An Exploration of Factors Influencing College Students' Academic and Social Adjustment
An Exploration of Factors Influencing College Students' Academic and Social Adjustment
An Exploration of Factors Influencing College Students' Academic and Social Adjustment
4 13-22 (2016)
https://doi.org /10.17703/IJACT.2016.4.4.13
IJACT 16-4-3
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify the characteristics of school life and to examine the influencing
factors of academic adjustment and social adjustment in university students. This cross-sectional descriptive
study by using secondary data from 2,064 subjects who responded to a self-rated student adjustment test.
Descriptive, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation and multiple regression analyses were conducted.
Satisfaction with college selection, expectation for college, satisfaction with college service, emotional
stability, and relationships with faculty were significantly higher among male students, whereas confidence
in major, support from others were significantly higher among the female students. There was a significant
positive relationship between academic adjustment and confidence in major, and between social adjustment
and expectation for college. Confidence in major, relationships with faculty, emotional stability, expectation
for college, satisfaction with college selection, and commitment to college life accounted for 31.8% of the
variance in academic adjustment. In addition expectation for college, emotional stability, support from
others, gender, commitment to college life, and satisfaction with college services accounted for 44.7% of the
variance in social adjustment for university students. Overall, the results of this study suggest that
understanding the levels of expectation for college, commitment to college life, and levels of emotional
stability may be important for facilitating their transition and adjustment to university life.
1. Introduction
Developmentally, college students are in late adolescence, which is a preparatory period for ensuring a
smooth transition to adulthood. This is a period during which individuals establish their self identities and
views of life, nurture and develop the expertise and sociality required for making their introduction into
post-school society[1]. Further, college students are demanded to choose their careers and their desired ways
of life and adjust accordingly. College freshmen, who first set foot into college society with such
developmental, personal, and social demands placed on their shoulders, encounter considerable stress from
the rapid changes occurring within their educational environments. Compared to students in the upper grade
levels, freshmen students are faced with additional challenges as they adjust to school life, which calls for the
need to pay particular attention to and tailor guidance for them[2,3].College adjustment refers to students’
Manuscript Received: Oct. 24, 2016 / Revised: Nov. 1, 2016 / Accepted: Nov. 4, 2016
Corresponding Author:[email protected]
Tel:+82-41-750-6244, Fax: 82-41-750-6416
Joongbu Univ., Dep. of Nursing
14 International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology Vol.4 No.4 13-22 (2016)
appropriate responses to college life; that is, maintaining a harmonious academic, interpersonal, and
emotional balance while coping with the demands of college without falling into conflicts[4].
Previousstudies have confirmed that college adjustment is highly correlated with positive perceptions of
school and also has a profound influence on academic persistence[5]. College adjustment is highly important
for students and college institutions, as well as for societies, as it may impact students during college and
affect their preparations for post-college life.
In a large-scale nationwide study[6] that undertook a comprehensive analysis of factors influencing college
freshmen’s choices of major, and their expectations for and emotional experiences in college, students were
found to be most worried by academic and career concerns. Further, in the same study more than 85% of the
students had experienced negative emotions (e.g., loneliness, depression, anxiety, lethargy, anger), and 3.4%
experienced suicidal impulses within three months of matriculation, thus indicating the urgency of resolving
the issues regarding students’ academic adjustment and emotional problems[6]. Academic adjustment in
college, during which students must accept and digest an extensive volume of knowledge in their majors, is
an enormous challenge for new matriculates, who had previously been educated in a standardized education
system with only one goal: college entrance. Further, freshman students experience severe stress from
adjusting to multiple changes in their lives in their earlier matriculation days, which induces emotional
problems[5,6].
Academic adjustment refers to confidence, satisfaction, and positive learning attitudes with regard to
academic performance[7]. Academic adjustment in college, during which students gain professional
knowledge, is critical for the success of students’ post-college lives, as well as for the overall growth of
society. However, considering that many students were deprived of the opportunity to freely explore and
ponder over their major and career options and instead were confined in the Korean high school system’s
current reality of passive learning environments centered on rote memorization, we could predict that many
college students would be faced with low major satisfaction and poor academic adjustment in college due to
changes in learning methods[8].
Previous studies have found the academic adjustment of college students to be associated with personal
psychological factors, such as self-esteem[9], resilience[10,11], negative emotions[12], emotional
intelligence[13], and self-efficacy[9,14]; environmental factors such as social support[15,16,17]; and
motivations for selecting a major and being satisfied with the selection[15]. However, few studies have
attempted to investigate how students’ perceptions of the college environment or college life are correlated
with or could influence their academic adjustment. Hence, it would be useful to comprehensively survey the
factors associated with academic adjustment, including those mentioned above.
Furthermore, it has been noted that college adjustment encompasses a variety of aspects, including
academic and social adjustment as well as satisfaction with the college environment[18,19]. In particular,
social adjustment, which refers to how students maintain a sense of belonging as a member of their
respective college society and intimacy with other members of the society by fostering positive interpersonal
relationships and participating in diverse activities in school, is an integral aspect of college adjustment. This
is in line with a previous report that suggested that engaging in various school clubs have mediating roles as
social support[20]. This also indicates that college is not merely an academic institution for scholarly
activities but is also a social space in which students cultivate character as well as share and promote positive
college culture and values. The college environment encompasses physical, social, and psychological
elements, and it has been found to be correlated with student drop-outs[21]. Therefore, systematic effort
must be devoted to creating a college environment that meets students’ needs to promote college adjustment
and academic persistence.
An Exploration of Factors Influencing College Students’Academic and Social Adjustment 15
Academic adjustment has long been perceived an important aspect of college adjustment and has drawn
ardent research interest. On the other hand, studies have rarely surveyed the factors that directly affect social
adjustment, as it has been considered a sub-variable of college adjustment. However, as building
relationships with other members of one’s environment and sharing social support may serve as a positive
psychological resource that alleviates or buffers shock from stress[22,23,24], it would be useful to explore
the factors that are related to college students’ social adjustment from a comprehensive perspective that
encompasses students’ perceptions of the college environment and life, as well as social and psychological
factors.
Within this context, this study investigated the factors that affect academic and social adjustment—two
important aspects of college adjustment—in an attempt to provide useful data to promote academic and
social adjustment among college students. The specific objectives are as follows:
1) Verify the differences in sub-variables among college adjustment, academic adjustment, and social
adjustment in accordance with the subjects’ characteristics.
2) Verify the correlations among the sub-variables for college adjustment, academic adjustment, and social
adjustment.
3) Verify the factors that affect academic and social adjustment.
2. Methods
2.1 Study design
This study, with a descriptive cross-sectional design, explored factors that influence the academic and
social adjustment of college students based on the Student Adjustment Test responses that were obtained
from freshman students at one university located in Chungnam, South Korea.
(satisfaction with choice of college, confidence in major, expectations for college, commitment to college
life, emotional stability, economic condition, support from friends and family, satisfaction with college
service, relationship with faculty, academic adjustment, and social adjustment), with each item being scored
on a 5-point likert-type scale, using 1 (do not agree at all) to 5 (fully agree). The higher total scores in each
sub-variable indicate better state of sub-variables. The instrument reliability by Chun SJ
etal.(2011)atthetimeofitsdevelopmentwasgivenbyCronbach'sα=.70–.94,andinthisstudyCronbach'sα=.75–.92.
3. Results
3.1. Subject characteristics
A total of 1,163 subjects were male (56.3%), and 901 were female (43.7%). There were 492 (23.8%)
science and engineering students, 537 (26.0%) humanities and social sciences students, 119 (5.8%) education
students, 165 (8.0%) social business students, 265 (12.8%) healthcare students, and 486 (23.5%) arts and
physical education students.
p<.001), and it had positive correlations with all other college adjustment sub-variables, including
expectations for college (r=.44, p<.001), relationships with faculty (r=.41, p<.001), and emotional stability
(r=.29, p<.001). Social adjustment was the most strongly correlated with expectations for college (r=.62,
p<.001) and it had positive correlations with all other college adjustment sub-variables, including satisfaction
with choice of college(r=.46, p<.001), support from friends and family (r=.40, p<.001), and relationships
with faculty (r=.41, p<.001).
4. Discussion
The purpose of this study was to survey the relations among the sub-variables of college adjustment and to
identify the factors that affect college students’ academic and social adjustment. Below is a discussion of our
results.
There were significant gender-specific differences in the college adjustment sub-variables. This was in
contrast to a study that suggested that there are no sex-specific differences in college adjustment[4,10]. On
the other hand, such a finding was in support of a different study, which suggested male students have
significantly better emotional stability and college adjustment[25]. Additionally, the present findings were in
line with those of a previous study, which reported that male students have significantly higher satisfaction
with college and expectations for college life[1]. These findings imply that more attention and interventions
should be directed toward female students, who may show lower levels of emotional stability and college
adjustment than do male students. Further, replication studies are needed to verify the heterogeneity
regarding sex-specific differences in factors relevant to college adjustment found in previous studies. With
18 International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology Vol.4 No.4 13-22 (2016)
reference to a study that confirmed gender to be a predictor of students’ coping and adjustment to stress
situations[26], additional studies should also examine the effects of gender on students’ adjustment to stress.
There were significant differences in the sub-variables of college adjustment in accordance with students’
fields of study. This was in line with a previous study, which reported that students show varying degrees of
career choice and satisfaction and adjustment to their majors, depending on their fields of study[27]. Our
results were also similar to those of another study that reported that students show differences in academic
adjustment in accordance with their fields of study[28]. One notable finding in our study was that students
majoring in arts and physical education had strong confidence in their major but showed low commitment to
college life and emotional stability. One reason behind the high confidence may be that students in the arts
and physical education paths generally choose their majors after sufficiently deliberating concerning their
talents and aptitudes prior to matriculation. However, their low commitment to college life and low
emotional stability may result in maladjustment and may ultimately lead to their dropping out, thus
necessitating the implementation of psychological interventions to motivate students to commit to college
life and help stabilize their emotions.
All of the college adjustment sub-variables were positively correlated with one another. Academic
adjustment had the highest positive correlation with confidence in major, and social adjustment had the
highest positive correlation with expectations for college. These findings supported those of a previous study,
in which motivations for choice of major and major satisfaction were positively correlated with all
sub-variables of college adjustment[29]. These findings are also in line with those of another study in which
emotional intelligence and learning commitment were positively correlated with all college adjustment
sub-variables[13]. Further, these findings were similar to those of yet another previous study suggesting a
positive correlation between college adjustment and interpersonal relationship and social support[16,17].
With reference to our results concerning how expectations for college and relationships with faculty were
strongly correlated with both academic and social adjustment, it would be important to provide information
concerning how to build up expectations that college would be a useful and rewarding platform in which
students could grow and prepare themselves for their careers and life. In addition, our results verified the
vital roles of faculty members, thus implying that a well-established trust relationship between students and
faculty and the faculty’s interest in students could serve as protective factors in college adjustment.
Confidence in major had the strongest influence on college students’ academic adjustment, and six
variables—confidence in major, relationships with faculty, emotional stability, expectations for college,
satisfaction with choice of college, and college life commitment—explained 31.8% of the variability in
academic adjustment. This signifies that students would better adjust to academics in college when they have
strong confidence in their major, maintain positive relationships with faculty members, are emotionally
stable, have high expectations for college, are satisfied with their college choice, and show commitment to
college life. According to a previous study, college freshmen predominantly want to engage in an in-depth
study of their majors, but they are most worried about academic and career concerns[6]. Overwhelming
pressures from college entrance exams seize students’ opportunities to engage in deep contemplation and
research their majors, which undermines their confidence in their majors once they matriculate into
college[8]. As lack of confidence in their majors was verified to be a key factor contributing to students’
difficulties with academic adjustment, colleges should develop major adjustment programs to encourage
students to gain confidence in their majors and careers. In addition, students should be offered mentoring or
counseling from professors for better academic adjustment and programs for stress management or mental
health interventions for emotional stability.
An Exploration of Factors Influencing College Students’Academic and Social Adjustment 19
Expectations for college had the greatest effect on college students’ social adjustment, and six
variables—expectations for college, emotional stability, support from friends and family, gender,
commitment to college life, and satisfaction with college services—explained 44.7% of the variability in
social adjustment. This signifies that male students who have high expectations for college, are emotionally
stable, are well supported by friends and family, have high commitment to college life, and are highly
satisfied with college services are better able to socially adjust. Meanwhile, whereas relationships with
faculty was demonstrated to be a factor contributing to academic adjustment, support from friends and
family was found to influence social adjustment, thus indicating that faculty members play an important role
in academic adjustment while parents, family members, and friends play more influential roles in social
adjustment. Thus, it is important to set up high expectations for college; that is, motivate students to believe
college would be a valuable period of personal growth and preparation for career and life, and it would
provide adjustment programs for female students, who have been verified to be relatively more susceptible to
social maladjustment. In addition, it is essential to establish an efficient college service system. Based on our
results concerning emotional stability as a key factor in social adjustment and those of a previous study
reporting a mediating role of emotional control ability in the relationship between stress and social
support[23], psychological intervention would also be required to strengthen college students’ emotional
stability and control abilities.
5. Conclusion
This study was performed to survey the relations among the sub-variables of college adjustment and to
identify the factors that affect college students’ academic and social adjustment. This study verified
significant differences in college adjustment sub-variables in accordance with gender and fields of study and
identified the factors that affect academic and social adjustment. These findings are meaningful in that they
could be utilized as basic data for the research and development of student adjustment programs in college
and within specific departments to promote college students’ academic and social adjustment.
However, the generalization of our results is limited, as this study examined college students from only one
region. Further, as a cross-sectional study that only extracted information concerning college life adjustment
from raw data, this study could not investigate the associations with individuals’ psychosocial characteristics;
thus, additional studies are needed to address the limitations of our study.
Nevertheless, I hope this findings will be useful for acquiring an understanding of factors influencing
college students’ academic and social adjustment, developing adjustment programs, shaping student
counseling and guidance sessions, and heightening students’ abilities to adjust to college.
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An Exploration of Factors Influencing College Students’Academic and Social Adjustment 21
Table 2. Comparison of student adjustment test scores among major field of studies
(n=2,064)
Humane/ Social Music&Arts/
Science/ Education Health
social service physical
engineering(a) affairs(c) science(e)
Variables science(b) affairs(d) affairs(f) F/(p) post hoc.
(n=492) (n=119) (n=265)
(n=537) (n=165) (n=486)
M±SD M±SD M±SD M±SD M±SD M±SD
Satisfaction with
21.93±4.79 22.49±4.96 21.39±4.80 21.71±4.78 22.37±4.83 22.94±5.36 3.57b) (.003)
college selection
Confidence in major 30.20±6.04 31.12±5.66 32.13±6.48 30.59±6.08 30.91±6.31 32.36±5.88 7.53a) (.000) a<f
Expectation for college 32.97±5.33 33.67±5.58 33.02±5.90 32.96±5.92 33.53±5.67 33.86±5.69 1.79 (.111)
Commitment to college
7.05±1.82 7.00±1.98 7.46±1.98 6.98±1.84 7.48±2.06 6.85±1.93 4.78a) (.000) e>f
life
Emotional stability 33.44±7.65 33.56±7.92 33.13±7.66 33.42±7.92 32.60±8.41 31.38±7.98 5.16a) (.000) a,b>f
Economic condition 17.55±4.40 17.74±4.29 17.24±4.55 17.85±3.95 17.09±4.65 17.07±4.60 1.86 (.098)
Support from others 15.25±2.80 15.56±3.06 15.77±2.97 15.52±2.89 15.96±3.06 15.43±3.14 2.20 (.052)
Satisfaction with
30.03±5.78 30.55±5.82 28.99±6.15 29.82±6.22 30.93±5.93 29.92±6.33 2.55c) (.026)
college services
Relationship with
28.25±4.94 28.64±5.27 29.53±6.51 27.32±5.63 29.09±5.12 29.25±5.59 4.74a) (.000) c,f>d
faculty
Academic adjustment 38.85±6.17 39.98±5.77 39.34±5.80 39.66±5.51 39.01±5.63 39.67±6.55 2.29c) (.044)
Social adjustment 39.95±5.86 40.52±6.05 39.55±5.55 40.35±5.50 41.19±6.18 39.95±5.92 2.39c) (.036)
a)
p<.001, b) p<.01, c) p<.05
22 International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology Vol.4 No.4 13-22 (2016)