This study explored the relationship between academic self-efficacy beliefs and the academic adjustment of first-generation and non-first-generation students. Findings supported the presence of a differential relationship that was generally weaker for first-generation students. However, findings also suggested first-generation students experienced…

This study explored factors related to college adjustment in nonresidential first-year students. It was hypothesized that stress, family functioning, and coping strategies would predict academic, personal-emotional, and social adjustment in addition to institutional attachment. The sample comprised 167 first-year college students (ages 18-23)…

This paper reports on one aspect of a larger study designed to re-examine the Laanan-Transfer Students' Questionnaire (L-TSQ), an instrument exploring adjustment following transfer to a four-year institution (Laanan, 1998, 2004). In particular, it reports on nine new constructs added to the L-TSQ, which expand the understanding of transfer…

In recognition of 25th anniversary of the "Journal of The First-Year Experience & Students in Transition" (the "Journal"), a content analysis and review of "Journal" citations in other works was conducted. A team of three researchers coded type of research, type of intervention, target population, and topics of…

This study explored college distance from home, a possible contributing factor of transfer behavior. Because the distance between a student's home and college has been found to be related negatively to social integration and positively to homesickness (i.e., Brooks & DuBois, 1995; Fisher, Murray, & Frazer, 1985; Tognoli, 2003), a…

Electronic communications technologies (ECTs) help college students and parents remain in contact. Because recent reports have emphasized a link between ECTs, helicopter parenting, and autonomy issues, this study focused on the significance of contact patterns for attachment and student adjustment. First-semester college students (199 female, 81…

This study investigated the effects of career development courses on career decision-making self-efficacy (CDMSE), college adjustment, learning integration, academic achievement, and retention among undecided undergraduates. It also investigated the effects of course format on career decision-making abilities and academic success outcomes and…

This quasi-experimental, action-research study explored a five-week pre-enrollment initiative called the Pathways Summer Bridge (PSB) Program in the New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU). Theoretically framed and developed using the six components of Tinto's (1993) longitudinal model of institutional…

This study investigated a set of messages on a university group's Facebook page intended as advice for first-year college students. Investigators coded 108 different units of advice into three overarching categories focused on academics, the transition to college life, and comprehension of the college campus. Messages transmitted were similar in…

This study examined the extent to which transitioning, first-year student-athletes engage in educationally sound activities in college. The sample included 147 revenue and nonrevenue first-year student-athletes who were surveyed at four large Division 1-A universities. Findings revealed that revenue and nonrevenue first-year student athletes…

The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that promote successful transitions into and through postsecondary education for American Indian students, from the perspectives of the student, school counselor, and college advisor. The method of study included analysis of interview transcripts from clinical practitioners, service providers,…

This study explored the influence of orientation programming on the academic and social adjustment of newly admitted undergraduate students during the fall semester 2006. Participants in this study included first-years and transfers enrolled in a large, public, predominantly White institution in the Southeastern part of the United States. When…

This study proposed to describe and understand the transition experiences of first-generation college students in comparison to second-generation college students by examining the frequency of activities linked to the transition process and the helpfulness of these behaviors for students at a medium-size state university in the Southeast. Parents,…

This in-depth study examined the perspectives of 17 Korean undergraduate exchange students attending a U.S. southern university during the 2005-2006 school year. The struggles and frustrations they experienced; the difficulties they encountered socially, culturally, and academically; their contributions to the American academic community; and…

This study examined the connection between the parent-adult child attachment relationship, adjustment, and achievement among a sample of 168 college students and explored how the attachment relationship changed over time. Our findings indicated the attachment variables were all positively related to adjustment to college during years one and three…