China has emerged as one of the leading destinations for international students, attracting growing research interest in examining their cross-cultural adjustment. Our study moved beyond prior work by offering the first systematic review on predictors of international student adjustment in China, with all its three domains taken into…

A positive transition to secondary school is pivotal to adolescents' mental health and success. However, the school transition research has mainly focused on transition-related adversities rather than adolescent wellbeing and adaptation. While the disturbing consequences of a difficult school transition are known, little attention has been paid to…

This is a review of five studies that reported new empirical data relevant for the predictability gradient hypothesis. This hypothesis is focused on within-person psychological variables typically collected in background questionnaires that examine the role of non-cognitive influences on students' academic achievement. Broad measures of…

This article reviews empirical studies of the role of college roommate relationships in students' mental health and college adjustment. We propose a systemic conceptualization of roommate relationships that highlights roommates' interdependence and origins of roommate relationship dynamics. We discuss practice implications for student…

This paper presents a meta-analytic review (k = 237, N = 44,668) of the adjustment to college literature. The review, based on studies using the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire, is organized around three primary themes: (1) the structure of students' adjustment to college, (2) the relationship of adjustment to college constructs with…

Children's preparedness for school is an important predictor of their eventual academic attainment, health, and personal success well into adulthood. Although kindergarten knowledge of numbers and vocabulary represent robust indicators of children's readiness to learn at school entry, theory and research suggest that self-directed learning skills…

In this conceptual article, we integrate existing literature on early school transitions, ecological systems theory, and student-teacher relationships to propose a framework for investigating the transition to school for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). A review of the literature suggests that the quality of early student-teacher…

Many students do not receive the adequate academic and social support during their enrollment in a higher education institution that could positively impact their abilities to succeed in college (Astin, 1984; Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Nora, 1987; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991). These support systems can be viewed as providing a holistic mentoring…

This study examined relationships between hardiness, college adjustment (academic adjustment, social adjustment, personal-emotional adjustment, institutional attachment) and eating disorder (ED) continuum categories in 122 female and 20 male college students. Students who exhibited a higher level of personal-emotional adjustment (PEA) to college…

Examines college students (N=70) for associations between friendsickness, precollege predictors, and the dimensions of college adjustment 10 weeks into the first semester. Results reveal friendsickness is associated with precollege social concerns, discrepancy between precollege expectations and college experiences, more precollege friends in the…

Focuses on consulting with teachers about using school-based interventions for control and prevention of learning and adjustment problems. Describes four factors that have been linked to teachers' decisions to utilize and to continue utilizing an intervention: effectiveness, time and resources required, theoretical orientation of the intervention,…

Mediational models predicting college students' adjustment were tested using regression analyses. Contemporary adult attachment theory was employed to explore the cognitive/affective mechanisms by which adult attachment and perfectionism affect various aspects of psychological functioning. Consistent with theoretical expectations, results…

The freshman year represents a stressful transition for college students. Despite a multitude of social, academic, and emotional stressors, most college students successfully cope with a complex new life role and achieve academic success. Other students are less able to successfully manage this transition and decide to leave higher education…

Reviewed the anxiety literature relating to university students, including: (a) a historical prospective of research; (b) the effects of anxiety level on learning; (c) associations among anxiety and learning performance and intellectual ability, sex difference, task difficulty, and situational variables; and (d) treatment. (JAC)

Describes nature of first-grade transition and studies investigating how children's schooling proceeds over this period. Highlights study using Beginning School Study data to examine effects of full-day rather than half-day kindergarten, living in different family arrangements, and other circumstances such as Head Start participation. Found that…