Beyond the classroom: a comparative examination of parental and peer support on students’ socialization

ABSTRACT The first year of college is challenging for students as they learn to navigate new surroundings away from their established social support systems. This study examined the adjustment of first-year students through the lens of socialization resources theory (SRT). According to SRT, adaption to novel environments is partly due to social support. Although researchers have examined the importance of parental and peer support for students independently, comparative understanding of these two sources of support is limited. Within the framework of SRT, we collected data from 237 first-semester students to assess the effects of parental and peer support on students’ adjustment to college (i.e., intention to persist, stress, social adjustment, institutional attachment, grade point average). Our findings highlight the benefits and limitations of specific sources of support for students’ socialization, such as lower stress levels attributed to parental financial support and increased institutional attachment resulting from peer motivational support.