Background. Psychological distress is a condition that is often experienced by college students. This condition is supported by the fact that some Indonesian college students died because of suicide. The suicide itself can be caused by many factors, such as psychological distress. When a person experiences the situation that can cause distress, self-control can help him to control himself. Another factor that can help that person is the support from the people around him, including his family. A family can help its member to support his confidence, thus the person who is experiencing distress can control himself. However, in the real situation not all family can support the psychological well being of its member, including the member who is a college student. In some situations, the family even be the source of stress that the person experiences. This condition shows that the family does not function well. One important method that can be used is the communication between family members. in the previous research, it is known that there is a negative correlation between psychological distress and communication dimension in Indonesian college students. There are also some factors that affect the family functioning, one of them is family composition. In relation to this, the communication between family members will be hard if there is a different composition in the family, for example for the parents who are separated (divorced or passed away). The separation of the parents can increase the prevalence of psychological distress in that person. Therefore, this research wants to answer the questions, “Does parents’ marital status moderates the correlation between psychological distress and communication in the family in Indonesian college students?”; “How does the intervention that can be given for Indonesian college students who experience parents’ separation during college?”.

Methods. The participants in this research are 1024 Indonesian college students. This research uses the correlational method using the moderating variable. The data for this research are collected offline using questionnaire for college students who can be reached by distance by the researcher, and online questionnaires to reach college students from other cities in Indonesia. To measure the psychological distress, the researcher used HSCL-25 which had been translated to Indonesian. Meanwhile, to measure the communication process in the family, the researcher used communication dimension in Family Assessment Device. Parents’ marital status is collected when participants filled the demographic data. The data analysis techniques used are partial correlation to see the correlation between psychological distress and communication dimension, and linear regression to see the moderating variable (parents’ marital status).

Results

There is a significant negative relationship between psychological distress and communication dimension in family functioning. Parents’ marital status is a variable that moderates the relationship between psychological distress and communication in Indonesian college students. Therefore, the intervention design for this research can be given by giving accompaniment from counselor or psychologist to Indonesian college students who experience parents’ separation.

Conclusion

It is concluded that there is a significant negative relationship between psychological distress and communication dimension in family functioning. Therefore, if the person has high psychological distress, the communication in the family is perceived low or in other words, it is not functioned well. Parents’ marital status moderates the relationship between these variables.

Added values

This research can be used for the baseline to give the interventions to emerging adult Indonesian college students who experience parents’ separation. Therefore, it is hoped that the negative effects of psychological distress will not happen to Indonesian college students even though the communication in the family does not function well after the parents’ separation.

Keywords: psychological distress, communication, family functioning, parents’ marital status, parents’ separation.

Word count: 591