Abstract:
To investigate 1) the adjustment to college and coping strategies of first-year college students and 2) the effects of studentsʼ gender, field of study, university types and academic achievement on their adjustment and coping strategies. Participants were 651 undergraduate students from government and private universities. The instrument used were The Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) and the Coping Scale. Data was analyzed using a three-way ANOVA design followed by post-hoc multiple comparisons with Dunnettʼs T3 test. The major findings were as follows: 1. First-year college students reported high level of institutional attachment/goal commitment. 2. First-year college students used effective means of coping: used more problem-focused strategies, used moderately high level of social support-seeking strategies, and used moderately low avoidance strategies. 3. The three-way ANOVA yielded significant effects for gender, university types and academic achievement on adjustment to college and coping strategies: 3.1 First-year female college students reported more social adjustment and used more social support-seeking strategies than first-year male college students. 3.2 Private college students reported more academic adjustment, but less personal/emotional adjustment than government college students. 3.3 Private college students used more avoidance strategies than government college students. 3.4 Students with high and moderate academic achievement reported more total adjustment and institutional attachment/goal commitment than those with low academic achievement. 3.5 Students with moderate academic achievement reported more personal/emotional adjustment than those with low academic achievement. 3.6 Students with high academic achievement used more social support-seeking strategies than those with low academic achievement.