Family Members' Expectations for Involvement with Their First Year College Students

Although increased involvement of family members with their adolescents on college campuses is frequently noted, little is known about this apparently changing pattern of interaction observed in today’s families. Concerns have been voiced about whether these patterns interfere with the developmental tasks faced by the college students. This study was designed to investigate the expectations family members have for involvement with their first year college students to provide insight into current trends observed in families and to better understand the departure for college from the family’s point of view. In addition, the study investigated whether Parental Separation Anxiety was predictive of family members’ expectations. The research questions asked were: 1) What are family members’ expectations for involvement with their first year college students, 2) Do family members’ expectations for involvement change between high school and college and is parental separation anxiety related to this change, and 3) Does gender of family member and gender of student make a difference? An instrument was developed to assess family members’ involvement in high school and expectations for involvement in college. Parental separation anxiety was measured using The Parents of Adolescents Separation Anxiety Scale (PASAS; Hock, Eberly, Bartle-Haring, Ellwanger, & Wideman, 2001) which provides two subscales, Anxiety about Distancing (AAD) and Comfort with Secure Base Role (CSBR). Hierarchical regressions were used to predict family members’ expectations for frequency of meaningful conversations in college and influence over their college students. The study found that mothers and fathers expect to have more frequent meaningful conversations with their students in college than in high school. Mothers and fathers expect to have less influence over their students in college than in high school. The findings suggest that although the interaction patterns between today’s first year college students and their parents may seem different to college administrators, families appear still to be following patterns that lead to expected changes during the family’s launching stage, including encouraging the increasing independence of their adolescents. Future research and implications for higher education professionals are discussed.