Social support and adjustment to university life: A comparison of african-american and white freshmen

✍ Scribed by Gina M. Jay; Anthony R. D'Augelli

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 893 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0090-4392
• DOI: 10.1002/1520-6629(199104)19:2<95::aid-jcop2290190202>3.0.co;2-2

✦ Synopsis

The present study assesses patterns of social support of African-American and White freshmen attending a predominantly White university, and the relationship of support to measures of adjustment to university life. African-American students reported significantly less support available than White students, but this difference disappeared when family income was used as a covariate. African-American and White students did not differ in adequacy of social support. Even with family income and prior academic performance covaried, African-American students' college GPAs were significantly lower than White students'. No differences in well-being were found. An understanding of minority students' adjustment to university life necessitates adopting a multidimensional perspective involving social and academic variables and their dynamic interaction.

The first year of college can be a very stressful period for many students as a result of the multiple and varied demands of a new social environment. Freshmen experience more adjustment problems than other academic classes, including more appetite disturbances, feelings of worthlessness, concentration problems, depression, and suicidal thoughts (Kashani & Priesmeyer, 1983). Freshmen also report experiencing loneliness (Cutrona, 1982), lower self-esteem, and higher frequencies of life changes than seniors (Marron & Kayson, 1984). The generally high stress can be exacerbated by sociodemographic and other variables. One such variable is minority racial status (Moritsugu