Going to college and having children: Challenges of emerging adulthood

Abstract

Although emerging adulthood and the college population have been extensively studied in the literature, little research has focused on measures of stress, subjective wellbeing, and social support in young people who have children in addition to being college students. The transitions of emerging adulthood are especially significant when one is both a college student and a parent. The aim of this article was to analyze stress, subjective well-being (life satisfaction and affectivity) and social support in university students with or without children in northern Chile. The sample consisted of N = 625 university students aged 18 to 25 years. A binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the variables and the dichotomous category of having or not having children. It was concluded that, despite the fact that university students with children presented stress indexes in a significant range, they also maintained a positive affectivity, and it seems that this characteristic helps them to face the convergence between higher education and parenthood.