Academic expectations play a significant role in the quality of student adaptation and academic success. Previous research suggests that expectations are a multidimensional construct, making it crucial to test the measures used for this important characteristic. Because assessment of student adaptation to higher education comprises a multitude of…

Access to quality basic and tertiary education has been the primary concern of the Philippine government. The World Bank has reported that a high percentage of Filipino Alternative Learning System (ALS) graduates are enrolled in tertiary education. However, little is known on their transition from basic to tertiary education specifically focused…

This is the first longitudinal study to quantitatively evaluate changes in social network structure (SNS) and perceived social support (PSS) amongst first-year students on the autism spectrum (n = 21) and typically developing (TD; n = 182) students transitioning to university. The relative impact of changes in SNS/PSS, students' social anxiety and…

Although research shows higher levels of perceived academic control are associated with academic adjustment in the first year of university, little is known about how changes in perceived control over multiple years relate to longitudinal university dropout and grades. Thus, our 3-year study (N = 1,007) examined whether changes in perceived…

Objective: Our objective was to examine the co-occurrence of sleep problems and emotion dysregulation and its short- and long-term links to depressive symptoms and alcohol use in a sample of university students. Method: Participants included 1132 first-year university students from Southern Ontario (70.5% women). Time 1 data were collected in…

To date, there is no research or instrument that can collectively measure beginning students' transitional challenges, wellbeing, help-seeking, and adjustments to university. This paper addresses this research gap by theorising and describing the relationship between these constructs and by developing and assessing the psychometric properties of a…

Amidst the increased enrolment of international Chinese English as an additional language (EAL) students in North American universities, scholars have reported on their academic and social experiences in navigating English-medium studies (e.g., Liu, 2016; Zhang & Zhou, 2010). Although informative, some studies focus on EAL learners' perceived…

To ease the transition to university, preparation in secondary school is often seen as a first step. This study investigated longitudinal relationships between teacher practices in secondary education (i.e., emotional support, autonomy support, and student-centred teacher practices) and first-year students' academic achievement and social and…

The transition into higher education stretches students socially, academically and within their personal lives requiring adaptation and development of resilience. For many, such demands may lead to decreased mental wellbeing and, for some, mental ill-health. This project aimed to trial simple mental health awareness and well-being tasks with first…

Symbols are a cornerstone of the written language of physics and mathematics but inconsistencies in their use pose a challenge to students. This article reports on interviews held with first-year undergraduate physics students, focused on their early experiences with symbols in university physics. Students reported being confused by the symbolic…

As in other nations, higher education has many benefits for individual participants and for communities in the United States. But, the opportunity to attain higher education is unequal. To understand the forces that contribute to higher education attainment in the United States, this essay first provides a brief overview of the characteristics of…

Inequality in college has both structural and psychological causes; these include the presence of self-defeating beliefs about the potential for growth and belonging. Such beliefs can be addressed through large-scale interventions in the college transition (Walton & Cohen, 2011; Walton et al., 2023) but are hard to measure. In our…

The aim of this research is to adapt the Student-University Match (SUM) Questionnaire into Turkish. The scale was developed by Wintre vd. (2008) in order to measure how well-matched freshmen students perceived themselves as compatible with universities during their transition period to university at their first year. The scale measures the…

College-bound students move from various high school environments to a collegiate setting; this transition requires acclimation. There is increased interest in the understanding of college student adjustment to decrease student attrition, thus adjustment to college has been studied in different contexts, including social and academic. The…

Objective: To examine prospective associations between physical and mental self-rated health (SRH), college generation status and college adjustment among first-year college students. Participants and methods: Eighty-seven first-year college students (41 first-generation college students) reported their SRH when starting college, and then,…