I walk into the room and is greeted by Tessa's large smile. Tessa is one of my good friends. She is very confident and goal driven. She is the baby in a family of 4 siblings. Her personality combined with the past college knowledge in her family, I imagined the college transition for her would have been a piece of cake.
While some aspects were easy, she did experience some rough patches. For Tessa it wasn't sharing a room or constantly being ready to interact, but more internal discoveries which predominated her first year transition. Tessa realized the importance to be true to ones-self. She learned to identify and act on ones conscious. From past and current college experience she knows when she feels angry or depressed it festers and gets worse if she keeps it to herself. Her outlet is expressing it to others and therefore at the same time maintaing strong personal connections with old and new friends. Although this is not a novel idea in common knowledge or in Tessa's world, college was the time it came to fruition for her. The increased intensity and ability to be distracted really creates a need to identify with oneself. I considered the time that this occurred to me. I felt as as an only-child that this was on my mind from an earlier age. Maybe its was self induced since my friends were the only source of social standards, or it could have been my parents hammering in this message to me so heavily also knowing that my peers would have a large impact on my social views. |
I suspected Tessa not to have an issue with the social changes coming from a large family home. Logically a large family setting at home would have people constantly around time for self recovery may not be frequent. Also the larger home base could provide more of a support network. The importance of which is unparalleled in the transition to college. Tessa noted this benefit in her interview. "I was the last one in my family so they [parents] knew the ups and downs of the first year fairly well."
However I did expect her to have more trouble with time management and logistical transitions than she let on. This assumption is based on my literature search. In the article "The adolescent Only Child" it stated that only-children prefer order and constancy. I would have thought that children with siblings therefore, did not worry about this element as much. I think its is best to conclude that organization is a personal characteristic not largely affected by family structure. Tessa loves having siblings and thinks they were helpful in the transition by lending support and advise. Overall Tessa mainly struggled with missing them. Older siblings seem to provide a good preparation environment for college compared to my, only-child, transition. |