Adjustment to College Life: Coping Skills Among Female Students

Abstract

The process of adjustment involves compromises done by the individual and his/her environment, which is composed of the people around him/her and the physical setting surrounding the person. The process of adjustment is a constant modification that entails constant interaction between the two. An individual changes, yields and accepts conditions presented by the environment. Transition from high school to college presents a number of challenges and problems entailed in growing up, such as increasing autonomy and responsibility. Entrance to college is a stage when the individual’s skills in emotional, social and intellectual areas are being challenged. It increases the individual’s personal responsibility and independence as he/she makes decisions for himself/herself and monitors his/her own academic performance, health, social relations and others. The college environment presents an opportunity to develop tolerance, where the individual can learn to compromise and express satisfaction or dissatisfaction with other people’s behavior. Transition from high school to college teaches individuals to establish independence from the world of family and enter a world defined by peers, teachers, and friends. Individuals test their autonomy as they become more and more responsible for their own behavior and less dependent upon their peers, teachers and friends for approval. College offers an opportunity for individuals to try out different attitudes, beliefs and values, to experiment with them and find out those that are acceptable and modify those that are not. The following are the common problems and concerns of adjustment experienced when first entering college: (1) self-esteem needs, (2) academic adjustment, (3) reaction to freedom, (4) problem with parents, (5) homesickness, (6) extreme extroversion and extreme introversion, (7) difficulties with the opposite sex, (8) fears of homosexuality, (9) suicide, (10) value conflicts and other problems like illnesses, family problems, financial difficulties, and general personal problems. As the individual moves from the world of family into a world defined by their peers, teachers and friends, the individual tends to move away from the microsystem, the individual’s immediate surrounding, to the mesosystem, a larger system which encompasses connections among the microsystem such as the home, school, neighborhood and peer groups. The individual also tries to satisfy his/her belonginess need, the individual’s need for friends, family and affectionate relations with people in general. As a form of solution to some of the problems present in entering college, some individuals opt to reside in dormitories or residence halls. Several studies done to compare the performance of dormitory and non-dormitory residents in their academic and social life generally found that the dormitory residents achieved greater advantage over the non-dormitory residents. The foreign studies by Chickering, Astin and Scott as cited by Blimling (1984) all favor the students who lived in residence halls as they did better academically, were more likely to succeed, advanced more quickly, have better interpersonal skills and have more mature outlook in life. Gazmen (1982) found that out of the five (5) adjustment areas namely: (1) total adjustment, (2) home adjustment, (3) health adjustment, (4) submissiveness and (5) emotionality and hostility, only the scores in health adjustment and submissiveness differed significantly, with non-dormers manifesting better health and social adjustment than dormers, Tuazon (1975) found significant difference between the responses of the two groups in four (4) adjustment factors: (1) home adjustment, (2) health adjustment, (3) submissiveness and (4) emotionality. Dormers indicated better home adjustment than the non-dormers. On the health adjustment, female non-dormers manifested better health adjustment than dormers. In the variable submissiveness, non-dormers indicated better social adjustment than the dormers. Non-dormers also indicated better emotional adjustment than the dormers. This study is about the adjustment strategies employed by the female dormers and non-dormers studying at the University of the Philippines Manila, College of Arts and Sciences. The objectives are the following: (1) to determine difference in the decision making skills between female dormers and non-dormers; (2) to determine difference in the problem solving skills between female dormers and non-dormers; (3) to determine difference in the study skills between female dormers and non-dormers; and (4) to determine if there is a difference in the coping skills between female dormers and non-dormers. The method of research used was the descriptive method of investigation since the study is quantitative and data collection was done primarily through a questionnaire. This study 1s comparative since it compared the adjustment skills, such as problem solving skills, decision-making skills, coping skills and study skills employed by the dormers and non-dormers in coping with their college environment. 50 first (1“) year and second (2"*) year female students enrolled in UPM CAS were the respondents. 25 of the sample were dormitory residents, while the other 25 respondents were non-dormitory residents. Two tailed t-test at a .05 was employed to be able to compare the performance in the four domains of adjustment strategies between the dormer and the non-dormers. Based on the computation of the t-test, the t-obtained in the domain of Problem Solving Skills (.0407) is within the t-critical, which is +/- 2.101. The t-obtained in the Decision-Making Skills (-.0739) is likewise within the t critical +/- 2.101. Similarly the t-obtained in the Coping Skills (-.0617) is within the t-critical +/- 2.101. Lastly, obtained in the domain Study Skills (-.7925) is also within the limits of the t-critical which 1s -/+ 2.228. The results show that there are no significant differences in the domains of the Adjustment Skills such as Problem Solving, Decision Making, Coping and Study Skills among the respondents. The results indicated that the four (4) null hypotheses should be accepted. It was found true that there is no significant difference between the Adjustment strategies employed by the Dormers and Non-Dormers when it comes to Problem Solving. There is also no significant difference between the performance of the Dormers and Non-Dormers in the domain of Decision-Making. Also, it is found that the third null hypothesis can be accepted, thus, it is true to say that there is no significant difference among the Dormers and Non-Dormers in relation to Coping Skills. Lastly, it was also found that there is no significant difference among the Dormers and Non-Dormers when it comes to Study Skills. The obtained means, however, showed that the dormers are higher than the non-dormers in domains of decision making, coping and study skills, which means that the students who are residing in dormitories adjusted slightly better to their college environment than the non-dormers. They are able to make decisions by themselves, cope better with the new and different experiences and adjust better academically than the non-dormers. Although the dormers score higher in the three domains of adjustment skills namely, (1) decision making skills, (2) coping skills and (3) study skills, the result of the t-test showed that there is no significant difference in the performance of the dormer and non-dormers in the four (4) domains of adjustment skills, namely, (1) problem solving skills, (2) decision making skills, (3) coping skills and (4) study skills. It is concluded that among the four skills under adjustment skills, it was found that there are no significant differences between the performance of the dormers and non-dormers in the following: (1) problem solving skills, (2) decision-making skills, () coping skills and (4) study skills. But in comparing the means obtained by the two groups, the dormers performed slightly better than the non-dormers when it comes to the three skills: (1) decision-making, (2) coping and (3) study skills. It can also be concluded that living in dormitories present a slight advantage to the students in their adjustment to their college environment but the advantage of the dormers is not big enough to make a significant difference over the performance of the non-dormers. The result implies that the students entering college have already developed their interpersonal relations even before reaching college. Parents and family members may have trained the student to be independent and flexible to the environment. Thus, the students, even when they are living away from their families, are able to adjust well in their new environment and perform better academically. The secondary school environment may also have trained and developed the students to live independently and autonomously so that by the time they enter college, the transition will not be so tough.