Parental Support, Perceived Stress, and Illness-Related Variables Among First-Year College Students

The recognition and study of illness as a fundamentally interpersonal phenomenon represents an understudied area in relationship research. This study examined interpersonal factors affecting illness (i.e., symptoms, attitudes, and responses) in first-year college students. Three hundred ninety freshmen from 2 research sites completed measures of perceived stress, parental support received and desired, symptom frequency, illness attitudes (release, consideration), and illness responses (consult, denial). Ninety-seven students also returned follow-up surveys at the end of the semester re-measuring stress and symptoms as well as number of illnesses and visits to a health care facility. Desired parental support predicted the attitude that ill persons should receive extra consideration and the illness response of denying symptoms. Received support predicted a willingness to consult medical help, not to deny symptoms, and reduced stress at Time 2. Consult was predicted by consideration, as well as an interaction between symptoms and the release attitude. At Time 2, stress was positively predicted by Time 1 stress. Time 1 symptoms predicted Time 2 symptoms and number of reported illnesses. Finally, with a sample of 25, the consideration attitude predicted the number of reported visits to a health care facility at Time 2.