (adapted from the Students’Adaptation to College Scale). A group of 144 Israeli male soldiers was tested at the beginning and end of 3 months of basic training. The results demonstrated that authoritatively reared children were at a disadvantage with regard to successful adjustment to the army. These soldiers were more depressed, experienced greater stress, and had lower self-esteem when compared with soldiers from authoritarian and permissive backgrounds. The results cast doubt on the generalized goodness of authoritative parenting, and instead suggest attention to dynamic relationships between person-related variables and the environmental context.

The Transition to University: The Student-University Match (SUM) Questionnaire

Freshmen students at six Canadian universities completed questionnaires that assessed the quality of match between their individual needs and their university environment. The Student-University Match Questionnaire (SUM), a theoretically derived scale, was developed and demonstrated excellent psychometric properties (Cronbachs alpha = .87). Furthermore, interviews were conducted with students who had deregistered from their universities and a matched control group of students who remained enrolled. The interviews provided construct and predictive validity for the SUM scale. They also revealed important themes of student-environment match concerns for these emerging adults, confirming the characteristics of development, exploration, and mobility as identified by Arnett. Implications are discussed.

The Student Perception of University Support and Structure Scale:development and validation

A new scale, the Student Perception of University Support and Structure Scale (SPUSS), was developed for research on the transition to university. The scale was based on concepts derived from Baumrinds (1971) theory of parenting styles. Data were obtained from two separate cohorts of freshmen (n=759 and 397) attending six Canadian universities of varying sizes. The scale demonstrated excellent psychometric properties with Cronbach alphas of 0.87 and 0.89 for internal validity (0.84–0.90 and 0.85–0.91 across universities) and alphas of 0.86 and 0.88 for split-half reliability (0.80–0.94 and 0.86–0.89 across universities). Component analyses supported the use of a full-scale score. SPUSS scores were correlated with the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire, supporting the predictive validity of the scale.

The Relations between Perceived Parental Reciprocity, Perceived Parental Approval, and Adolescent Substance Use

The present study examined the additive and interactive associations of 2 parenting variables, Perceived Parental Reciprocity (as measured using the Perception of Parental Reciprocity Scale, POPRS) and Perceived Parental Approval (PPA) of adolescent substance use, with adolescent substance use initiation and escalation. Urban high school students (N = 433) were categorized into abstainers, experimenters, and regular users of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis. The confirmatory hypotheses thatfrequency ofsubstance use would be associated (a) positively with PPA and (b) negatively with POPRS were supportedfor all 3 substances. The association with POPRS, however, depended on the stage of substance use and the substance in question. The third hypothesis of an interactive association of POPRS and PPA with frequency of substance use was found only for tobacco; however, the direction of the interaction was the reverse of that expected. Implications of thesefindings andfuture directionsfor research are discussed.

The Adolescent Self-Concept: A Functional Determinant of Consultant Preference

The consultant preferences of adolescents were examined in relation to self-worth and locus of control. A total of 247 subjects, 122 males and 125 females, ranging in age from 13 to 18 years, completed questionnaires indicating self-worth and locus of control orientation. These subjects also rated their preference for four generic consultant categories (a familiar adult, an adult expert, a familiar peer, or peer expert) in three hypothetical problem situations—an impersonal problem, an interpersonal problem with a peer, and an interpersonal problem with a parent. Analyses were conducted on the dependent measure of preference scores. A six-way analysis of variance was conducted with the independent variables of age, sex, self-worth, locus of control, and the repeated measures of situation (across three levels) and consultant choice (across four levels). The results reveal a significant three-way interaction between age, sex, and consultant choice. The results also indicate a significant four-way interaction between self-worth, locus of control, situation, and consultant choice. This interaction between personality variables, problem domain, and consultant characteristics contains practical implications for prevention and intervention.

The four undergraduate years. Changes in weight, eating attitudes, and depression.

Weight, eating attitudes, and depression were assessed in male and female students over the 4 years of university attendance, and the relation of weight changes to eating attitudes and depression was explored using self-report measures (Restraint Scale, EDI, CES-D) collected at six time points during the university years. Results showed that, in general, weight increased between year one and year four of university attendance for both men and women, with men gaining an average of 4.1 kg and women gaining an average of 3.2 kg. Weight gain was associated with increased body dissatisfaction and negative eating attitudes among women, whereas weight loss was associated with decreased negative eating attitudes. Well-being and eating attitudes of men who gained weight did not differ, either initially or at year four, from those of men who remained weight stable, whereas men who lost weight reported higher negative eating attitudes both initially and at year four. Weight gain, therefore, appears to be associated with negative outcomes, including greater preoccupation with eating and weight, for women, but not for men, while weight loss improves the attitudes only of women.

Challenging the Assumption of Generalized Academic Losses over Summer.

AbstractThis study challenges the assumption of generalized academic losses over the summer vacation from school. Metropolitan Achievement Tests were administered to 54 grade 1 students, 56 grade 3 students, and 60 grade 5 students in the spring and again when they returned to school in the fall. The students were attending a Canadian school in a middle-class suburb of a large metropolitan city. Analyses revealed significant improvement of overall academic skills. There were also significant interactions with grade level and content area. A significant loss was found only for mathematics computation for grade 3 students. This improvement over the summer months for middle-class students is discussed within the framework of contemporary cognitive theory. Moreover, a possible explanation is suggested for the popular, misleading assumption of generalized academic losses.