Abstract
Previous research has demonstrated that first-generation college students (i.e., students whose parents did not attend college) feel guilty about their educational achievements when their family members do not have similar access to higher education. We advance existing research by investigating how college students’ mental health is associated with family achievement guilt, which is feelings of discomfort with one’s college success, particularly in the context of family members (i.e., parents and siblings). We hypothesize that family achievement guilt will be associated with more depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem, and that high levels of guilt will impact first-generation college students’ mental well-being significantly more than non-first-generation college students. College students (N = 255; M Age = 19.96, SD = 1.77, 40 % Mexican descent) completed online surveys with measures of family achievement guilt, depressive symptoms, and self-esteem. Analyses revealed that, as hypothesized, more family achievement guilt was significantly associated with more depressive symptoms (p < .001) and lower self-esteem (p < .05) for all students. As predicted, first-generation college students reported significantly more depressive symptoms at higher levels of family achievement guilt compared to non-first-generation college students (p < .001). These findings demonstrate how the family context is important to consider in the adjustment and success of first-generation college students.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Argyle, M. (1994). The psychology of social class. New York: Routlege.
Austin, C., Clark, E., Ross, M., & Taylor, M. (2009). Imposterism as a mediator between survivor guilt and depression in a sample of African American college students. College Student Journal, 43, 1094–1109.
Bowen, W. G., Kurzweil, M. A., & Tobin, E. M. (2005). Equity and excellence in American higher education. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.
Bui, K. (2002). First-generation college students at a four-year university: Background characteristics, reasons for pursuing higher education, and first-year experiences. College Student Journal, 36(1), 3–11.
Burr, J., & Mutchler, J. (1999). Race and ethnic variation in norms of filial responsibility among older adults. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 61, 674–687.
Cervantes, R., Gilbert, M., Salgado de Snyder, N., & Padilla, A. (1990). Psychosocial and cognitive correlates of alcohol use in younger adult immigrant and U.S.-born Hispanics. International Journal of the Addictions, 25, 687–708.
Costa, P., Terracciano, A., & McCrae, R. (2001). Gender differences in personality traits across cultures: Robust and surprising findings. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 322–331.
Covarrubias, R. & Fryberg, S. (under review). Movin’ On Up (in College): First-generation college students’ experiences with family achievement guilt. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology.
Cuéllar, B., & Maldonado, R. (1995). Acculturation rating scale for Mexican Americans-II: A revision of the original ARSMA scale. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Science, 17(3), 275–304.
DeAngelo, L., Franke, R., Hurtado, S., Pryor, J. H., & Tran, S. (2011). Completing college: Assessing graduation rates at four-year institutions. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
Freeberg, A., & Stein, C. (1996). Felt obligation towards parents in Mexican–American and Anglo-American young adults. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 13, 457–471.
Fuligni, A., & Hardway, C. (2004). Preparing diverse adolescents for the transition to adulthood. The Future of Children, 14, 99–110.
Gaines, S., Marelich, W., Bledsoe, K., Steers, W., Henderson, M., Granrose, C., et al. (1997). Links between race/ethnicity and cultural values as mediated by race/ethnic identity and moderated by gender. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72, 1460–1476.
Ishitani, T. (2003). A longitudinal approach to assessing attrition behavior among first-generation students: Time-varying effects of pre-college characteristics. Research in Higher Education, 44, 433–449.
Joiner, G., & Kashubeck, S. (1996). Acculturation, body image, self-esteem, and eating disorder symptomatology in adolescent Mexican American women. Psychology of Women Quaterly, 20, 419–436.
Kamo, Y. (2000). Racial and ethnic differences in extended family households. Sociological Perspectives, 43, 211–229.
Keefe, S. (1984). Real and ideal extended families among Mexican American and Anglo Americans: On the meaning of close family ties. Human Organization, 43, 65–70.
Kline, P. (2000). The handbook of psychological testing (2nd ed.). London: Routledge.
Lubrano, A. (2003). Limbo: Blue-collar roots, white-collar dreams. New York: Wiley.
Markus, H., Mullally, P., & Kitayama, S. (1997). Selfways: Diversity in modes of cultural participation. In U. Neisser & D. Jopling (Eds.), The conceptual self in context: Culture, experience, self-understanding (pp. 13–61). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
Markus, H., Ryff, C., Curhan, K., & Palmersheim, K. (2004). In their own words: Well-being at midlife among high school-educated and college-educated adults. In O. G. Brim, C. D. Ryff, & R. C. Kessler (Eds.), How healthy are we? A national study of well-being at midlife (pp. 273–319). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
O’Connor, L., Berry, J., Weiss, J., Bush, M., & Sampson, H. (1997). Interpersonal guilt: The development of a new measure. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 53(1), 73–89.
Ojeda, L., & Liang, C. H. (2014). Ethnocultural and gendered determinants of coping among Mexican American adolescent men. Psychology of Men & Masculinity. Advanced online publication. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0033293.
Pascarella, E., & Terenzini, P. (1991). How college affects students: Findings and insights from twenty years of research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Piorkowski, G. (1983). Survivor guilt in the university setting. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 61, 620–622.
Radloff, L. S. (1977). The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 385–401.
Ramirez, J., Crano, W., Quist, R., Burgoon, M., Alvaro, E., & Grandpre, J. (2004). Acculturation, familism, parental monitoring, and knowledge as predictors of marijuana and inhalant use in adolescents. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 18, 3–11.
Roberts, R., Roberts, C., & Chen, Y.-W. (1997). Ethnocultural differences in prevalence of adolescent depression. American Journal of Community Psychology, 25, 95–110.
Rosenberg, M. (1979). Conceiving the self. New York: Basic Books.
Santisteban, D., Muir-Malcolm, J., Mitrani, V., & Szapocznik, J. (2002). Integrating the study of ethnic culture and family psychology intervention science. In H. Liddle, R. Levant, D. Santisteban, & J. Bray (Eds.), Family psychology: Science-based interventions (pp. 331–352). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Sena-Rivera, J. (1979). Extended kinship in the United States: Competing models and the case of la familia Chicana. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 41, 121–129.
Shim, S., Barber, B., Card, N., Xiao, J., & Serido, J. (2010). Financial socialization of first-year college students: The roles of parents, work, and education. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 1457–1470.
Smith, E., & Mackie, D. (2007). Social psychology. New York, NY: Psychology Press.
Spurlock, J. (1985). Survival guilt and the Afro-American of achievement. Journal of the National Medical Association, 77, 29–32.
Stephens, N., Fryberg, S., Markus, H., Johnson, C., & Covarrubias, R. (2012). Unseen disadvantage: How American universities’ focus on independence undermines the academic performance of first-generation college students. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 102(6), 1178–1197.
Tate, K., Williams, C, I. I. I., & Harden, D. (2013). Finding purpose in pain: Using logotherapy as a method for addressing survivor guilt in first-generation college students. Journal of College Counseling, 16, 79–92.
Triandis, H. (1995). Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
U.S. Census Bureau (2009). School enrollment—Social and economic characteristics of students. http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/school/cps2009.html.
Weiss, J. (1986). Unconscious guilt. In J. Weiss & H. Sampson (Eds.), The psychoanalytic process: Theory, clinical observation and empirical research (pp. 43–67). New York: Guildford Press.
Weiss, J. (1993). How psychotherapy works: Process and technique. New York: Guilford Press.
Whitten, L. (1992). Survival conflict and survivor guilt in African-American college students. In M. Lang & C. Ford (Eds.), Strategies for retaining minority students in higher education (pp. 64–74). Springfield, IL: Thomas Books.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Covarrubias, R., Romero, A. & Trivelli, M. Family Achievement Guilt and Mental Well-being of College Students. J Child Fam Stud 24, 2031–2037 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0003-8
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-014-0003-8