University Belonging, Friendship Quality, and Psychological Adjustment During the Transition to College

2008/06/05 by Laura D. Pittman, Adeya Richmond · 12 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Higher Education Research Studies #Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development #Youth Development and Social Support

paper · doi:10.3200/jexe.76.4.343-362

Abstract

The authors collected questionnaire data from college students (N = 79) at 2 time points during their freshman year to examine how changes in a sense of university belonging, quality of friendships, and psychological adjustment were associated. Students who had positive changes in university belonging had corresponding positive changes in self-perceptions (e.g., scholastic competence, self-worth) and decreases in their internalizing problem behaviors. Although the results did not link improvements over time in friendship quality to changes in self-perceptions, the authors linked them to decreasing levels of problem behaviors. The authors discuss the importance of educators' fostering university belonging and positive friendships among students as they transition to college.

Citations

• Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties.
• Sense of Belonging in College Freshmen at the Classroom and Campus Levels

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• A misalignment of measure: a systematic review into the evaluation of higher education orientation programmes
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Related

• College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A National Perspective
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