Living Arrangements

Another aspect that may contribute to stress level is the students' living arrangements. Lafreniere and Ledgerwood (1997) compared students on the basis of gender, residence, and perceived family support and found that females living at home during university experienced the most stress. In this study it was discovered that females living away from family whose perceived support was low showed higher levels of adjustment than females living with the low support family. However, the opposite pattern was found with males. It is suggested that this may be the case "given that the majority of household responsibilities tend to be shouldered by women in our society, it is likely that female students who live at home are more likely than their male counterparts to experience stress due to overload and role conflict." (Lafreniere & Ledgerwood, 1997). Also mentioned by Lafreniere and Ledgerwood is the common belief that traits developed with independence are stereotypically masculine. Therefore, a female may not receive much support for her independence and, in turn, may experience more stress. If the student is living at home it may increase the chances of conflict due to increasing independence.

Please find below a link to another site which you may find interesting.

Residence Life Programs and the First Year Experience, Second Edition