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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Predicting social integration in the community among college students

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This article aims to examine determinants of social integration in the community among college students. Two-wave panel data from an undergraduate student sample (N 310) was used to explore the effects of multiple sets of variables (personal, interpersonal, and situational) on social integration in the community. Structural equation analysis showed that personal (self-esteem and perceived stress) and situational (undesirable life events) variables made significant contributions to changes to social integration in the community. Implications of these and other findings are discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. The expansion of social networks beyond relationships with family and peers is of great importance for the young person to access information and resources and to develop the social competencies required for participation in an adult society ~Cotterell, 1996!. This expansion of networks will also partly define the settings in which the young person interacts and develops his0her career and social identity ~Fischer, 1982!. As Youniss ~1994! has suggested, the accumulated history of belonging to social systems and relationships will play an important role in the construction of the young person’s social identity. Additionally, Hirsch ~1981!, from a life-span viewpoint, believes that in order to achieve a repertoire of satisfactory social identities in adulthood, the young person’s social network needs significant adjustments and expansion so as to accommodate new roles and to provide social identities more appropriate to the new developmental stage.