Although there are empirical studies on the adaptation of fresh students in the country towards new life and conditions when they start university degrees and psychological processes following immigration, little is known about the adaptation problems of international students going abroad for university education. Similarly, scientific studies on…

Selecting a major is one of the most consequential decisions a student will make in college. Though major selection is often conceived of as a discrete choice made at a particular point in time, many students change their majors at least once during college. This article examines the process of changing majors as a key education transition.…

Attending and graduating from college or university has profound influences on financial earnings and career opportunities. Beyond these financial and career benefits, attending higher education also offers social and emotional benefits. While there are many potential benefits to going on in one's education, there are known disparities in who goes…

This study advances a dual-analytical framework examining the heterogeneous associations between social media use and university students' academic adjustment within the Chinese cultural context, integrating Social Cognitive Theory and the Differential Susceptibility to Media Effects Model. Through a mixed-methods approach combining…

The COVID-19 pandemic caused severe disruptions in living and learning to millions of college students. Here we investigated using mediation analysis two dimensions of anxiety that were specific to the pandemic -- COVID-19 related anxiety and COVID-19 vaccine anxiety -- to evaluate their relationship to college adjustment during the pandemic.…

Along with anxiety and depression, mindfulness has recently gained attention among the predictors of college adjustment. This study conducted in Türkiye, investigated the relationship between mindfulness and college adjustment through the mediating role of depression and anxiety. Data were collected using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, the…

Introduction: Theoretical approaches suggest that adaptability and well-being could serve as protective factors in influencing mental health. However, it remains empirically unclear how students' prior adaptability and well-being predict depression (and vice versa) in the long term. Hence, using a longitudinal design, the present study explores…

Vertical transfers, those who transferred from a 2-year institution to a 4-year institution, often face multifaceted challenges and lower success rates upon arriving at the receiving 4-year institutions. This quantitative study focused on three forms of social capital related to post-transfer adjustment, retention, and success for vertical…

Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the short version of the Spanish Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ-50, Spanish version). Participants: 1513 students from 14 universities in Peru, mainly females (61.5%), aged between 18 and 30 years. Method: Cross-sectional study with the questionnaire administered in person.…

The transition from high school to university is usually complex for every student, but especially for minority groups. This is mainly due to the need to create more inclusive universities. The objective of this study was to determine the variables that influence the transition from post-compulsory education to university for students identifying…

At many institutions of higher education, first-year seminars are meant to help students transition to college life and to provide them with resources and skills to develop socially and academically, supporting persistence (Jamelske, 2009; Janz, 2004). Since their inception, researchers have evaluated the effectiveness of these seminars and their…

Bipolar disorder is typically diagnosed in the teenage to early adulthood years. During this age, many individuals are students pursuing a college degree. Students developing the symptoms of bipolar disorder have a harder time navigating college and have significant difficulties transitioning back to school after psychiatric hospitalization,…

As part of the fabric of college students, minority international students undergo specific and unique challenges to their health and wellness. Little is known about how and what constitutes wellness for minoritized international students and the impact of wellness on their university adjustment. Using a systematic grounded theory approach, this…

One consequence of the widened participation in higher education (HE) is that the social demarcation line that once existed at the entrance to HE has moved inside the HE system. This study investigates how students experience social friction when demarcation lines are crossed and how such friction develops over time. This was achieved by repeated…

The sense of belonging satisfies the need for relatedness which is one of the three basic psychological needs. It is considered to be a foundation for success in higher education. One of the predictors of sense of belonging from a psychological perspective is students' personality in the sense of Big Five traits. There are three modes in which…