PREDICTING COPING BEHAVIOR IN COLLEGE - A PROSPECTIVE USE OF STUDENT-TAT

被引:1
作者
COELHO, GV
SOLOMON, F
WOLFF, C
STEINBER.A
HAMBURG, DA
机构
[1] National Institute of Mental Health, Chevy Chase, MD, 20015
[2] Department of Psychiatry, Howard University School of Medicine, Washington, DC
[3] Department of Psychiatry, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY
[4] Washington, DC
[5] Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA
关键词
D O I
10.1097/00005053-196911000-00002
中图分类号
R74 [神经病学与精神病学];
学科分类号
摘要
The Student-Thematic Apperception Test (TAT), a semiprojective technique, was developed as part of a larger NIMH research project on the coping behavior of adolescents in transition from high school to college. In previous studies it had differentiated normal and exceptionally competent adolescents from clinically disturbed ones. In the present study it was used prospectively to predict dropout vulnerability and competence in college freshmen. The hypotheses were that precollege Student-TAT measures of competence would correlate positively with student interview assessments of coping behavior in the freshmen year and that they would predict those who would drop out and those who would remain in college. During precollege orientation 347 freshmen in regular academic status, randomly selected from various schools of a large state university, took the Student-TAT under standardized group testing conditions. The Student-TAT required subjects to write story responses to 11 recognizably specific college scenes projected on a screen. Story responses were rated for solution, hero activity, and favorableness of outcome. A structured interview was designed to parallel coping variables tapped by the Student-TAT. It focused on the student’s effectiveness and satisfaction in dealing with specific problems he identified in various spheres of behavior—academic, family, extracurricular, interpersonal, and heterosexual. From the 347 students, 39 dormitory residents were selected who obtained high, low, or mixed Student-TAT ratings on the basis of blind and independent assessments of Student-TAT stories. These selected 39 students, including those who dropped out, were interviewed twice during the freshman year. Interjudge reliability was satisfactory in ratings of Student-TAT and of interview measures of coping behavior. Three years later, the academic status of these 39 subjects was checked through university records. Results confirmed the hypotheses that precollege Student-TAT measures of competence correlated significantly with independent follow-up interview assessments of coping behavior and differentiated those who remained in college and those who dropped out. The interview ratings were not good predictors of who would drop out. Student-TAT measures, however, successfully predicted the most dropout-vulnerable group (p < .001). The low and mixed rating groups were most vulnerable, since they accounted for 17 of the 18 dropouts from the 39 subjects. There is 9 times as much chance for a student in the low rating group to drop out as one in a high rating group. This is one of the first prospective studies of a developmental transition involving stressful experiences in college life. It indicates that short term longitudinal studies and assessments of coping behavior are feasible and highly desirable. Future research should be able to differentiate systematically the coping variables and elucidate the coping process in the transition from late adolescence to early adulthood in diverse college settings. The study also has practical implications for student counselors and college administrators. Interviews with the dropouts suggested that information-seeking activities with respect to various specific institutional and situational characteristics might be encouraged to enable students to cope with the unexpected and difficult demands of a large state university environment. © Williams & Wilkins 1969. All Rights Reserved.
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页码:386 / &
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