The effects of parental attachment on the college adjustment of urban and rural students.

Abstract

The direct effects of locality on college adjustment were examined using the full-scale score of the SACQ. Rural and urban students did not differ significantly from one another in terms of their adjustment to college. However, one component of attachment, parents as facilitators of independence, appears to function as a mediating variable, lessening the impact of locality on adjustment.

This study addressed the impact of locality (urban vs. rural) on college adjustment, while considering the possible mediating effects of attachment. Additionally, this study examined differences in attachment to parents based upon locality, and examined the relationship between attachment and college adjustment.

Attachment to parents was examined by comparing rural and urban students on three domains of attachment: affective quality of the relationship, parents as facilitators of independence, and parents as sources of support. Rural students reported significantly higher levels of attachment in terms of the affective quality of the relationship and parents as facilitators of independence. Each of the three scales on the Parental Attachment Questionnaire, PAO, was positively correlated to the full-scale score on the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire, SACQ. However, only the domain, parents as facilitators of independence, was predictive of SACQ.