Psychological Separation and Adjustment to University: Moderating Effects of Gender, Age, and Perceived Parenting Style
- 25 July 2003
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Adolescent Research
- Vol. 18 (4), 363-382
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0743558403018004003
Abstract
Examined in this article is the association between psychological separation and adjustment to university in a sample of 969 late adolescents. Structural equations modeling confirmed the existence of two dimensions of psychological separation, namely independence from parents and positive separation feelings. Results indicated that both dimensions of psychological separation positively predicted better adjustment to university, but that positive separation feelings clearly were the better predictor. None of these associations was moderated by students' grade level or gender or by their parents' perceived parenting style. In the total sample, independence from parents was associated with lower levels of positive separation feelings. This association was, however, moderated by students' grade, gender, and parents' perceived parenting style. The negative relationship between the two dimensions of psychological separation only held for freshmen and junior students, females, and students reared by authoritarian parents. Implications of these findings for current understanding of the separation-adjustment link and for counseling college students are discussed.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- Emotional autonomy, psychosocial adjustment and parenting: interactions, moderating and mediating effectsJournal of Adolescence, 1999
- Unpacking Authoritative Parenting: Reassessing a Multidimensional ConstructJournal of Marriage and Family, 1999
- A model of parental representations, second individuation, and psychological adjustment in late adolescenceJournal of Clinical Psychology, 1999
- Relating Aspects of Adolescent Emotional Autonomy to Academic Achievement and Deviant BehaviorJournal of Adolescent Research, 1998
- Parental Psychological Control: Revisiting a Neglected ConstructChild Development, 1996
- A Contextual-Moderator Analysis of Emotional Autonomy and Adjustment in AdolescenceChild Development, 1995
- Undergraduates' conflictual independence, adjustment, and alcohol use: The importance of the mother-student relationshipJournal of Clinical Psychology, 1994
- Late adolescents' perceptions of their relationships with their parents: Relationships among deidealization, autonomy, relatedness, and insecurity and implications for adolescent adjustment and ego identity statusJournal of Youth and Adolescence, 1990
- The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986
- Psychological separation of late adolescents from their parents.Journal of Counseling Psychology, 1984