College Student Adjustment Research Articles

Factors in the Adjustment and Academic Achievement of College Students with Learning Disabilities in Israel

The number of students with learning disabilities (LD) who attend postsecondary education has increased steadily over the past 20 years. This study examines the contribution of internal (academic self-efficacy and attachment style) and external (social support and institutional support) factors to the adjustment and achievement of students with LDs in the academic setting. Participants were 674 students from 24 institutions of higher education in Israel. The experimental group (n = 338) consisted of students with self-reported LD, the control group (n = 336) were students who reported they did not have an LD. Our hypothesis that students with LD would report lower academic achievements and lower levels of adjustment than would students with no LD was confirmed. A further hypothesis, that internal and external factors would both be associated with adjustment and academic achievements of LD students, was confirmed by a Structural Equation Modeling Analysis. These findings emphasize the importance of social, family and environment in the success of students with LD in higher education.

The impact of Facebook and smart phone usage on the leisure activities and college adjustment of students in Serbia

This study examined the simultaneous impact of Facebook (FB) and smart phone usage (SP) on the leisure activities (LA) and college adjustment (SACQ) of students in Serbia. The moderating effects of gender on the observed relationships were also examined. An exploratory study of students in Serbia (N = 485) revealed that: 1. Students in Serbia spend a daily average of 2.76 h on Facebook, while the average total daily smart phone use is 8:34 h 2. Facebook and smart phone use has no decisive influence on the allocation of time for leisure activities and college adjustment. 3. Facebook and smart phone use still has a certain positive effect on leisure activities, but this influence can become slightly negative if Facebook and smart phones are used too much. 4. In cases of a lack of time, students are more likely to sacrifice academic work, rather than time for Facebook, smart phones, or leisure activities. 5. The moderating effects of students' gender on the observed relationships are weakly expressed. Finally, Facebook and smart phone use has become a common and integral part of life for the majority of Serbian students, and the time for these activities is integrated into their overall time.

항공계열 대학생의 자기효능감 및 학업적 적응에 관한 연구

Recently the departments of aviation-related in the college are increased as the aviation industry is rapidly expanded. To enhance their competitiveness and have differentiation, it is emphasized for each department to manage and teach their students well. Therefore this study aims to examine self-efficacy and academic adjustment of aviation-related college students and investigate the relationship between self-efficacy and academic adjustment. To achieve the objectives, it conducted a survey of aviation-related college students in C university from Apr. 27th. 2015 to May. 22th. 2015. A total of 225 questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 statistical package program and frequency analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, multiple regression analysis, correlation analysis and one-way ANOVA were conducted. The result released that general self-efficacy was recognized higher at the department of aviation operation than aviation maintenance and aviation service and social self-efficacy was recognized higher at the department of aviation service than aviation maintenance and aviation operation. Also general self-efficacy had an influence on the motivation, application and performance and social self-efficacy affected motivation, performance and academic environment. The implication of these findings would help to manage aviation-related college students, develop their departments and provide the directions for future research.

School Belonging, Ethnic Identity, and Psychological Adjustment Among Ethnic Minority College Students

This study considers how the psychological adjustment of ethnic minority college students may be linked to a sense of school belonging and ethnic identity, two constructs related to individuals feeling like they belong to a larger group. Using self-reports from 311 undergraduates from ethnic minority backgrounds, school belonging was found to be negatively associated with depressive symptoms, and positively associated with perceived self-worth, scholastic competence, and social acceptance, while ethnic identity was only found to be positively associated with self-worth. Furthermore, the interaction between ethnic identity and school belonging was significantly associated with self-worth, suggesting that in the absence of a sense of belonging at school, stronger ethnic identity was linked to higher self-worth. College students reported the lowest levels of self-worth when they were neither connected to their college nor connected to their ethnic group.

Influence of Academic Resilience, Self-efficacy and Depression on College Life Adjustment in Korea's Nursing College Students

This study is a causal research conducted to identify the factors that influence the adjustment of college students to college life. The statistical analysis results of the questionnaire that was conducted on a total of 185 nursing students were as follows. (1) Adjustment had a strongly positive correlation with academic resilience (r = .717, p = .000) and self-efficacy (r = .427, p = .000), while having a strongly negative correlation with depression (r = -.328, p = .005). (2) The factor that had the largest positive impact on college life adjustment was academic resilience (β = 0.607, p = .000), with an explanatory power of 52.6 (F = 69.101, p = .000). Through this study, academic resilience was identified as having the most positive effect on college life adjustment. As a follow-up, in order to improve college life adjustment, a study to verify the mediating effects of academic resilience and a study to develop programs that would promote academic resilience are suggested.

Relationship of Life Stress to College Adjustment in Occupational Therapy Students

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the life stress and college adjustment of occupational therapy students in an effort to provide information on how to ensure the psychological stability and successful college adjustment of students and on the right directions and various methods of career guidance geared toward maladjusted students. The subjects in this study were 465 occupational therapy majors in a college located in Jeolla Province. A self-administered survey was conducted from May 1 to 31, 2014. The findings of the study were as follows: As for life stress by general characteristics, there were differences in that regard according to gender, academic year, religion and living standard, and their college adjustment varied with gender, academic year and living standard. Life stress had a significant negative relationship with college adjustment, and also had a significant negative relationship with academic adjustment, social adjustment, emotional adjustment, physical adjustment and college attachment that were the subfactors of college adjustment. The subfactors of life stress had a significant negative correlation with those of college adjustment as well. In conclusion, sustained research efforts should be channeled into the development of a wide variety of intervention programs geared toward relieving life stress in order to facilitate the school adjustment of college students, which is most important for successful campus life, and the effects of programs developed should be investigated as well.

Social Adjustment of College Students in Relation to Gender

The present investigation is to find out the difference in the social adjustment of college students with regard to their gender. The total random sample consisted 100 (50 Male and 50 Female) college students belonged from various colleges of Mehsana city. ‘Social Adjustment Inventory’ developed by R. C. Deva (1990) was administered as a tool for the study. The obtained data were analyzed by using ‘t’-Test. The result shows that there is no significant mean difference in Social Maturity and Social Adjustment of male and female college students. There is significant mean difference in Emotional Adjustment of the college students in relation to their gender.

The relationship between multidimensional spirituality and depressive symptoms in college students: Examining hope agency and pathways as potential mediators

In this study, we examined goal-focused hope as a potential mediator between the association of multidimensional spirituality and depressive symptoms in a sample of 319 college students. Results of conducting a series of multiple mediation tests indicated that hope agency, but not hope pathways, fully and significantly accounted for the associations of ritualistic, theistic, and existential spirituality with depressive symptoms. Overall, our findings offer support for the contention that hope agency plays an important role in accounting for the association between spirituality and psychological adjustment in college students. Some implications of the present findings are discussed.

Relation Between Parental Divorce and Adjustment in College Students

The role of parental divorce on the adjustment of emerging adults has been understudied and mostly limited to first-year college students. This study sought to examine the relation between parental divorce and adjustment in college students to identify differences in students from intact and divorced families while also examining gender and age differences. Results indicated no adjustment differences as a whole or by gender for intact and divorced families. However, students who were older when their parents divorced had higher levels of self-esteem than those whose parents divorced when they were younger. Implications of the study are discussed.

Adjustment to College in an Urban Commuter Setting

College student adjustment, success, and retention have been a focus of college administrators and student development professionals for decades. However, national college retention and graduation statistics are typically focused on traditional, residential, full-time, college populations. The purpose of the current study was to examine more closely the impact of race/ethnicity, gender, and athletic participation on the adjustment to college of 162 college freshman attending a diverse urban commuter institution. The Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) was employed to test the impact of the three independent variables (race/ethnicity, gender, athletic participation) on the four SACQ subscales (dependent variables). Findings revealed significant Pearson correlations and multivariate analysis of variance main effects among the variables of gender and athletic participation on certain SACQ subscales. More specifically, multivariate analysis of variance main effect findings were revealed for the variables of gender on the academic adjustment and institution attachment subscales of the SACQ and for athletic participation on the social adjustment subscale of the SACQ. Implications of these findings for student services and athletics programming are discussed.

Negative life events and school adjustment among Chinese nursing students: The mediating role of psychological capital

Adjustment difficulties of college students are common and their school adjustment has gained wide concern in recent years. Negative life events and psychological capital (PsyCap) have been associated with school adjustment. However, the potential impact of negative life events on PsyCap, and whether PsyCap mediates the relationship between negative life events and school adjustment among nursing students have not been studied. To investigate the relationship among negative life events, PsyCap, and school adjustment among five-year vocational high school nursing students in China and the mediating role of PsyCap between negative life events and school adjustment. A cross-sectional survey design was conducted. 643 five-year vocational high school nursing students were recruited from three public high vocational colleges in Shandong of China. Adolescent Self-Rating Life Event Checklist (ASLEC), the Psychological Capital Questionnaire for Adolescent Students scale (PCQAS), and the Chinese College Student Adjustment Scale (CCSAS) were used in this study. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed to explore the mediating role of PsyCap. Negative life events were negatively associated with the dimensions of school adjustment (interpersonal relationship adaptation, learning adaptation, campus life adaptation, career adaptation, emotional adaptation, self-adaptation, and degree of satisfaction). PsyCap was positively associated with the dimensions of school adjustment and negatively associated with negative life events. PsyCap partially mediated the relationship between negative life events and school adjustment. Negative life events may increase the risk of school maladjustment in individuals with low PsyCap. Interventions designed to increase nursing students' PsyCap might buffer the stress of adverse life events, and thereby, enhance students' positive adjustment to school.

Alcohol use longitudinally predicts adjustment and impairment in college students with ADHD: The role of executive functions.

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate whether alcohol consumption longitudinally predicts the adjustment, overall functioning, and grade point average (GPA) of college students with ADHD and to determine whether self-report of executive functioning (EF) mediates these relationships. Sixty-two college students comprehensively diagnosed with ADHD completed ratings at the beginning and end of the school year. Regression analyses revealed that alcohol consumption rated at the beginning of the year significantly predicted self-report of adjustment and overall impairment at the end of the year, above and beyond ADHD symptoms and baseline levels of adjustment/impairment but did not predict GPA. Exploratory multiple mediator analyses suggest that alcohol use impacts impairment primarily through EF deficits in self-motivation. EF deficits in the motivation to refrain from pursuing immediately rewarding behaviors in order to work toward long-term goals appear to be particularly important in understanding why college students with ADHD who consume alcohol have a higher likelihood of experiencing significant negative outcomes. The implications of these findings for the prevention of the negative functional outcomes often experienced by college students with ADHD are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

A Comparative Study of Adjustment and Achievement Motivation of Normal and Physically Handicapped College Students

The study aimed to investigate the difference in adjustment and achievement motivation between normal and physically handicapped college students. The sample consists of 80 college students selected from Lalitpur (U.P.) city. A set of tools containing Adjustment Inventory for College Students (AICS) and Achievement Motive Test (AMT) were administered to gather information. The result revealed that there is significant difference in home, health, social and emotional adjustment of normal and handicapped college students.

Assessing Psychological Symptoms and Well-Being

A dual-factor mental health model includes measures of positive psychological well-being in addition to traditional indicators of psychopathology to comprehensively determine mental health status. The current study examined the utility of this model in understanding the psychological adjustment and educational functioning of college students. A sample of 561 college students were classified into four groups based on their levels of subjective well-being and clinical symptoms, and group differences in student engagement and academic achievement were examined. Results indicated that among students without clinical symptoms, those with high subjective well-being were more engaged in the college experience than their peers with low subjective well-being. Moreover, students with high well-being and low symptoms had the highest grade point averages (GPAs) of all groups. These findings suggest that both the presence of positive well-being and the absence of clinical symptoms are important in facilitating academic success.

Help seeking and social competence mediate the parental attachment–college student adjustment relation

AbstractThis short‐term longitudinal study investigated whether attitudes about academic help seeking, social competence, and self‐compassion mediated the relations between parental attachment and college student adjustment. Two hundred and four first‐year students completed measures of parental attachment and the proposed mediators at the beginning of their first semester. At the end of the semester, students reported on their academic, social, and personal/emotional adjustment. Results showed that attitudes about academic help seeking mediated the attachment–academic adjustment relation and social competence mediated the attachment–social adjustment relation. Personal/emotional adjustment largely was predicted by initial personal/emotional adjustment. These findings suggest that help‐seeking attitudes and social competence could be fruitful targets of intervention for personnel working with college students who have strained parental relationships.

Socialization Tactics, Fit Perceptions, and College Student Adjustment

In this study, the authors build a model to examine the relationship between college socialization tactics, fit perceptions (person major fit and person group fit), and adjustment outcomes (academic satisfaction, grade point average, and helping behaviors). College socialization tactics are categorized into three clusters, namely tactics via school administrations and departments, tactics via senior schoolmates, and tactics via peers. Longitudinal survey data from 181 undergraduates during their freshman year indicated (1) the three clusters of tactics related differently to various forms of adjustment; (2) perceived person major fit mediated the relationship between tactics via school administrations and departments, tactics via senior schoolmates, and academic outcomes; (3) perceived person group fit mediated the relationship between tactics via peers and helping behaviors. The results suggest that different entities within colleges play different roles in facilitating student adjustment.

The relationship between social adaptation and the resilience, social support and coping style in undergraduate nursing students

Objective To explore the relationships among social adaptation and the resilience, social support and coping style in undergraduate nursing students. Methods 758 students from two medical colleges in Shandong province were recruited by stratified random sampling method. They were assessed with China College Student Adjustment Scale(CCSAS), Resilience Scale for Adults(RSA), Social Support Rating Scale(SSRS), Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire(SCSQ). The data was analyzed with the structural equation mode. Results The social adaptation of undergraduate nursing students showed significantly positive association with the resilience, social support, positive coping style(r=0.113-0.607, P<0.01), but the campus adaptation had negative association with negative coping style(r=-0.117, P<0.01). The path analysis showed that the resilience, social support and coping style were the direct predictors of social adaptation (β=0.57, P<0.05; β=0.0.26, P<0.05; β=0.1, P<0.05), and the resilience, active coping style played the mediating role between social support and social adaptation (β=0.31, P<0.05; β=0.05, P<0.05). Conclusion The social adaptation and the resilience, social support and active coping style of nursing undergraduates are closely related. Key words: Undergraduate nursing students; Social adaptation; Resilience; Social support; Coping style

Family Achievement Guilt and Mental Well-being of College Students

Previous research has demonstrated that first-generation college students (i.e., students whose parents did not attend college) feel guilty about their educational achievements when their family members do not have similar access to higher education. We advance existing research by investigating how college students’ mental health is associated with family achievement guilt, which is feelings of discomfort with one’s college success, particularly in the context of family members (i.e., parents and siblings). We hypothesize that family achievement guilt will be associated with more depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem, and that high levels of guilt will impact first-generation college students’ mental well-being significantly more than non-first-generation college students. College students (N = 255; M Age = 19.96, SD = 1.77, 40 % Mexican descent) completed online surveys with measures of family achievement guilt, depressive symptoms, and self-esteem. Analyses revealed that, as hypothesized, more family achievement guilt was significantly associated with more depressive symptoms (p < .001) and lower self-esteem (p < .05) for all students. As predicted, first-generation college students reported significantly more depressive symptoms at higher levels of family achievement guilt compared to non-first-generation college students (p < .001). These findings demonstrate how the family context is important to consider in the adjustment and success of first-generation college students.

Attitudes about Help-Seeking Mediate the Relation Between Parent Attachment and Academic Adjustment in First-Year College Students

Although numerous studies have documented an association between parent attachment and college student adjustment, less is known about the mechanisms that underlie this relation. Accordingly, this short-term longitudinal study examined first-year college students’ attitudes about academic help-seeking as one possible mechanism. As predicted, help-seeking attitudes mediated the relation between parent attachment and academic adjustment, even after controlling for gender and initial academic adjustment, with females holding more favorable attitudes about academic help-seeking. College personnel might explicitly encourage academic help-seeking in first-year students to maximize academic success and mitigate the effects of insecure attachment and gender-specific socialization.

The Influence of Disabilities Identify and Academic Self-efficacy on University Adjustment of University Students with Disabilities

The Influence of Disabilities Identify and Academic Self-efficacy on University Adjustment of University Students with Disabilities