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Geographical dislocation and adjustment in university students: the impact of attachment, autonomy and coping behaviour on stress and well-being

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conference contribution
posted on 2003-01-01, 00:00 authored by Janice Stewart, J Podbury
The relative contribution of geographical dislocation, attachment styles, coping behaviours, and autonomy, to successful student adjustment, was examined in relation to stress and well-being. A sample of 142 on campus first year university students, across four Victorian university campuses completed self-report questionnaires. Questionnaires included demographic, social network, intrapsychic (attachment and autonomy), and coping variables. Multiple regression analysis revealed that being female, not having made a friend to confide in personal matters, lower achieved autonomy, and use of emotion-focused coping predicted higher levels of student stress. A second multiple regression analysis revealed that living away from home, and preferring others to approach oneself to initiate conversation or friendships predicted lower well-being, whilst increased frequency of phone and email contact, and greater secure parent and peer attachment, predicted greater well-being. Pearson's correlations indicated that securely attached students used more problem focused coping and social support, whereas insecurely attached students used more emotion focused coping. Qualitative data indicated student concerns about being away from family and friends, finance, course direction and structure, social opportunities on campus, and generally adjusting to the university culture. It was concluded that first year on-campus students would benefit from program initiatives targeting enhancement of on-campus social opportunities, development of autonomy, problem focused coping behaviour, interpersonal and social assertiveness.

History

Pagination

102 - 108

Location

Melbourne, Victoria

Open access

  • Yes

Start date

2003-11-15

End date

2003-11-16

ISBN-13

9780909881245

ISBN-10

0909881243

Language

eng

Publication classification

E1 Full written paper - refereed

Editor/Contributor(s)

K Moore

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