Abstract
Background: The problem of studies abandonment greatly affects university students at different levels of training. The permanence in a university career depends on the adaptation skills of the students to the new educational context, which is why, its measurement is relevant for the identification and accompaniment of at-risk students. The objective of this work was to evaluate the internal structure of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire [SACQ] short version in a sample of Chilean university students. Method: A total of 249 first-year students from a southern Chilean university participated. The average age of the participants was 19.11 years [SD = 5.29]. The SACQ short version was used with 47 items distributed in four dimensions: academic, social, emotional and institutional adjustments. Results: After a new organization of the items by means of an exploratory factor analysis a four-factor structure was obtained. Adequate correlations were identified between the items and the dimensions of the questionnaire. Conclusions: The new version of the SACQ is a measure with adequate internal validity to measure the adaptation of the university students in the context of Higher Education in Chile, however, it is recommended to make a confirmatory factor analysis prior to its use.
Highlights
The transition from one to another academic stage is an important aspect in the lives of students
Adjustment to university life has been defined as the general process of coping with the motivation, execution and performance requirements of the characteristics of the university experience [2, 3]
Due to the importance and need for valid measures that allow evaluating the students’ adaptation process to university and detecting possible cases at risk of abandonment, this paper aims to assess the internal validity of the SACQ short version in a sample of Chilean first-year university students
Summary
The transition from one to another academic stage is an important aspect in the lives of students. Research on adjustment to university life is important since the experiences of students (especially during the first year) have an impact on the desire for university maintenance or abandonment [4], being a reflection of success or failure of the students in the incorporation of the new values, norms and behaviors of the university. The objective of this work was to evaluate the internal structure of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire [SACQ] short version in a sample of Chilean university students. The SACQ short version was used with 47 items distributed in four dimensions: academic, social, emotional and institutional adjustments. Conclusions: The new version of the SACQ is a measure with adequate internal validity to measure the adaptation of the university students in the context of Higher Education in Chile, it is recommended to make a confirmatory factor analysis prior to its use
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