Familial Factors Impacting First-Generation College Students’ Adjustment: The Compensatory Role of Older Siblings With College Experience

ABSTRACT

Previous studies show that familial support promotes first-generation college students’ (FGCS) academic and social adjustment, but limited research has examined the impact of having older siblings who attended college. In this longitudinal study, 169 FGCS completed online questionnaires assessing academic and psychosocial factors at the beginning and end of their first year. Controlling for potential confounds in multivariate regressions, parent support was positively associated with subjective indicators of academic and social adjustment. Having older sibling(s) with college experience was positively associated with social adjustment when parent support was low, demonstrating an interaction effect. I discuss practice implications and future directions.

KEYWORDS:

• First-generation college student
• family support
• older siblings
• parental support
• adjustment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by a Graduate Research Fellowship from the National Science Foundation [1356104].