Family Structure and The Freshmen Year: Influence of Parental Marital Status and Custody Arrangement on First-Year College Adjustment

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how first-year college adjustment is impacted by family structure. More specifically, the study aims to determine if the current definition of family structure needs to be revised to account for different custody arrangements when assessing its impact on first-year college adjustment. Traditional first year college students were recruited for participation in this study, 82 freshmen chose to take part. Eligibility was determined based on a prescreening questionnaire that examined age, parental marital status, and current college housing arrangement. The survey contained the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire, College Adjustment Test, and demographic questions related to campus involvement, division of parental custody, family background, parental contact and academic history. Participants were divided into the "married" group (N=39), the "co-parenting" group (N=21), and the "single parenting" group (N=22) based on their parents' marital status and custody arrangement, if the parents were divorced. Significant differences were found in terms of high school grade point average, as well as grade point average from the first semester of college. Further research is needed to continue assessing the possible revision of the present definition of family structure; larger numbers of participants and more equivalent group sizes will aid in increased statistical power.