Multi-ethnic Students\u27 Adaptation to College as a Function of Motivation, Self-efficacy, Self-esteem, and Ethnic Identity

The current study was designed to give a greater understanding into the variables correlated with successful adjustment to college ( as measured by the four subscales of the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire). Data was analyzed from 446 students from undergraduate psychology courses at the University of Central Florida. After partialing out potential covariates ( ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, social support, symptoms of depression, and anxiety), it was found that need for achievement and self-efficacy significantly correlated with academic adjustment; need for affiliation and need for achievement significantly correlated with social adjustment; need for achievement and self-esteem significantly correlated with personal/emotional adjustment; and need for affiliation, need for achievement, self-efficacy, and ethnic identity significantly correlated with attachment/institutional commitment