Emotional Detachment Moderates Associations Between Students’ Perceptions of Parental Support and First-Year College Adjustment: Generational Status Differences

Abstract

First-year college students ( N = 384) self-reported parental support, emotional detachment from parents, and college adjustment. Higher levels of parental social support were associated with greater academic adjustment, social adjustment, and institutional attachment. Higher levels of emotional detachment were associated with greater institutional attachment. Emotional detachment moderated the association between parental support and college adjustment, with the nature of moderation differing by generational status. For first-generation students, higher levels of parental social support were associated with greater levels of academic adjustment when students were less detached from parents, but lower levels of academic adjustment when students were more detached from parents.