Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 4-14-2024

Abstract

This study examined the roles of academic stress, maternal support, and their interactive effect as predictors of both in-group and out-group prosocial behaviors as well as civic engagement in order to better understand young adults’ adjustment to the college environment. The final sample consisted of 142 young adults (M age = 20.82 years; range = 18-25 years; 81.7% women; 65.2% reported identifying as racially White; 9.9% Black; 7.8% Asian; 5.7% Native; and 49.3% identified their ethnicity as Latino/a). Participants completed self-report measures of their academic stress experiences, perceptions of their mothers support, their in-group and out-group prosocial behaviors, and their civic engagement behaviors. The results demonstrated that there was significant interaction, such that for young adults with mothers who had low maternal warmth, as academic stress increased, so did civic engagement. Maternal warmth was positively associated with in-group prosocial behaviors, but maternal warmth was not associated with out-group prosocial behaviors or civic engagement, and academic stress was not directly associated with any outcomes. The discussion focuses on the potential role of civic engagement as a protective factor for young adults who have limited maternal support while also discussing the important role of maternal support in helping known others.

Keywords

Academic stress, Maternal Support, Prosocial Outcome

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Family Studies

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Individual, Family, and Community Education

First Committee Member (Chair)

Alexandra Davis Ph.D.

Second Committee Member

Ryan Kelly, Ph.D.

Third Committee Member

Cara Streit, Ph.D.

Fourth Committee Member

Cathy Huaqing Qi, Ph.D.

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