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Original Articles

Executive Functions, Depressive Symptoms, and College Adjustment in Women

, , , &
Pages 136-144 | Published online: 14 Jan 2013
 

Abstract

Many students have difficulty adjusting to college, and the contribution of academic and relational factors have been considered in previous research. In particular, depression commonly emerges among college women at this time and could be related to poor adjustment to college. This study examined the relationship between executive functions, depressive symptoms, and college adjustment in college women. Seventy-seven female participants from a midsize urban university completed the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, College Adjustment Scale, Beck Depression Inventory-Second Edition, Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function-Adult Version, and four subtests from the Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System: the Trail-Making Test, Design Fluency Test, Verbal Fluency Test, and Color–Word Interference Test. After controlling for IQ score, hierarchical regression analyses showed that subjective and objective measures of executive functioning and depressive symptoms were significantly related to college adjustment problems in academic, relational, and psychological areas. The current study provides evidence for a relationship between cognitive abilities, psychiatric symptoms, and college adjustment.

Notes

Note. Variable 1 is a standard score. Variables 2 through 5 are scaled scores. Variables 6, 7, and 9 through 14 are T-scores. Variable 8 is a raw score.

a Higher scores = greater performance.

b Higher scores = greater impairment/more problems.

*Significant after Hochsberg step-up correction for family-wise error rate.

β = standardized betas.

a WASI FSIQ and age entered in Step 1, as control.

*p < .05. **p < .01. ***p < .001.

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