College Students\u27 Adjustment: The Role Of Parent-College Student Expectation Discrepancies And Communication Reciprocity

Parents\u27 influence on college students\u27 adjustment is underestimated frequently. As college students often set goals based on their perceptions of their parents\u27 expectations, discrepancies between college students\u27 and their parents\u27 expectations may be related to their adjustment. The purpose of this study was to examine parent-college student expectation discrepancies and communication reciprocity as predictors of college students\u27 adjustment in a diverse sample of 69 male and 105 female freshmen and sophomores from a large southeastern university. A subsample of their mothers and fathers also participated in this study. Correlational results revealed that college students report experiencing lower levels of self-worth and adjustment when higher expectation discrepancies are present between themselves and their parents. Regression results also indicated that expectation discrepancies and college students\u27 perceptions of communication reciprocity are important predictors of college students\u27 self-worth and adjustment. Such findings suggested that teaching assertive communication skills to college students and their parents may serve as a means of promoting positive outcomes for college students. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC