DOES INTERNET USAGE PREDICT COLLEGE ADJUSTMENT AMONG FIRST-YEAR COLLEGE STUDENTS? Kelvin Bentley Northwestern State University Longitudinal research with first-year students has found that this population frequently uses computers and the Internet (e.g., Higher Education Research Institute, 2000). This is no surprise given that computer-related technology allows students to communicate with others and can be used for satisfy different academic requirements. However, Kandell (1998) warned that because college students have unstructured blocks of time and have access to high-speed Internet connections, some students might spend too much time online and not enough time in the development of face-to-face relationships and engaged in their studies. Kraut, Patterson, Lundmark, Kiesler, Mukopadhyay, and Scherlis (1998) examined the use of computers in a sample of families who were novices in using the Internet. This longitudinal study found that Internet usage over time predicted depression and feelings of loneliness. Other researchers focused on examining the relationship between Internet usage and psychological outcomes in college students. For example, LaRose, Eastin, and Gregg (2001) found that college participants were found to be depressed if they experienced Internet-related stress and perceived themselves as poor Internet users (low Internet self-efficacy). In addition, Hudiburg and Necessary (1996) found that college students who experience a high level of computer stress also reported using emotion-focused coping which has been linked to depression in the coping literature (e.g., Endler & Parker, 1990) and among first-year college students (e.g., Leong, Bonz, & Zachar, 1997). INTRODUCTION ABSTRACT College students are frequent users of computers and the Internet. The present study was designed to determine whether first-year college students who lacked Internet-self efficacy, experience high levels of computer stress, and who use emotion-focused coping, a coping style that has been linked to depression, are at risk for poor adjustment to college. The results support this hypothesis. METHOD Participants Two-hundred and forty-four undergraduate students completed study questionnaires during the Fall 2001 semester. Seventy participants were first-year students with 56 women and 12 men. Two students did not indicate their gender. In addition, 35 students (50%) were European-American and 18 were African-American (25%). Measures Demographic Questionnaire Coping Inventory of Stressful Situations (CISS; Endler & Parker, 1990) Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ; Baker & Siryk, 1999) Computer Hassles Scale-Revised (Hudiburg, 1999) Internet Usage Questionnaire Developed for this study RESULTS A series of ANOVA’s were conducted. First, gender by grade ANOVA’s revealed that there was a main effect for gender such that for the entire sample, more women used emotion-focused coping strategies more often that men. There was also an interaction effect for gender and grade such that freshmen men were found to use more emotion- focused coping compared to freshmen women. The entire sample was divided into four groups based on level of computer hassles experienced and level of computer-self efficacy. Two groups were formed by choosing the top 25% and bottom 25% of scores for computer hassles. Two similar groups were created based on level of computer self- efficacy. Students how experienced high levels of computer hassles reported that they their personal-emotional adjustment to college was lower than those who experienced low levels of computer hassles. In addition, women from this group had lower adjustment scores compared to men. DISCUSSION These results suggest that the usage of computer-related technology per se might not be a hindrance to college adjustment. Instead the usage of maladaptive coping styles such as emotion-focused coping and low levels of Internet self-efficacy, and computer hassles might increase a student’s risk for poor academic and personal-emotional adjustment to college. This finding was also present in women who were found to use emotion-focused coping more often than men and who had lower levels of computer hassles compare Continued research in this area will provide new ways for us to think about how computer technology is affecting the lives of our college students, especially those that are making an important transition to a college or university. In addition, these findings will need to be addressed with online students who rely heavily on computer-technology for their assignments and communication with their professors and fellow students. HYPOTHESES The present study hypothesized that college students, including first-year freshmen, would experience poor adjustment to college if they frequently reported using emotion-focused coping, experiencing high levels of computer stress, and had low levels of Internet self-efficacy. A series of multiple regressions were conducted to find a model that would predict college adjustment in first- year college students. Low HGPA, using more emotion-focused coping compared to task-focused coping, and an interaction between emotion- focused coping and computer hassles served each accounted for incremental variance in academic adjustment.