Transitioning Students Annotated Bibliography

Hicks, T., & Heastie, S. (2008). High school to college transition: A profile of the stressors, physical and psychological health issues that affect the first-year on-campus college student. Journal of Cultural Diversity, 15(3), 143.

The purpose of this research is to create a profile of stressors, physical and psychological health issues when students make a transition from high school to college. The subjects of this research were first year college students. Data was collected from 514 university-college students studying at a university in North Carolina. Data were collected through “Health Behaviors” and “Self-Rated Health and Quality of Life (QOL)” questionnaires.

The study found significant differences between on-campus and off-campus students with respect to life stressors and physical and psychological health issues. The study provides in depth information on on-campus students regarding selection of roommate, poor housing, chronic and temporary diseases. The study is not only significant for university administrators, students’ counsellors and teaching staff, but also for researchers to identify life stressors and psychological health profile of high school to college transitioning students.

Compas, B. E., Wagner, B. M., Slavin, L. A., & Vannatta, K. (1986). A prospective study of life events, social support, and psychological symptomatology during the transition from high school to college. American journal of community psychology, 14(3), 241-257.

Compas, Wagner, Slavin, and Vannatta (1986) conducted a research on 64 older adolescents with a mean age of 18.4 years belonging to white middle to upper class family backgrounds. All the students were moving from home environment to the university dormitory for the first time. The authors studied the life events, perceived social support, and psychological symptoms among the students during the transition from high school to college over a period of six month. The research emphasizes the significance of stress and social support studies during life transitions that may cause greater vulnerability to life events among transitioning individuals. The study supported transitional model of stress which emphasizes reciprocal paths of influence.