Being able to control our behavior in a situation such as college is pivotal to reaching the goals, we set for ourselves. Behavioral regulation is needed, whether it be stopping yourself from having another drink at a party, calming yourself down when someone is upsetting you, or simply staying quiet during a lecture. As a young or grown adult, you are expected to know how to control yourself. Although we all have our own needs and the ways we do so, being able to acknowledge the situation you are in and react appropriately is a skill that can help not only in an academic and work environment but a social one as well. However, for those with life challenges such as Autism, “Asperger’s,” ADHD, etc. it can be hard, especially since “59% of those with these life challenges may exhibit behaviors such as destructiveness, aggression, and self-injury from time to time].” (Glock, 2022).
In college, life is full of so many drastically different experiences. Some feel like the best and most fun moments you will ever have, while others are the most tiring and stressful. This constant shift can cause stress on students, and although most feel that way, it is important to be able to regulate emotions and behavior to act in an age appropriate way. Making sure you can soothe yourself in a class you may just not be getting or control yourself in a social setting that may require a calm demeanor can prevent stress and can even ensure you are able to properly manage independent life. When speaking to a client, they told me how they have had an issue with managing their behavior around their friends. Since it’s more of a relaxed space, they would not be as aware of their response to other actions, which would sometimes cause them to say or do things that were unkind since they were not conscious of how their behavior may have been perceived by their peers. They would even sometimes get a bit too excited during a simple get-together, causing their tasks that needed to get done the next day to be pushed back (procrastination). This would damage their goal-directed behavior, causing them to fall behind. Yet, when they learned how to regulate their thoughts, emotions and behaviors, it became easier to say no without fearing the ridicule of their friends since they too, sometimes said no, they just needed to realize that.
Behavior regulation is not just handling a situation you are in mentally, but physically as well. Not injuring yourself or others and breaking things when upset is needed since becoming violent due to an inconvenience or something just not going our way is unacceptable, especially as a young adult. Not only will colleges not tolerate it, but workplaces will not either, so if an adult acts out in this way, they can struggle to keep a job and even achieve a higher education since they are expected to be able to react in an age-appropriate way. Even though we all may feel like acting that way sometimes, we simply cannot, and if we continue to, it can hinder our level of happiness and negatively impact the success we are more than capable of achieving. A study shows that “Students with better cognitive self-regulation can have a better educational performance by managing their emotions and emotional influences. They also have a great motivation to study and can make targeted planning.” (Miri et al., 2018). Without the behavioral regulation skill, young adults can fall behind in a social, educational, and work setting, which no parent wants, but is a skill the College Life Skills Program can teach.
At CollegeLSP, we professionally coach those who are college bound, in college, and after college develop the skills needed to successfully function in independent life. Our team of Doctoral and Master level professionals uses our individualized, proprietary, evidence-based approaches developed with the real-life experience of thousands of students over three decades to aid young adults in their journey to independence. So, if your young adult is having trouble achieving adult-level self-monitoring skills, CollegeLSP is more than qualified to help.
Dr. Eric J. Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D.C., is a Developmental and Behavioral Specialist who specializes in Autism, ADHD and related disorders. Dr. Nach is the founder of the College Life Skills Program where he and his team of professional’s help develop the Emotional Maturity, Executive Functioning, Life Skill and Social Abilities of college students and those high school students preparing for college. The CollegeLSP is a subsidiary program of the Support For Students Growth Center, located in Boca Raton, FL and providing services nationwide.
Glock, M. (2022, March 1). Challenging behaviors in adults with autism. Autism Research Institute. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://www.autism.org/challenging-behaviors-in-adults-with-autism/
Sahranavard, S., Miri, M. R., & Salehiniya, H. (2018, December 28). The relationship between self-regulation and educational performance in students. Journal of education and health promotion. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6332646/
