How Communication with Parents Affects the Psychological Well-Being of Traditional First-Year University Students

Traditional first-year university students are experiencing one of life’s greatest transitions. For many students, they are learning how to live independently for the first time, navigate relationships and support, and deal with new experiences that happen in college. Since traditional first-year students are not considered developmentally as adults, this study sought to determine how parental communication can influence how students feel during this time of transition of both college and emerging adulthood. More specifically we measured how the frequency of communication and type of parental support can affect the student’s psychological well-being. A survey was used to gather this data from students at a private university in the Midwest. We concluded that the frequency of communication and parental support does affect certain areas of a first-year university student’s psychological well-being