Family functioning, contributions to college expenses, access to mentors, and college student’s health and flourishing: Examining moderation by family structure

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate how family functioning, family contributions to college expenses, and access to mentors are associated with college student’s self-reported health and flourishing, and to test for moderation by family structure. Participants: Undergraduate college students (N = 238) recruited through an email list-serve at a large midwestern state university. Methods: Participants completed an online survey (distributed through Qualtrics) in February 2020. Data were analyzed using linear regression (in SPSS 28) and simple slope analyses. Results: College students’ access to mentors is associated with their self-reported health, and family structure moderates the association between family strengths and self-reported health. Family functioning and access to mentors are both associated with college students’ flourishing. Conclusions: College students’ health and flourishing may benefit from access to mentors and functional family dynamics. Though students from post-divorce families see fewer benefits from family strengths compared to peers in nuclear biological families.

Keywords:

• Family structure
• flourishing
• mentoring
• moderation
• self-reported health

Conflict of interest disclosure

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. The authors confirm that the research presented in this article met the ethical guidelines, including adherence to the legal requirements, of the United States and received approval from the Illinois State University Institutional Review Board.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by an Illinois State University College of Applied Science and Technology University Research Grant. Early findings from this investigation were presented at the 82^nd annual meeting of the National Council on Family Relations in 2020.