Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
Electronic Communications Technologies and
the Transition to College: Links to Parent-Child
Attachment and Adjustment
Pamela A. Sarigiani
Central Michigan University
Jill M. Trumbell
Purdue University
Phame M. Camarena
Central Michigan University
Abstract. Electronic communications technologies (ECTs) help college students
and parents remain in contact. Because recent reports have emphasized a link
between ECTs, helicopter parenting, and autonomy issues, this study focused
on the significance of contact patterns for attachment and student adjustment.
First-semester college students (199 female, 81 male; mean age = 18.12 years)
completed an online survey examining parent contact, attachment, shyness, and
college adjustment. Students with frequent contact scored significantly higher on
mother attachment but did not differ from the rest of the sample on father attachment, shyness, or adjustment. Mother and father attachment were positively associated with adjustment. Within the subsample of students with frequent parent
contact (n = 59), students with poor adjustment were significantly more likely
to report exhibiting greater shyness, having poorer father attachment, and being
from divorced families compared to students with positive adjustment. Qualitative comparisons revealed additional adjustment group differences. Findings
confirmed that, while technology facilitates frequent contact, this contact may
ref lect secure attachment as well as problems with developmental tasks.
For many families of emerging adults, the transition to college is a major milestone, but this time of change and exploration also can be stressful (Arnett, 2006).
Some students cope positively with this stress while an increasing number of others
experience declining emotional health (Sax, Bryant, & Gilmartin, 2004) and serious psychological difficulties (Farrell, 2008) across the first year. The reasons some
students make the transition easily and others do not remain unclear, but research
indicates that familial factors, especially the quality of the parent-child relationship,
Copyright 2013 University of South Carolina
35
Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
are protective agents consistently linked to college adjustment (Mounts, Valentiner,
Anderson, & Boswell, 2006; Sax et. al, 2004; Wintre & Yaffe, 2000).
Advances in electronic communications technologies (ECTs; e.g., cell phones,
e-mail, and text messaging) have made it easier for students and parents to keep in
contact. Seemingly, this ease of communication would benefit student adjustment,
helping maintain quality parent-child relations. Yet questions persist: Is there a
healthy limit of frequent contact? Is it maladaptive for students to have too much
contact with parents during the college transition? Finding a balance between
independence from parents and maintaining close parent-child relations challenges
students away from home. Little is known about how this historical shift in ease of
communication and consequent potential for increased frequency of contact is shaping the nature of parent-child relationships for emerging adults and how it ultimately
affects college student adjustment. The current investigation aims to explore these
issues by examining contact patterns, attachment, shyness, and adjustment to college
among first-year students.
Parent-Child Relationships in Emerging Adulthood and in the
Transition to College
The parent-child relationship may be an important source of comfort and support for emerging adults across the transition to college (Mounts, 2004). Although
some research has acknowledged the significance of parental support during the
college transition, few studies have examined students’ relationships with their parents during this time (Wintre & Yaffe, 2000). The research that does exist suggests
positive changes in the quality of parent-child relationships and more egalitarian roles
between parent and child (De Goede, Branje, & Meeus, 2009; Hiester, Nordstrom,
& Swenson, 2009). Understanding how positive parent-child relationships help
students overcome the stress of adjusting to residential college life is essential to the
examination of this developmental period and student outcomes.
For students attending residential colleges, leaving home may require the renegotiation of family roles to achieve autonomy while simultaneously maintaining
relationships with caregivers, a process known as separation-individuation (Lapsley
& Edgerton, 2002). During this process, separation from the parent elicits changes in
the parent-child relationship, allowing the emerging adult to gain developmentally
appropriate autonomy while sustaining connectedness with the parent (Josselson,
1988). Despite popular conceptualizations that the individuation process deteriorates parent-child bonds, the autonomy resulting from the separation-individuation
36
Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
process actually may indicate secure attachment, and secure attachment promotes
autonomy and provides a stable support base, characteristics that nurture healthy
development (Aquilino, 2006).
Attachment and Adjustment to College
Attachment refers to the enduring, emotional bond that exists between two
individuals (Bowlby, 1969). Secure attachment is characterized by knowledge that
parents will assist their children when needed, while simultaneously encouraging
autonomous exploration. Although security of attachment frequently has been studied in the literature on infancy, less research has examined attachment security during
the college transition (Sorokou & Weissbrod, 2005).
Kenny (1987) made an analogy between the transition to college and the “strange
situation,” an experiment devised by Ainsworth to assess infant attachment (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978). In the “strange situation,” an infant’s responses
to a series of separations and reunions from the caregiver are examined to determine
attachment security. Kenny suggested that the naturally occurring separation experience of the college transition requires the emerging adult to navigate, explore, and
master a new environment, just as an infant would in Ainsworth’s “strange situation.”
Whereas the continued presence of the attachment figure is critical for forming an
attachment bond in infancy, the availability and responsiveness of attachment figures
become prominent in adult attachment relationships (Josselson, 1988). Therefore,
students’ contact patterns and parents’ responsiveness and availability may indicate
secure base checking at the college transition (Sorokou & Weissbrod, 2005).
Research supports the significance of attachment for adjustment; securely
attached college students experience numerous benefits compared to their insecurely
attached peers, including greater satisfaction with friendships (Parade, Leerkes, &
Blankson, 2010), more social competence, lower levels of perceived stress, and higher
overall adjustment to college (Hiester et al., 2009). Whereas father-child attachment
security has been found to be especially important for social adjustment, motherchild attachment inf luences and promotes positive psychological health (Hannum
& Dvorak, 2004). Furthermore, first-year college students with higher quality parentchild attachments and who sought parental support during times of need achieved
higher GPAs (Kolkhorst, Yazedjian, & Toews, 2010). In contrast, insecure parentchild attachment has been linked to poor academic adjustment, depression and anxiety (Hiester et al., 2009), lower self-esteem and loneliness, and higher college attrition
(Howard, Morey, & Briancesco, 2003).
37
Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
Shyness and Adjustment to College
Although research supports the link between attachment and college student
adjustment, other factors, such as personality characteristics (Trapmann, Hell, Hirn,
& Schuler, 2007), also inf luence the connection. Shyness is especially salient across
the college transition because shy individuals have more difficulty forming new
relationships, complicating adjustment to the new social world of college (Asendorpf,
2000). During the first semester of college, shy students are much more likely to
experience loneliness, have fewer close relationships, and be less sociable (Asendorpf,
2000; Mounts et al., 2006). Qualitative accounts from first-year students echo these
findings, highlighting the self-reported difficulties shy students have making connections in social groups and engaging in campus activities (Schweinle, Reisetter,
& Stokes, 2009). Considering the potential impact of shyness in addition to familial
factors is important when examining the challenges of college adjustment for some
students.
Electronic Technology and Contact Among First-Year Students and
Parents
Although the increased use of ECTs in recent years has allowed for nearly
instantaneous access to others, little research has focused on the connection between
these devices and family relations (Hofer, 2008). Without a doubt, students today
have more frequent contact with their parents than students in the past. The 2007
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE, 2007) found that seven in 10 students
communicated “very often” with at least one parent or guardian during the academic
year. Also, a survey of more than 10,000 undergraduates found that more than half of
the students kept in frequent contact with their parents by telephone several times a
week and nearly 64% e-mailed parents regularly (Wolf, Sax, & Harper, 2009).
Although sparse, some insights describing how technology impacts family
relationships have begun to appear in the literature. “Connected users” (i.e., students
using technology most frequently to communicate with others) reported a higher
level of attachment to their mothers or female guardians compared to students who
used cell phones primarily for other reasons (e.g., for safety and security or cost efficiency; Lee, Meszaros, & Colvin, 2009). McMillan and Morrison (2006) reported
the theme “staying in touch” with relatives appeared frequently in their study of college students’ Internet use. Similarly, college students reported that using cell phones
to keep in touch with parents strengthened the parent-child relationship, providing
immediate support (Chen & Katz, 2009).
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Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
Research on cell phone use shows evidence of gendered patterns in family
contact. Wei and Ven-Hwei (2006) reported that female college students made
more frequent calls to family than males, and other research mirrored those findings
(Chen & Katz, 2009; Lee et al., 2009; Wolf et al., 2009). Additionally, Sorokou and
Weissbrod (2005) found that, although females received more parent contact than
males, men and women were equally satisfied with the amount of contact they had
with their parents.
Frequent communication with parents has both benefits and drawbacks.
Students with frequent parent contact and whose parents often intervened on their
behalves reported higher levels of engagement, more frequent use of deep learning
activities, increased gains on a number of desired college outcomes, and greater satisfaction with the college experience (NSSE, 2007). These students did, however, have
significantly lower grades, suggesting that some parents may have intervened because
their children were having academic difficulties. Some evidence, however, contends
that too much communication can be negative. Sax et al. (2004) reported that staying
in less frequent e-mail communication with family and noncollege friends actually
promoted emotional well-being for first-year college women. College students with
the most frequent parent contact were less autonomous and less satisfied with college
and the parent-child relationship (Hofer, 2008).
Clearly, more research is needed to understand better the role of ECTs in family
relations today. Some researchers contend that frequent contact and communication ref lect positive adjustment and healthy parent-child attachment. For example,
Sorokou and Weissbrod (2005) found that students who had high-quality parentchild attachment were more likely to initiate need and nonneed-based parental contact, regardless of gender. Other researchers argue that frequent contact may indicate
helicopter parenting, the umbrella term describing parents who are overprotective
and hyper-involved in their children’s lives (Cline & Fay, 2006). The current study
examines how often students have contact with their parents during the college
transition, focusing on how frequent contact relates to parent-child attachment and
adjustment. Shyness in contact patterns is also explored to gain insight into the complexity of individual (shyness) and relational (attachment) factors linked to parent
contact and adjustment at the college transition.
Method
Participants and Procedures
The participants in the current study were 280 first-semester college students
at a large, public university in the Midwest. All participants were 18 or 19 years old
39
Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
(M = 18.12, SD = .32). The sample was drawn from a larger pool of 394 subjects, which
included first-year through senior college students. A total of 300 students from the
larger sample were first-year students. Participants who were not first-semester students at the university and who were over the age of 19 were excluded from the current
study to focus on students who were newly out of high school and transitioning to
college. Furthermore, because the study examined parent-child contact and communication, the sample included only students who lived on campus or away from their
families. The final sample comprised 280 participants with usable data (199 females
and 81 males). Concerning geographic distance from parents, 4.3% of the participants
lived less than 50 miles away; 26.2% lived 50-99 miles; 58% lived 100-200 miles; and
11.1% lived more than 200 miles.
Caucasian/White students made up the majority of the sample (95.0%), with the
remainder reporting Hispanic, African American/Black, American Indian/Alaskan
Native, Asian/Pacific Islander, or other ethnicity. The race and ethnicity of the current sample represented the university’s larger population. Regarding their parents’
marital status, 74.8% of the students’ parents were married; 12.6% were divorced;
9.0% were divorced and remarried; and 3.5% were single, widowed, widowed and
remarried, or other.
Participants were recruited through introductory human growth and development classes and the university’s first-year experience program and seminars. Students recruited through courses received extra credit. The university’s Institutional
Research Board approved the study, and participants consented via a form that preceded the electronic questionnaire.
The data were collected using an electronic survey during October 2007,
between the sixth and 10th weeks of the semester. The authors chose to collect data
at that time because they assumed students would have had some time to acclimate to
the university but still would be early in their first academic year. Midterm examinations also were administered during this time, allowing the researchers to collect data
when students were experiencing a known source of academic stress (e.g., Bonner &
Rich, 1988). Given the study’s focus on parent contact and college adjustment, the
authors viewed this stressful time as particularly opportune.
Measures
The electronic survey was semistructured with both closed-ended and openended questions. The closed-ended questions included both standardized rating
scales and questions the investigators developed. The open-ended questions were
used to collect qualitative data to further augment the quantitative data gathered
from the survey.
40
Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
Attachment. Quality of attachment to parents was assessed using the parent
section of the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (IPPA; Armsden & Greenberg,
1987). Drawing from attachment theory, the IPPA assesses perceptions of the positive
and negative affective/cognitive dimension of relationships with parents, especially
the extent to which parents serve as sources of psychological security. A sample item
is, “I trust my mother.” The scale comprises three subscales: Trust, Communication,
and Alienation. The authors used a revised version of the instrument, which comprised 25 items each for the mother and father attachment scales. The questions were
rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale with responses ranging from almost never or never
true to almost always or always true.
Previous research indicated the IPPA shows good reliability (Armsden & Greenberg, n.d.), and in the current study, Cronbach’s alpha was .96 for Mother Attachment
(Total Scale), and .91, .93, and .81 for the Trust, Communication, and Alienation
subscales, respectively. For Father Attachment, Cronbach’s alpha was .96 (Total
Scale), and .92, .93, and .82 for the Trust, Communication, and Alienation subscales,
respectively. Previous research supports the validity of the IPPA because parent
attachment scores were related significantly to Family and Social Self scores of the
Tennessee Self Concept Scale and to Family Environment Scale subscales (Armsden
& Greenberg, n.d.).
Shyness. Five items from the 13-item Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale
(RCBS; Hopko, Stowell, Jones, & Armento, 2005) assessed shyness. Participants
used a 5-point Likert scale ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree regarding the
extent to which the five statements characterized their feelings and behaviors (e.g., “It
takes me a long time to overcome my shyness in new situations”). Hopko et al. (2005)
reported that the RCBS has strong internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and
in the current study, Cronbach’s alpha for the RCBS was .89. The validity of the RCBS
was supported by its moderate to strong correlations with other measures of shyness
and social anxiety (Hopko et al., 2005).
Parent contact frequency. To assess students’ frequency of contact with
parents and to identify students with the most frequent contact, the authors asked
participants to indicate how often they currently had contact with their mothers and
fathers by phone, e-mail, text message, instant message, regular mail, and face-to-face
(in person). The researchers developed this measure to assess the extent to which
technology permeated the students’ contact with parents. Participants responded
to each contact mode twice for each parent: once for how often the participant initiated contact and once for how often the parent initiated contact. Students responded
41
Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
using scale options ranging from 0 (not at all/do not use) to 7 (two or more times a day). Only
findings for electronic communications (i.e., phone, e-mail, texting, and instant messaging) were included in the present investigation.
To better understand students with frequent parent contact, the authors extracted the sub-sample of students with at least daily phone contact with parents and
complete data on other measures used in this study from the total sample for closer
investigation (n = 59). The authors examined phone contact in particular because
students used the phone as their primary mode of communication and phone contact
showed the most associations with other measures in the overall sample.
Adjustment to college. The researchers used Baker and Siryk’s 67-item Student
Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ ; Baker & Siryk, 1999) to assess adjustment
to college. Students responded to the SACQ on a 9-point scale, ranging from doesn’t
apply to me at all to applies very closely to me. The SACQ includes four subscales (Academic, Social, Personal-Emotional, and Goal Commitment/Institutional Attachment) and provides an overall Total Adjustment score, which includes all items. Items
are scored in the direction of positive adjustment (i.e., higher scores indicate higher
college adjustment). For some analyses in the current investigation that focused on
the frequent contact group, a median split procedure was used to categorize participants into two groups on the basis of the SACQ Total Adjustment score (poor and
positive adjustment).
Baker and Siryk (1999) reported good reliability for the SACQ in previous
research on first-year college students. Similarly, the SACQ demonstrated good
reliability in the current sample, with Cronbach’s alpha being .94 for the total SACQ
score. Extensive research supports the validity of the SACQ , as various indicators
of real-life behaviors show statistically significant positive associations to relevant
SACQ subscales (e.g., Academic Adjustment correlates with GPA; Social Adjustment
correlates with extracurricular activity) and all SACQ subscales negatively correlate
with depression (Baker & Siryk, 1999).
Open-ended questions about the meaning of communication. A series of
brief, open-ended questions were posed at the end of the survey to derive the meanings of communication with parents from the students’ perspectives. These questions
included the following: “Brief ly describe the primary reasons why you make contact
with your parents” and “Brief ly describe the primary reasons why your parents make
contact with you.” An adaptation of a question developed by Lef kowitz (2005) also
was used to assess relationship change. For each parent, the question asked was, “In
what ways has your relationship with your mother (father) changed since starting
42
Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
college?” The final open-ended question examined students’ perceptions of the
impact of parent contact and communication on adjustment to college: “In your own
words, how do you think the kind of communication and contact you have had with
your parents has inf luenced your experience of the transition to college?”
Content and Thematic Analysis for High Contact Group
To better understand the perceived meanings of communication for students in
the high contact group, the researchers analyzed their responses to all of the openended questions in a two-step process using a constant comparative method for the
development of codes and themes (Strauss & Corbin, 1990). First, a content analysis
of responses for this subsample was used to identify the primary motivations for communication. Second, a more comprehensive thematic analysis was used to explore the
context and issues surrounding high communication patterns for students separated
by their profile of adjustment to college.
For the content analysis, the “meaning of frequent contact” categories were
developed by two independent coders with categories emerging or grounded from
within the data. The coders were blind to the adjustment status of each student in this
phase, and categories were revised across multiple meetings and practice coding sessions. For the final analysis, only the most dominant category for each participant was
recorded. After the coding was complete, the frequencies of responses by adjustment
group were compared. The inter-rater reliability for the coding was 86% for the positive adjustment group and 73% for the poor adjustment group. A third coder resolved
discrepancies between coders.
Following the content analysis, a thematic analysis was conducted to differentiate the tone and context for the open-ended responses in the two adjustment groups
separately. Two of the three coders independently analyzed the data to identify
thematic differences in the responses. All three coders met to discuss findings, and
the two independent coders confirmed the themes with a follow-up review of the data.
Results
To explore the meaning of frequent parent contact, the overall pattern of frequent
electronic communication use is first described. Next, links between frequent parent
contact, attachment, adjustment to college, and shyness are examined. Finally, the
meaning of frequent communication is explored by examining the experiences of
students with the most frequent parent phone contact across adjustment levels.
43
Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
Patterns of Contact
Table 1 shows the contact patterns of students with at least daily electronic
contact with parents with results separated by gender of student, gender of parent,
and who initiated contact. The data indicated that, among students with the most frequent parent contact, the phone was the top form of electronic communication, with
19.6% of female and 10.1% of male students reporting at least daily calls to mothers
and 10.3% of female and 6.5% of male students reporting at least daily calls to fathers.
In comparison, the modal response for frequency of phone communication in the
Table 1
Frequency of at Least Daily Electronic Contact with Parents by Mode of
Contact and Gender
Males
Mode of Contact
44
Females
Percent
Frequency
Percent
Frequency
You phone Mom
10.1
8
19.6
39
Mom phones you
8.9
7
17.1
34
You e-mail Mom
1.3
1
5.1
10
Mom e-mails you
1.3
1
5.1
10
You text Mom
1.4
1
7.2
14
Mom texts you
1.4
1
7.7
15
You IM Mom
5.5
4
2.6
5
Mom IMs you
5.5
4
2.6
5
You phone Dad
6.5
5
10.3
20
Dad phones you
5.3
4
7.8
15
You e-mail Dad
0
2.1
4
Dad e-mails you
0
2.6
5
You text Dad
4.2
3
1.0
2
Dad texts you
4.2
3
1.0
2
You IM Dad
1.4
1
0
Dad IMs you
1.4
1
1.0
2
Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
rest of the sample (i.e., the nonfrequent contact group, students with less than daily
parent contact) was “one to two times per week,” with 36 to 47% of the sample reporting this frequency depending on the gender of the student and parent.
In contrast to the modal pattern of weekly phone calls in this sample, the most
common reported frequency for use of e-mail, texting, and instant messaging was “not
at all.” Actual frequencies ranged by mode of contact and gender (child and parent),
with 37% (mother e-mails daughter) to 93% (daughter instant messages with father)
of the sample reporting that either they or their parents had not used e-mail, texting,
or instant messaging to stay in touch with each other since the student started college.
Links Between Contact Frequency, Parent Attachment, College Adjustment,
and Shyness
Given the dominance of phone contact, phone reports were triangulated to
account for at least daily contact regardless of who initiated the phone communication, recognizing that at the person-level (rather than variable level) it was possible
that one student could be reporting on four separate paths of communication (student to mother, mother to student, student to father, and father to student). To create
the frequent parent contact grouping, the researchers combined the responses of students who reported phone contact either “daily” or “two or more times per day.” This
analysis revealed that 64 separate students accounted for the frequent phone reports,
with the majority (n = 31, 48%) reporting at least daily phone contact in at least two
ways. Nine of these students (14%) reported at least daily phone contact with parents
in all four directions.
To examine parent attachment, college adjustment, and shyness of these frequent parent contact students compared to the rest of the sample, MANOVAs were
performed on the IPPA and SACQ by contact group and gender, and an ANOVA
was performed on the RCBS scale by contact group and gender. For consistency,
only students with complete dependent variable data were included in these analyses,
resulting in 59 students making up the core frequent contact group. The results of
these Gender x Contact group analyses revealed no significant multivariate effects
and no significant univariate main or interaction effects for Gender, Contact Group,
or Gender x Contact Group on the SACQ (subscales and Total) or on the Father IPPA
(subscales and Total). Similarly, no significant main or interaction effects emerged for
the ANOVA on the RCBS. Consequently, these analyses indicated that the frequent
contact group did not differ from the rest of the sample on father attachment, college
adjustment, or shyness (see Table 2).
45
46
22.42
Alienation
Social
4.57
23.87
23.56
16.32
19.13
60.69
5.21
8.58
7.83
19.98
4.52
8.11
7.17
18.35
SD
11.46
126.92
150.78
107.63
86.49
425.49
22.85
32.36
42.07
97.29
24.14
37.61
44.46
106.20
M
4.24
28.61
27.95
21.95
21.06
73.00
5.11
9.56
7.37
19.66
4.40
6.65
6.01
15.66
SD
Frequent
(n = 59)
1.01
.03
.00
.44
1.96
.33
.12
.56
.02
.22
1.75
7.19**
3.36
4.91*
F
11.77
130.52
153.17
110.24
89.60
435.59
22.13
30.80
41.20
94.13
23.31
35.39
42.97
101.67
M
4.35
25.88
24.35
18.25
20.34
64.48
5.26
9.17
7.86
20.61
4.73
8.00
7.22
18.61
SD
Female
(n = 188)
12.35
133.15
148.17
111.35
94.89
437.97
23.54
30.96
41.26
95.76
23.68
32.94
43.51
100.13
M
4.86
22.88
24.98
16.59
17.45
62.48
4.85
7.88
7.42
18.05
3.88
7.59
6.22
16.14
SD
Male
(n = 71)
Genderb
.01
1.63
.28
.27
.97
.29
1.01
.00
.15
.01
.62
.38
1.27
.14
F
.42
1.64
.56
.27
.04
.52
.15
.13
.50
.29
.09
.65
.55
.51
F
Contact
X Gender
Note. For Attachment with Dad: an = 196 for the Low Contact Group; n = 55 for the High Contact Group; bn = 68 for Males;
n = 183 for Females.
*p < .05. **p < .01.
12.06
132.52
Academic
RCBS (Shyness)
111.41
152.10
Inst.
Attachment
92.39
Pers.-Emotional
439.41
30.41
Communication
SACQ
93.81
40.97
Alienation
Trust
23.20
Communication
Dad IPPA
42.72
33.87
Trust
99.78
M
Mom IPPA
Variables
Nonfrequent
(n = 200)
Contact Groupa
Table 2
Univariate Test Results for MANOVAs on the IPPA and SACQ, and ANOVA on RCBS (by Contact Group and Gender)
Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
However, the results showed a significant multivariate effect of gender on the
Mother IPPA (F [3,253] = 3.01, p = .03) and a significant multivariate Contact Group
effect on the Mother IPPA (F [3,253] = 2.73, p = .045). As Table 2 indicates, the
univariate tests revealed a significant main effect for Contact Group on the Mother
IPPA in which students in the frequent contact group scored significantly higher than
students without frequent parent contact on both the IPPA-Mother Communication
subscale and on overall IPPA-Mother Attachment.
To better understand this pattern, the researchers ran a set of correlations
among the total IPPA (Mother and Father Attachment), the total SACQ , and the
RCBS scales. The pattern of correlations confirmed that mother and father attachment scores were correlated significantly and positively with college adjustment as
indicated by SACQ Total scores (r = .24, p < .001 for Mother Attachment; r = .33,
p < .001 for Father Attachment). These findings suggest that, even if frequent communication is not linked directly to student adjustment (i.e., as indicated by the
insignificant SACQ MANOVA findings), then it may be linked indirectly through
positive attachment. Conversely, student RCBS scores were significantly negatively
correlated with Mother Attachment (r = -.15, p = .015), Father Attachment (r = -.13,
p = .041), and SACQ total (r = -.33, p < .001), suggesting that this personality factor
may shape students’ needs for parent contact. Therefore, both attachment and shyness may be moderator variables (Baron & Kenny, 1986), whereby the relationship
between frequent contact and adjustment may differ based on the individual’s quality
of attachment and level of shyness.
The Experience of Frequent Contact Students
Analyses were performed on the frequent contact group for a more in-depth
examination of their characteristics and experiences. The frequent contact group
was disproportionally female (86.4%, n = 51) but did not differ significantly from the
total sample on demographic or background variables (e.g., first-generation college
student, high school GPA, size of hometown). This group then was divided further
using a median split procedure with the overall SACQ score as the defining variable.
The resulting “poor” and “positive adjustment” groups had significantly different
total mean SACQ scores [M = 367.43, SD = 46.16 for poor adjustment group, and
M = 485.55, SD = 38.53 for positive adjustment group; t(57) = -10.65, p < .001], ref lecting substantially different college adjustment experiences.
Chi-square and t-tests were then used to contrast these two groups on both
background variables and the major scales available in the data set. For background,
none of the community (e.g., size of hometown, distance from school) or academic
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Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
related variables (e.g., parent education level, high school GPA) were significantly different across these two groups; however, the proportion of students reporting parental
divorce (without remarriage) in the poor adjustment group was significantly greater
than the proportion in the positive adjustment group [26% (n = 8) vs. 3% (n = 1),
χ2 (3) = 8.150, p = .043]. No differences were found for other forms of family structure;
the proportion of parents who were divorced and remarried was identical in both
adjustment groups (three in each). One participant identified parent marital status
as widowed.
Table 3 presents the means and t-tests for the adjustment groups on the available scales and reinforces the significance of family dynamics in explaining group
differences. As the mean contrasts between the two groups on the scales of the IPPA
clearly show, scores for the positive adjustment group were higher, indicating greater
trust, communication, and less alienation for these students; however, it is important
to note that this difference was statistically significant only for the father reports.
Table 3
Means and t-Test Results for the IPPA and RCBS Scale by High Contact
Adjustment Group
Poor
Adjustment
Subscale
Positive
Adjustment
M
SD
M
SD
t
Trust
43.97
4.45
44.97
7.33
-.64
Communication
36.90
5.58
38.34
7.62
-.83
Alienation
23.10
3.94
25.21
4.66
-1.88
103.97
12.20
108.52
18.52
-1.12
Trust
38.59
8.22
45.43
4.46
-3.81**
Communication
28.48
9.25
36.11
8.43
-3.20**
Alienation
20.41
5.19
25.21
3.80
-3.93**
Total
87.48
19.80
106.75
14.38
-4.14**
13.10
4.77
9.76
2.79
3.30**
Attachment: Mom IPPA
Total
Attachment: Dad IPPA
Shyness: RCBS Scale
Note. ns for poor adjustment group range from 27-30; ns for positive adjustment group
range from 28-29.
**p < .01.
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Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
That is, students who had at least daily phone contact with parents but were having a
harder time adjusting to college were more likely to report attachment problems with
their fathers compared to their positive adjustment counterparts. Also, students in the
poor adjustment group had significantly higher scores on the RCBS (Shyness scale),
suggesting that more than family dynamics (e.g., personality differences) shaped the
meaning of frequent contact across these two subgroups.
Content analysis. Four main categories of “meaning of frequent contact”
emerged from the content analysis and were the same for both the positive and poor
adjustment groups (see Table 4). Participants described that their motivation for frequent contact was a desire to keep in touch with family members because of a deep,
close relationship bond. Some participants in the “Deep Bond” category suggested
that the move to college actually strengthened the parent-child relationship. Participants whose motivation for frequent contact was “Missing/Longing/Emotional
Need” described being homesick and missing their parents and families. Students in
this category described parent contact as helping them emotionally, buoying their
spirits when they were feeling down or providing encouragement and motivation.
A young woman in the positive adjustment group said, “I contact my parents because
I enjoy talking to them. Sometimes when I’m feeling down, I will call them, and they
make everything better. They give me the courage to reach for my dreams.”
In comparison to the other categories in which frequency of occurrence was very
similar in the two adjustment groups, the “Parent Need” category differed somewhat
for each of the groups; however, overall occurrence of this category was low. For two
participants coded in this category, parent illness prompted their need to keep in
contact. For the other participants, their parent’s emotional needs seemed to drive the
frequent communication (e.g., “To keep in touch and let my mom know what is going
on in my life and what I am doing each day because, if I don’t, then she gets angry or
upset and thinks I am excluding her,” female, poor adjustment).
Thematic analysis. In general, the pattern of findings for the thematic analysis revealed group differences indicative of greater distress in the poor adjustment
group. Specifically, five themes were identified: (a) depth of missing and longing,
(b) extent to which parent contact is essential, (c) transition stress, (d) meaning of
autonomy and distance from parents, and (e) declines and differences in the fatherchild relationship.
Depth of missing and longing. The responses of the poor adjustment group
expressed a greater depth of missing and longing for parents, family, and friends at
home. One participant said she contacts her parents because “I miss them horribly
and want to go to my hometown and see my friends.” In contrast, the depth of longing
was qualitatively different and decidedly less intense in the positive adjustment group.
49
50
Note. +Adj = Positive Adjustment Group; -Adj = Poor Adjustment Group.
“My mother is going through chemo right now, so we talk about how she is
doing, and she makes sure I am doing good in school and not stressing
too much.” (female, +Adj)
Parent Need
“I contact my parents because I get homesick and miss
them a lot.” (female, -Adj)
Missing/Longing/Emotional Need
“We have become closer. She’s more my friend now than my mother,
and I love it! I can talk to her about anything.” (female, +Adj)
Deep Bond
“I make contact with my parents so I can talk to them and see what’s
going on with my family, like my brother and sister and dog.” (female, -Adj)
To Keep in Touch
Category and Quote
3
33
1
10
9
10
33
30
Frequency
Percent
Poor adjustment
14
28
31
28
Percent
4
8
9
8
Frequency
Positive adjustment
Table 4
Meaning Attributed to Frequent Contact: Content Analysis Categories and Frequency of Occurrence Across Adjustment Groups
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Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
One male participant said, “I make contact with my parents because sometimes I feel
like I need to talk to them and when I’m running low on funds and I do miss them.”
Extent to which parent contact is essential. For the second theme, the poor
adjustment group described contact with parents as being more critical and essential.
One young woman stated,
I think that the contact with my parents over the phone has been good. Without
it, I have no idea what I would do. I love my parents so much. I don’t think I can
stand not talking to them.
In contrast, students in the positive adjustment group viewed parent contact as very
important but had less urgency for contact and communication. One female participant wrote,
I think it has kept me here. I have had some really bad days at [the university]
where I just felt like giving up and going home. But when I get on the phone with
my mom or dad, they talk me through it and make me feel better, reminding me
that I am capable of finishing school and becoming successful.
Transition stress. The third theme revealed greater transition stress in the poor
adjustment group. One young woman stated, “I think because I am so close with my
parents that my transition to college has been difficult. … I talk to my parents on the
phone daily, which makes me miss home a lot.” In contrast, the transition stress for
students in the positive adjustment group typically was less intense and enduring and
more likely to be described as a problem in the past, rather than as a current experience, as evident in the response of one young woman,
I was really homesick the first week, and talking to them regularly comforted me
and made me feel better and less lonely. Now I am more comfortable at school,
but I still like talking to my parents and keeping in touch.
Meaning of autonomy and distance from parents. As would be expected of
young adults making the transition to college, an autonomy-related theme emerged
in the qualitative analysis. Specifically, the poor adjustment group described more
current autonomy struggles with parents. One young woman remarked, “I am not
used to being told what to do, and then she gets upset.” In contrast, students in the
positive adjustment group seemed to benefit from their increased independence from
parents, and they were more likely to view the distance and separation from their parents as good for the relationship. A male participant said, “I think that college is good
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Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
for students to get away from their parents for a while and not feel so secured. We as
students need to get out and experience life in full.” It is important to note that,
although the poor adjustment group showed evidence of positive autonomy, its
manifestation was less pronounced than in the positive adjustment group. Similarly,
the positive adjustment group displayed evidence of autonomy struggles, but those
struggles seemed stronger in the past. One young woman noted,
Our relationship is a little better since I left. We were fighting a lot last summer
because she didn’t want me to leave. She believes she didn’t go to college and she’s
fine, so I shouldn’t have to go either. Now we don’t fight too much.
Declines and differences in the father-child relationship. The last theme also
provided insight into the different experiences of the poor and positive adjustment
groups. The poor adjustment group described more decline in the father-child relationship following the transition to college. One young man said,
My father doesn’t really talk to me as much as he did when I was home. He
doesn’t ask me questions like he did before, like, how was my day, what are my
grades? He just won’t talk to me sometimes.
Another young woman in the poor adjustment group wrote, “I talk to my papa
less now and see him much, much less now at college even though I live five
minutes away.”
In stark contrast, young women in the positive adjustment group spoke of their
close father-daughter relationships. One young woman said,
My father and I are closer than we ever have been. He tells me he loves me a lot
more, and we have just grown a lot closer. We enjoy each other’s company, and I
think he finally understands me as a woman now.
Some young women in this group described themselves with expressions such as
“daddy’s little girl.” One participant said,
I have learned to appreciate my father more and have realized how lucky of a
girl I am to have such a wonderful father who loves his little girl and who would
do anything for her. He is my backbone as I journey through life. I want to make
him proud of me. He is the reason why I am the person that I am today.
Another participant echoed this sentiment, saying, “All I can say is that I am a daddy’s
girl! He loves when I come home, and he always makes me feel loved.”
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Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
As previously described, parental divorce was more prevalent in the poor adjustment group. Similarly, family structure appeared to play a role in some of the parentchild related themes observed. Specifically, half (n = 3) of the participants in the poor
adjustment group who described declines in the father-child relationship were from
divorced families (without remarriage). Several of the young women from divorced
families in the poor adjustment group directly or indirectly referred to their parents’
marital status in their open-ended responses (e.g., “I have a very strong bond with my
mother; she is like a best friend”; “I am not very close with my father since he and
my mother were divorced.”).
In contrast, all three participants from divorced and remarried families in the
poor adjustment group referred to autonomy struggles with mother or relationship
declines with mother. Similarly, in the positive adjustment group, two of the three
participants from divorced and remarried families described relationship declines or
autonomy struggles with mother. Interestingly, for both adjustment groups, nearly
all the participants who described problematic mother-child relationships reported
improved or positive father-child relationships.
Discussion
The transition to college is a major life adjustment for both emerging adults and
their parents. ECTs have made frequent parent-child contact the norm among the
first-year college students in this sample. One goal of this investigation was to explore
the extent of “helicopter parenting” (i.e., parents who hover and are hyper-involved in
their children’s lives). Little evidence for helicopter parenting was found in the current
sample. Rather, among participants with frequent contact, both students with positive
and poor adjustment viewed this contact as a way to keep in touch, to ease missing
and longing, or to maintain a deep parent-child bond or parental need.
Patterns within the data indicated that, overall, frequent parent-child contact
might be viewed best as positive attachment-seeking behavior. When students move
out of the home, the college environment is novel to them—a “strange situation”
(Kenny, 1987). Students use parents as a secure base from which to acclimate to this
environment. For some participants, frequent contact enhanced their transition to
college, allowing access to parents in times of need. Therefore, frequent contact does
not always indicate poor college adjustment.
The findings of this study suggest that security of attachment may be a protective
factor during the college transition, promoting positive student adjustment to college.
Further, for some students, frequent contact may aid or represent the maintenance of
this attachment. Given the links between secure parent-child attachment and positive
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Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
student outcomes (e.g., Hiester et al., 2009; Parade et al., 2010), caution is advised in
making assumptions about the dangers of frequent parent contact.
While students have more frequent contact with their mothers on average than
with their fathers, interestingly, the findings point to the benefits of contact with
fathers and the significance of the father-child relationship at the college transition.
Specifically, students with frequent parent contact and positive college adjustment
reported closer father-child attachment, and females in particular described a close,
supportive relationship with their fathers (i.e., “daddy’s little girl”). Consistent with
these findings, previous research has shown close father-child relationships during
the first year of college predict positive social adjustment to college life (Hannum
& Dvorak, 2004). Moreover, when asked about satisfaction with parent contact,
students in Hofer and Moore’s (2010) research, particularly daughters, reported the
desire to talk more frequently with their fathers. Together, these findings suggest that
fathers should be educated about their continued significance in their children’s lives
during emerging adulthood and the college transition.
The findings also suggest that family structure is significant in the transition to
college. Students from divorced families were overrepresented in the group of participants who had frequent parent contact and poor adjustment. Students from divorced
families might have unique family issues that create challenges when they make the
transition to college. Some young women from divorced families described a “best
friendship” relationship with their mothers, echoing previous reports of high-quality
mother-child relationships in divorced families across emerging adulthood (Arditti,
1999; Riggio, 2004). Further, Arditti (1999) reported that daughters were especially
likely to have close mother-child relationships, viewing their mothers as friends rather
than authoritative figures. While the college students in Arditti’s sample often reported that divorced mothers leaned on them for support more frequently, they viewed
this situation as drawing parent and child closer together, rather than being burdensome. However, it is noteworthy to consider that, as students navigate the first year of
college, the depth of this mother-daughter bond might create extra transition stress
for both parent and child, potentially contributing to negative adjustment.
The negative correlations among shyness, attachment, and college adjustment
and the pattern of shyness scores within the frequent contact group (i.e., higher shyness among students in the frequent contact group with poor adjustment) are consistent with findings of previous research. Specifically high shyness, low sociability,
and low parent support were related to high loneliness among students making the
transition to college, underscoring that both individual characteristics and parent
support impact college adjustment (Mounts et. al, 2006).
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Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
The particular focus of this study on students with frequent contact with parents
across the transition to college revealed two distinct adjustment patterns: students
with positive and poor adjustment. This finding suggests that patterns of frequent
contact for first-year students and their parents may have different implications for
college adjustment. That is, high-frequency contact is neither inherently beneficial
nor harmful during the transition to college; the meaning of such contact depends
upon various familial and person-level factors surrounding the individual student.
Indeed, the overall findings of this study underscore the significance of examining
individual (e.g., shyness), relational (e.g., parent-child attachment), and contextual
(e.g., family structure) factors to understand the college transition experience best.
Further research should explore the possible moderating role of person-level and
familial factors on the relationship between contact and adjustment. Moreover, as
suggested by the content and thematic analyses, the relationship between these variables is dynamic and complex (i.e., reports of changes in closeness in relationships
with parents by some participants). Therefore, longitudinal studies begun before the
college transition would be ideal to test the role of these possible moderating variables
and to capture the unfolding of developmental experience.
Limitations
The current study also has several limitations. Of the larger sample, the majority
of the participants were Caucasian, female students with married parents. Replicating the findings with diverse populations is needed to reduce the potential confound
of cultural biases. The relatively small sample size of the frequent contact group and
the greater likelihood of frequent contact with parents for females in this study limit
the conclusions that can be drawn, as well as the extent to which gender could be
considered within the frequent contact group analyses. Also, the current study did
not include a standardized measure of autonomy. The qualitative findings hint at the
importance of both autonomy and attachment with parents, and further research
using a standardized measure of both autonomy and attachment would tease out
these relationship dynamics more completely, especially as they relate to family structure issues at the transition to college.
Although these data were collected within the past several years, the continually
evolving advances in technology make studying this topic similar to trying to hit a
moving target. Since the time of this study, other electronic communications, such
as Skype and especially Web sites with social networking tools such as Facebook,
have become increasingly prevalent. Research should continue to examine how current (and future) forms of electronic communications shape the college transition.
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Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
However, although the explosion in technology continues to outpace the research
literature, the lessons of this investigation are likely to translate to future electronic
communication trends. That is, even as technology makes communication and
tracking easier, the function of the contact rather than just the frequency matters
more for student adjustment.
Conclusions and Implications
This study began as an exploration of the meaning of frequent communication
made possible by new ECTs and confirmed that most students are in regular contact
with their parents—certainly more than previous generations tied to expensive landline phones, slow moving mail, and occasional home visits. Yet, as the data revealed,
for the majority of the students with frequent contact, regular communications likely
indicate positive, secure attachment that enhances their adjustment to college rather
than intrusive helicopter parenting that stunts growth.
From this vantage point, professionals working with both parents and students
across the transition to college can offer guidance about the role of parents as a continued support system from which students can explore securely in their new college
environment. The key is helping both parents and students distinguish between regular communication that helps maintain closeness versus communication that seeks
to exert control and foster dependence. Similarly, as the results from this study reveal,
for at least some students, frequent contact is a sign of distress or ref lects personal
needs (e.g., shyness or coping with parental divorce), so being alert to the meaning of
frequent communication remains important.
As the electronic technologies that make frequent communication possible
expand and transform, the frequency of contact between parents and their children
will likely only increase rather than decrease. Examining increased communication,
this study highlights the value of limiting judgment about patterns that may be true
of a small minority of families and seeks to appreciate the potential value of these
changes for the majority. As long as students have secure attachments and positive
relationships with their parents as they begin their transition to college, advancements
in electronic communication likely will help rather than hinder student adjustment.
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Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition, Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 35-60
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Authors’ Note
The authors wish to acknowledge the efforts of Jamie Brown, Margaret Jensen,
Miranda Reynolds, and Kylie Rymanowicz. Each made significant contributions to
the data collection or data analysis phases of this project.
These findings were presented previously at the Biennial Meeting of the Society
for Research in Child Development, Denver, CO, April 2009.
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Electronic Communication and the Transition to College
Reader May Respond:
Pamela A. Sarigiani
Department of Human Environmental Studies
Central Michigan University
428 Education and Human Services Building
Mount Pleasant, MI 48859
E-mail: sarig1pa@cmich.edu
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