The complexity of cultural mismatch in higher education: Norms affecting first-generation college students' coping and help-seeking behaviors.

Objectives: First-generation college students commonly experience financial, academic, and personal challenges that are exacerbated by a cultural mismatch between independent university settings and interdependent family environments. There is a paucity of research on the influence of cultural norms, including cultural mismatch, on first-generation college students' coping and help-seeking behaviors. The present research explored how cultural norms affect coping and help seeking for academic, financial, and psychological problems among diverse first-generation college students.