A Social Support Intervention to Ease the College Transition: Exploring Main Effects and Moderators

Abstract

This study examined effects of a peer-led social support group intervention on college adjustment. Ninety first-year students, randomly assigned to participate in the intervention, reported higher levels of perceived social support and reduced loneliness when compared to controls (n = 94), after accounting for preintervention levels on these variables. Effects were not moderated by precollege adjustment concerns or gender. Results of this study suggest that a cost-effective peer-led intervention program can positively affect students’ social adjustment to university at a large, 4-year institution.