Family Communication Patterns and the Mediating Effects of Support and Resilience on Students' Concerns About College

• Published date: 01 April 2020
• Author: Elizabeth Dorrance Hall,Kristina M. Scharp,Matthew Sanders,Loretta Beaty
• Date: 01 April 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12386

E D HMichigan State University

K M. SUniversity of Washington

M SUtah State University

L BUtah State University

Family Communication Patterns and the Mediating

Effects of Support and Resilience on Students’

Concerns About College

Objective: To identify rst-year undergraduate

students’ concerns about college and exam-

ine how family support and resilience inuence

the relationships between family communication

patterns and adjustment to college.

Background: Nearly half of undergraduate col-

lege students in the United States do not gradu-

atewithin6 years.Lowgraduationratescome

at high costs to students and universities. A

deeper understanding of the family factors that

contribute to adjustment concerns may provide

retention-focused intervention opportunities.

Method: Survey data collected from precollege

students (N=2,252) were used to test a moder-

ated mediation model in which family communi-

cation patterns are associated with adjustment

concerns through resilience and family support.

Results: Conversation orientation was related

to higher family support, whereas conformity

was related to lower resilience and family sup-

port. Interaction results indicate that the effects

404 Wilson Road, Department of Communication, Michi-

gan State University, East Lansing, MI 48823 (eliza-

beth.dorrance@gmail.com).

Key Words: communication, family support, higher educa-

tion, transition to college.

of conversation orientation on some adjust-

ment concerns depended on conformity ratings.

Resilience mediated the relationship between

the orientations and adjustment concerns.

Conclusion: Conversation and conformity ori-

entation play a role in perceptions of family sup-

port, student resilience,and an array of concerns

held by students as they enter college.

Implications: Parents may play an important

role in helping their child adjust to college

through the family communication environments

they create and reinforce from childhood and

through the support theyprovide during the tran-

sition to college.

Forty-ve percent of undergraduates enrolled

in U.S. institutions of higher education will not

graduate within 6years (National Center for

Higher Education Management Systems, 2015).

This is problematic considering the benets

of earning a college degree are higher than

ever (Vandenbrouke, 2015). Earning a college

degree is associated with higher individual (e.g.,

earning potential, health) and social (e.g., lower

rates of incarcerations, greater civic participa-

tion) benets across all racial and ethnic groups,

sexes, and family backgrounds (Baum & Payea,

276Family Relations 69 (April 2020): 276–291

DOI:10.1111/fare.12386

College Student Support and Resilience277

2005). Similarly, the negative consequences

of not completing a college degree can extend

to the families and communities of students

(HeavyRunner & DeCelles, 2002). Raisman

(2013) argued that universities could improve

their retention rates by up to 84% if they paid

more attention to student concerns while at col-

lege. Indeed, uncertainty-induced student stress

and concerns are associated with negative health

outcomes (e.g., depression, Kessler, Berglund,

Borges, Nock, & Wang,2005; suicidal thoughts,

Floyd, Mimms, & Yelding, 2007) as well as

early dropout rates, attrition, and delayed time

to graduation (Hudd et al., 2000).

Both external (e.g., social support) and inter-

nal (e.g., resilience) factors help to explain

individuals’ experience of stress (Bonanno,

2004). Specically, social support is a com-

municative process associated with positive

outcomes, such as higher self-esteem (Holm-

strom & Burleson, 2011) and lower emotional

distress (Jones & Burleson, 2003). Resilient peo-

ple communicate in ways that indicate a higher

level of well-being than their less resilient coun-

terparts (Bonanno, 2004; McAdams, 2006). Yet,

unlike the immediacy of social support (i.e.,

support provided in response to a problem),

resilience is a complex process that requires

skill and communication (Buzzanell, 2010) and

might be inuenced by formative relationships

(Luthar, 2006).

The goal of our study was to explore how

family communication environments are asso-

ciated with student concerns such as academic

performance, nancial well-being, and interper-

sonal relations. Specically, we draw from fam-

ily communication patterns (FCP) theory, which

elucidates how a variety of outcomes might

result from families’ tendencies to communicate

and behave in predictable ways (Koerner& Fitz-

patrick, 2002). We also explore two factors that

inuence the stress associated with uncertainty:

social support and resilience. Wepropose a theo-

retical model that tests perceived family support

and resilience as parallel mediators of FCP and

adjustment associated with the transition to col-

lege. Our ndings are intended to extend exist-

ing research that suggests families can inu-

ence their children’s ability to succeed in col-

lege (Dorrance Hall etal., 2017). Specically,

our goals for the present study are to explore the

ways FCP inuence concerns before the college

transition and to assess the relationship between

FCP and resilience, including how resilience and

support may explain the association between

FCP and student adjustment. Findings should

provide practical implications for student service

staff, professors, and the families of transitioning

students.

T  M  FCP, S,

R,  S C

The primary aims of this study were to (a) under-

stand the relationship between students’ family

communication environment and college adjust-

ment concerns via potential mediators (i.e., per-

ceived family support and resilience) and (b) test

the moderating effects of FCP on adjustment

concerns. Obtaining precollege data, including

information about the students’ family envi-

ronment and their ability to cope, is impor-

tant for institutions to understand the challenges

associated with the college transition (Cole,

Kennedy, & Ben-Avie, 2009). To explore these

relationships in a precollege sample, a moder-

ated mediation model was proposed and tested

(see Figure 1). Before exploring the method and

analysis plan, we provide a rationale for each of

the hypotheses within that model.

Family Support and Resilience

Social support is associated with physical, psy-

chological, and relational benets, including

higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels

of depression (and for college students, less

loneliness after the transition to college; Dor-

rance Hall et al., 2017; MacGeorge et al., 2011).

Students who perceive support, particularly

from family members, are more likely to feel

condent in their ability to adjust to college

because they know they have people who will

be available to provide support when needed

and who believe in them (Dorrance Hall etal.,

2017). In fact, students who perceive family

support are less psychologically (Solberg &

Viliarreal, 1997) and academically distressed

(Rayle & Chung, 2007) than those who do not

perceive family support. Furthermore, students

who are internally resilient might also be less

concerned about their transition to college (see

Walsh, 2003). In fact, people who are resilient

have (a) more positive affect, (b) less negative

affect, (c) fewer physical symptoms, and (d) less

perceived stress (Smith, Tooley, Christopher, &

Kay, 2010). On the basis of these outcomes, we

propose the following: