Parents and students - the secrets of their success

Gaps between parents' real expectations of their student offspring and what the students themselves think is expected of them could add to the stress of being a college student according to new research from the U.S. A study of 174 first- and second-year students, 138 of their mothers and 72 of their fathers asked about personal maturity, academic achievement, dating and how well parents and students thought they communicated with one another. While most students were meeting or exceeding their parents' expectations those who thought they weren't (because they thought their parents' expectations were higher than they were) reported lower self-worth and more trouble adjusting to college. In another study the researchers found that those students who had at least one authoritative parent - one whose parenting style combined warmth, a demanding nature and democracy - adjusted better to college than those whose parents were too authoritarian, permissive or neglectful.

You can find out more about this research at

http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/08/21/parental-expectations-affect-college-students-identity/2797.html