Results of a Psychosocial Intervention Program to Facilitate Adjustment to College

1
Results of a Psychosocial Intervention Program to
Facilitate Adjustment to College

• Jean F. Ayers, Jonathan F. Mattanah,
• Leonie J. Brooks, Julie L. Quimby, and
• Bethany L. Brand
• Towson University

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Student Collaborators on the Transition to Towson
Study

• Michael Armstrong Kourtney Murphy
• Stephanie Barr Stephanie Nadeau
• Elizabeth Bierach Amber Norwood
• Laura Bowman Erica Sherry
• Kaitlin Carrozza Emily Stevens
• Melissa Farrell Thomas Theriault
• Pellie Gershovsky Ann Thomas
• Kristen Hood Jodi Trumbull
• Meghan Jancuk Lisa Wanionek
• Amie Kolos
• Chet Meinzer

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College Attendance

• estimated that over 60 of US high school
  graduates will attend some form of postsecondary
  education (US Census Bureau, 2003)
• attrition from college highest in the first year
  (Tinto, 1987)
• half of those who drop out of college in the
  first year drop out in weeks two through six of
  the college experience (Levitz Noel, 1989)

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Models of Adjustment

• Stage models adjustment proceeds through a
  sequence of predictable stages (e.g., Rubble
  Seidman, 1996)
• Interacting factors that influence adjustment
  (Schlossberg, 1981)
• perception of the transition
• characteristics of the pre- and post-transition
  environments
• characteristics of the individual

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Specifics of College Adjustment

• little fish in a big pond phenomenon
• less contact and interaction with faculty than in
  high school
• physical separation from familial and peer
  support groups
• exposure to diverse behaviors, values, and
  perspectives

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Social Support Theoretical Models

• Buffering theory social support buffers
  individuals from the physical and psychological
  impact of highly stressful situations.
• Enhancement theory positive social
  relationships provide multiple benefits even in
  the absence of highly stressful events

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Prior Research

• Social support plays a significant role in how
  well students adjust to university life in the
  first year (Hunsberger,Pancer,Pratt, Alisat,
  1994).
• students expectations about university life
  influenced adjustment throughout their college
  years (Jackson et al., 2000)
• a group-based intervention focusing on
  establishing social support and meeting the
  challenges of university life led to better
  adjustment, compared to a control group, in the
  second and fourth years of college (Pratt et al.,
  2000)

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Current hypothesis

• A time limited psychosocial intervention would
  facilitate improved adjustment to college on both
  subjective and behavioral outcome measures.
• We hypothesized positive outcomes despite the
  application of the intervention in a more
  metropolitan setting and with a more diverse
  sample than has been used in prior research.

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Research Design

• randomized, controlled intervention for incoming
  college freshmen
• peer facilitated semi-structured psychosocial
  groups using clinical honor students as
  facilitators
• repeated measures related broadly to adjustment
  at three time points (summer prior to
  matriculation, mid-fall, and mid-spring of
  freshman year)

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Methodology Sample

• 184 first year college students over two years of
  data collection (55 male and 129 female) current
  results focus only on the first year of data
  collection (N88), which have been analyzed at
  this point.
• 45 randomly assigned to the intervention group
  43 assigned to the control group
• mean age of 17.6 years
• 69.1 Caucasian 15.8 African American 5.3
  Asian American, and 9.8 other

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Methodology Measures

• Beck Depression Inventory
  (Beck, Steer, Garbin, 1988)
• UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau,
  Cutrona, 1980)
• Social Provisions Scale (Cutrona Russell,
  1987)
• Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire
  (Baker Syrik, 1984)

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Methodology Procedure

• Intervention groups met nine times eight times
  across the fall semester and once in the spring
  semester
• control group met once in the fall semester for
  an informational session and data collection and
  once in the spring semester for data collection
  only

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Semi-structured guidelines for intervention groups

• check-in with all group members
• structured task to facilitate the topic for the
  meeting
• group discussion
• sharing of ideas and skill building
• evaluation of the session
• preparation for the following session

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Sample topics for intervention groups

• maintaining old social ties and developing new
  ones
• balancing work, academic, and social demands
• peer pressure, values, and college life
• residential issues
• expectations regarding college

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Results

• Present results at three time points
• Summer prior to the intervention
• Fall of the First-Year (mid-way through
  intervention)
• Spring of the First-Year (at the end of the
  intervention)

16
Prior to Intervention (Summer)

• No difference between the groups on loneliness or
  social support at baseline.
• Intervention group was slightly more depressed
  (p. .06)

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Fall Semester- Effects on Depression, Loneliness,
Soc. Support

• Groups did not differ in the fall semester in
  terms of depression, loneliness, or social
  support.

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Fall Semester- Adjustment to Campus

• The groups did not differ in terms of academic,
  social, or emotional adjustment to the campus
  either.

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Spring Semester Effects on Depression,
Loneliness, Soc. Support

• By end of year, intervention group was less
  depressed (p. . 09, Reffect .24), less lonely
  (p .03, Reffect .31), and reported greater
  social support (p. .05, Reffect .27).

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Spring Semester- Adjustment to Campus

• Intervention group showed better social
  adjustment to campus (p. .06, Reffect .28)
  but did not differ on academic or emotional
  adjustment.

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Conclusions

• Preliminary results confirm that this
  intervention is effective for students at a
  large, metropolitan university, especially in the
  social adjustment realm.
• We found evidence for a sleeper effect of the
  intervention, consistent with results from Pratt
  et al. (2000). Effects of the intervention show
  up most clearly by the end and not mid-way
  through it. One possible explanation is that
  Fall semester is a very disequilibrating time,
  when students adjustment is in flux, masking
  intervention effects.
• Need to examine what moderates the effect
  Gender, students expectations regarding
  adjustment, etc.