Maternal attachment and trajectories of emotional and social adjustment during the college transition

ABSTRACT

Students’ developmental trajectories for social and emotional adjustment to college have not been adequately examined. Moreover, the role of students’ attachment to mothers in predicting membership of adjustment trajectories is unknown. Entering college students (N = 325) completed measures of maternal attachment as well as measures of negative emotional adjustment (i.e., distress), positive emotional adjustment (i.e., well-being), and social adjustment during the summer prior to matriculation and again at two more points throughout the first semester. Multiple trajectories were found, but their number and nature differed depending on the measure of adjustment. A Well-Adjusted class and a Persistently Distressed class were found for all measures of adjustment, an Improved class was found for negative emotional adjustment and social adjustment, one Deteriorated class was found for social adjustment, and two Deteriorated classes were found for negative emotional adjustment. Moreover, attachment avoidance to mother prior to entering college was associated with membership in poor-adjustment trajectories during the first semester. The findings have implications for counselors who work with college-age youth to promote the successful transition to college.

KEYWORDS:

• College transition
• emotional adjustment
• social adjustment
• attachment
• latent class growth analysis

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Karina Diaz, Lauren DiLorenzo, Claire Karlen, Leah Marks, Jennifer Mays, Kerry Pecho, and Jesse Sharp for their assistance with data collection. We also thank Margaret Nauta for her helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lynda M. Kasky Hernández

Lynda M. Kasky Hernández earned her Ph.D. in School Psychology from Illinois State University. She currently practices as a licensed psychologist in the Seattle area and specializes in treatment of children with disruptive behavior disorders.

Jeffrey H. Kahn

Jeffrey H. Kahn received his Ph.D. from Iowa State University in 1997. He is currently a professor of psychology at Illinois State University. His primary research interests are emotional disclosure and application of quantitative methods to counseling psychology.