Psychological separation-individuation and adjustment to college among Korean American students: The roles of collectivism and individualism.

This study examined the effects of psychological separation-individuation on adjustment to college among 170 Korean American students in the contexts of collectivism and individualism. The results showed that the two dimensions of psychological separation-individuation measured by the Psychological Separation Inventory (PSI; J. Hoffman, 1984) related to the cultural variables differently and showed contrasting relationships to college adjustment: Conflictual independence from parents related negatively to individualism and was associated positively with college adjustment, whereas general independence from parents related negatively to both collectivism and college adjustment. Additionally, collectivism was found to be positively associated with college adjustment. Individualism functioned as a moderator, as a low degree of individualism strengthened the positive relationship between collectivism and college adjustment.