La adaptación académica y personal del alumnado universitario y de formación profesional

Abstract

Research on vocational training students are scarce in Spain. While more research has been done on university students, few studies compare vocational training students and university students of equivalent age. The aim of this study was to analyse the academic and personal-emotional adaptation of university and vocational training students, and to relate it to adult attachment and family variables such as parents’ educational level, parental relationships, family stress and satisfaction. The study sample comprised 251 Spanish students aged 18-25 years: 110 vocational training students and 141 university students. The instruments used were the Bidirectional Parent-Adolescent Relationships Scale (BiPAR), Family Satisfaction scale, Family Stress scale, Adult Attachment questionnaire (with subscales Low self-esteem, Hostile conflict resolution, Expression of feelings and Emotional self-sufficiency), and Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) (with subscales Personal-emotional adaptation and Academic adaptation). The results did not reveal significant differences between university and vocational students in their personal-emotional or academic adaptation. Personal-emotional adaptation in both cases was negatively related to low self-esteem, and positively related to family satisfaction, while academic adaptation was negatively related to low self-esteem and emotional self-sufficiency and positively related to family satisfaction and expression of feelings. These data point directly and indirectly to the role of relational family variables in the adaptation of young adults.