Social and Academic Communicative Adaptability of First Year Freshmen Students By Jessica Spott, B. A Thesis In COMMUNICATION STUDIES Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of MASTER OF ARTS Approved Narissra Punyanunt-Carter, Ph. Chairperson of the Committee Rob Stewart, Ph. David Roach, Ph.
Accepted Peggy Miller Dean of the Graduate School May, 2011 Copyright© 2011, Jessica Spott Texas Tech University, Jessica Spott, May 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I did not think I would get my Masters degree, and here I am about to graduate. These thanks are to those people who have been essential in helping me get to where I am today, and who will help me become who I will be tomorrow. Roach and Dr. Stewart, the three of you have provided me with a passion, drive, and knowledge of learning to pursue what I desire, and giving me the motivation to get there.
I appreciate the critiques and constructive criticism. Thanks for investing in me. My Roomie for Life, Jen, without you walking with me every second of every day freshmen year, I would not have learned what I learned or experienced what I experienced. You were my motivation and desire to study freshmen and help their transition to college.
Kent, I can’t tell you how many hours we spent in the TA lounge working, cursing and challenging each other. You are the hardest worker I have ever met, and a constant reminder to work harder. Jeff, Colleen, and Cheryl, thanks for letting me vent and bounce ideas off of you constantly. I love you guys! Friends, you guys have been essential in keeping me sane throughout this process.
Thursday night dinners were the light of my week. Levi and Sarah, thanks for being my friend through exaggerations and introducing me to REAL Italian food. Kristina and Josh, you two have helped me remember that going to graduate school was more about building relationships and being mission-minded than writing a thesis. You push me and I love you for that.
Heather thanks for the adventures you dared to go on with me. Thanks for all the Starbucks non-coffee products you have and for allowing me to stalk you and force you to listen to me for hours on end when you couldn’t leave work. Gigi, you have been so essential in providing me an opportunity to feel loved and smart. ii Texas Tech University, Jessica Spott, May 2011 You allow me an opportunity to just talk for hours on end, such a blessing.
Thanks for putting up with me-even when you didn’t know you were going to have to. To my new family, Tim, Sandy and Kaitlyn, thanks for being excited for me throughout this journey. You have been essential in allowing me to explain the process, while looking ahead to the future. Thanks for sitting through all my graduations thus far.
Baldners, thanks for your enthusiasm and your awesome food! I consider you guys mentors in my life, and I love being able to spend time with you, soaking up your knowledge and occasionally, teasing. Thanks for the fellowship. Mom and Dad, I could not have done this without you pushing me to always be my best. I definitely had times when the only reason I was continuing was because I promised, and wanted to make you proud.
Thanks for setting a great example for me in my life, not only in academics, but in spirituality and a healthy marriage. Chase and Alyssa, thanks for the random conversations to help make me remember to laugh. I get too serious sometimes, but you are always there to help keep me silly-even when I don’t want to be. I want to succeed for you-you push me to be the best-for myself and for you., I am so thankful I had you to reel me in when I got emotional.
You make me the person I am. Without you in my life freshmen year, I would not have made it. Without you the last 2 years, I would not have wanted to make it. It has been a long 8 years together.
You gave some of your dreams up so I could follow mine, and that is true humility, and true love. The journey with you makes the race worth running. I know we will run together forever, and I can’t wait to see the scenery along the way. Where to next? Europe? I think yes.
iii Texas Tech University, Jessica Spott, May 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION 1 Purpose of Study 5 II. LITERATURE REVIEW 8 Communicative Adaptability 9 Freshmen Adaptability 12 Freshmen Social and Academic Adaptability 12 Adult Relationships 15 Peer Relationships 17 Negative Adaptability Behaviors 19 Freshmen Seminar Classes 22 Communicative Differences Between Men and Women 24 Rationale 29 III. METHODOLOGY 35 Participants 36 Procedure 37 Data Analysis 38 IV.
RESULTS 41 iv Texas Tech University, Jessica Spott, May 2011 Research Question 1 41 Research Question 2 42 Research Question 3 43 Research Question 4 43 First Semester Freshmen to Second Semester Freshmen 44 V. DISCUSSION 46 Social Situations 46 Academic Situations 47 The Importance of Testing in Social and Academic Environments 50 First Semester Freshmen to Second Semester Freshmen 52 Limitations 55 Future Research 57 Conclusion 59 REFERENCES 62 APPENDIX A. COMMUNICATIVE ADAPTABILITY SCALE QUESTIONNAIRE 71 v Texas Tech University, Jessica Spott, May 2011 ABSTRACT Every year, hundreds of students attend college for the first time. Freshmen college students are faced with new challenges and opportunities.
Upon leaving home and attending college, students must learn to communicatively show adaptability in both social and academic environments. This study focuses on men and women freshmen students and how they differ in their communicative adaptability. To more completely understand freshmen students, quantitative data was gathered from different students in the fall semester and in the spring semester. The participants filled out the Communicative Adaptability Scale twice-once focusing on academic environments, and once focusing on social environments.
Results showed that freshmen men are more comfortable displaying communicative adaptability in academic environments, while freshmen women are more comfortable in social situations. Students in the fall semester reported being more confident in their communicative adaptability behaviors. Students in the fall also reported being significantly more confident in their ability to graduate from college than students in the spring. The results from this study have the potential to influence reform in preparation instruments colleges use to prepare incoming freshmen students.
Also, this study establishes a basis for future research examining differences in freshmen men and women’s communicative adaptability. In addition this study highlights the importance and further development of freshmen adaptability tools accessible to freshmen students, their parents, and college faculty and staff. vi Texas Tech University, Jessica Spott, May 2011 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The freshmen year is a critical time in the lives of students. It is a time of transition and adjustment to the social and academic demands of college, a time when the likelihood of dropout and the possibility of transformative learning are greatest.
704) For years, college students have served as a foundation for academic research. Freshmen, or first year, non-transfer college students have been an interesting field of study for many researchers (Boulter, 2002; Enochs & Roland, 2006; Howard & Jones, 2000; Jorgensen-Earp & Stanton, 1993; Smith & Zhang, 2009). Researchers have focused on the academic success of freshmen students in their first year college experience (Boulter, 2002; Howard & Jones, 2000; Weidman, 1979) and have concentrated much attention on the social aspect of adaptability by freshmen students (Enochs & Roland, 2006; Rice, Cunningham, & Young, 1997). Recent research has merged the social and academic adjustments that freshmen students make in order to be successful in college (Aspinwell & Taylor, 1992; Boulter, 2002; Struthers, Perry & Menec, 2000).
Applying the convergence of academic and social adaptability in freshmen students’ lives is the focus of the current research. By discovering how students communicate and are therefore able to adapt in both a social and an academic environment, educators, parents, and individuals interacting with freshmen can be better equipped to help students make a seamless transition from 1 Texas Tech University, Jessica Spott, May 2011 high school to college. Communication facilitates individuals’ ability to adapt to new and different situations. Duran, a leading researcher in communicative adaptability defines it as “the ability to perceive socio-interpersonal relationships and adapt one’s interaction goals and behaviors accordingly” (Duran, 1983, p.
Through the use of different communication styles, freshmen in college learn to adapt to the college environment. Duran argues that much of the adaptability that takes place with people in a new environment happens despite communication apprehension, linking communication apprehension to communicative adaptability. The current research examines the link between communicative adaptability and both social and academic adaptability in first- year college students. Not all freshmen are able to adapt with the same degree of success.
Kolstad, Mueller, and Cassel (2001) discovered in a comparison between German and American college freshmen that American students are more personally mature, but less socially mature and developed when first attending college. Whether they are living away from home for the first time, had a troubled young adulthood, or have never been exposed to the pressures and expectations of others, freshmen college students often must make many changes in order to succeed. Not only do freshmen students have to develop new friendships, they also must learn to balance academia, sleep, and time for other activities in order to be successful in the college atmosphere. The impact of this transition is evident by the number of first year college students who engage in negative behavioral changes.
Not all freshmen students do well in college. Tinto (1993) discovered that of the 75% of students who drop out in the first two years of college, over half of them leave college in their first semester. Freshmen college 2 Texas Tech University, Jessica Spott, May 2011 students are more likely than returning students to drop out of school and not complete a degree. First year college students are greatly affected by social and academic changes which cause some freshmen to be successful and others to fail.
The pressures freshmen endure surface through different types of behaviors found in freshman students. For example, some freshman students deal with pressures by drinking alcohol (O’Hare & Sherrer, 2006). Others deal with social and academic pressures by being homesick and withdrawing from other students (Urani, Miller, Johnson, & Petzel, 2003), while others relieve pressure by becoming volunteers within their new community (Deneui, 2003). Pressures that freshmen students experience are different depending on the individual.
Therefore, a unique array of pressures and experiences contribute to how each student learns to communicate in an environment that is different from any high school experience. Each student handles the transition from high school to college differently, and the question comes to mind of how gender influences this transition. Men and women communicate differently, and it thus becomes exceedingly important to understand differences in interactions between men and women. A furthered understanding will help researchers identify differences in male and female freshmen adaptability in social and academic situations.
As freshmen students move to college and are surrounded by a new environment and new people, men and women cope differently. Men and women also have unique ways of forming relationships, both socially and academically. Without the forming of new relationships, freshmen students are doomed for academic failure and social isolation (Scherer & Wygant, 1982). Assuming the stresses of assimilation, students feel pressured to learn to deal with their own thoughts 3 Texas Tech University, Jessica Spott, May 2011 and emotions as balanced by their interactions with other influences such as family, friends, peers and professors.
Admittedly, the study of first year college students is not new.